Best listening position

BlueFox

Last weekend I had an interesting experience. I moved my listening position chair back approximately 40", and it gave me a new stereo. I couldn't, and still can't believe it.

My stereo is in the living room, and the right side (facing in from the front door), opens into the kitchen/dining room area. The living room part is on the left side of that space. My left speaker (from its center) is 33" from the left wall, and the right speaker is 90" to the right of the left speaker. My listening position for years was approximately in the center at a 62" perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the speakers.

Anyway, last weekend, I pushed my chair (recliner) back so that it is now 100" perpendicular to the center of the horizontal plane of the speakers. What a difference! It is as if I bought new speakers. The sound stage opened up, instruments are now more precisely placed in space, and the overall effect is a larger, more powerful sound.

Another point about my living room is that the ceiling at the speaker/stereo end is 10 feet high, and is 8 feet at the front. In my new listening position I am slightly behind a ceiling support beam which runs lengthwise from one end to the other. At this point the ceiling is about 8 1/2 feet high.

I was really surprised at this result, especially since I have been in the other position for 3 years, Duh!

I have been planning on doing hardware upgrades this year, but just moving my chair back has, at the least, given me a reprieve from spending to much money. The result is that I now have a new sounding stereo without buying anything.

mdaudioguy

Not surprised, really. You see everybody here talking about precise positioning of their speakers and how much difference that makes, so why wouldn't the position and location of your ears matter? You should probably get out the tape measure and a level to calibrate yourself before each listening session. Be sure not to slouch as you sit there longer! :razz:

decal

It's amazing what you can accomplish with a little experimentation. I think a lot of folks would get off the endless upgrade train if they got to know their system better.

Drenis

Since buying my speakers I haven;t stopped moving them around. case in point last night I moved them as far wide as I could (Which is probably 6-1/2' - 7' between them) and toed them in more aggressively. Can't see the sides of my towers. My wide soundstage became more cental. Now there was a proper amount of width to the stage. Instruments seemed more detailed in the center that a snare and a floor tom are at their respective sides of a kit. I found with the speakers flush or slightly toed in for a very wide stage, instruments were too wide and the stage was huge. I'm diggin' this sound so far... more testing tonight. I think I'm going to keep it like this however I'm somewhat partial to my last setup which was slightly toed and speakers only maybe 5' apart if that.

steveinaz

I hear you. I think most people need to spread their speakers more as well. Minimum, 8ft. My room is a great room, and it's interesting the "3" types of bass response I get, depending on which area I'm standing in. I sit about 11-12ft away from my speakers.

tonyb

Depends on the speaker and size of the room. Though the common thoughts on listening positions are great starting points, not all is written in stone. I find the ear at tweeter level one particularly not true. My favorite sitting position is actually sitting on the floor smack dab in the middle.

steveinaz

The speakers in my 70's mancave (HPM-40) are about 16ft apart, it makes for a very cool soundstage!

The problem with generic speaker placement guides is that they assume you have the perfect room. Rarely the case.

tonyb

Yeah....they also assume you don't have a wife either.

Drenis

I'll have to post some updated pictures of my setup and room. I have a very funky layout that gives me a ton of bass.

tonyb

Funky ? How so Drenis ?

Not like ya have wall to wall big chested naked women in the room. That would certainly mess up the sound waves, and your shorts.

scottyboy76

interesting topic, conversation, and fun free way to play with the sound of your rig.

That is what its all about right?

madmax

I always set mine up so the two speakers converge at about my knees. It seems to work very well. I find I get a lot more depth this way. Glad you found you position!
madmax

dragon1952

tonyb wrote: »

Yeah....they also assume you don't have a wife either.

:cheesygrin:

Yeah, I use the Cardas speaker placement formula for a rectangular room and it puts my speakers 5 ft out into the room. Luckily I have my own room.

gdb

You want a surprising surprise ?? Try "cupping' your hands behind your ears like us hard of hearing folks sometimes do. Your speakers will sound like they suddenly turned into headphones, no $h!t. Try it.

rebuy

I like listening in the missionary position. :rolleyes:

gdb

B O R I N G !! (as in unexciting, not drilling) Try downward facing doggie style.

dorokusai

I like to listen while standing on my head.

pearsall001

And there you have it...the room is the most important part of the puzzle. Just be thankful you didn't spend mucho $$$$$$ on cables thinking it would get you there...ain't gonna happen. Just a simple & inexpensive, as in not costing you a dime move gave you a whole new & more enjoyable listening experience. The room baby is where it's at.

Drenis

pearsall001 wrote: »

And there you have it...the room is the most important part of the puzzle. Just be thankful you didn't spend mucho $$$$$$ on cables thinking it would get you there...ain't gonna happen. Just a simple & inexpensive, as in not costing you a dime move gave you a whole new & more enjoyable listening experience. The room baby is where it's at.

I disagree. Even with my room I was able to get some improved sound by replacing a terrible pair of IC's with something name brand. Maybe not barking up the same tree as you but I do agree the room plays the biggest part.

scottyboy76

dorokusai wrote: »

I like to listen while standing on my head.

Of course you do, if i had a head like that..............well you know the rest.

BlueFox

pearsall001 wrote: »

And there you have it...the room is the most important part of the puzzle. Just be thankful you didn't spend mucho $$$$$$ on cables thinking it would get you there...ain't gonna happen. Just a simple & inexpensive, as in not costing you a dime move gave you a whole new & more enjoyable listening experience. The room baby is where it's at.

I have to agree and disagree with this. Yes, room placement is important, but so is everything else. I have spent thousands of dollars over the last two years upgrading cables. Each time was a positive improvement. The Shotgun S1.3 XLR ICs were especially interesting, as the sound stage literally widened as they broke in.

In fact, I will argue that the impressive result I noticed by moving my chair back was made even better by the cable upgrades I have done.

gdb

Is your chair on spikes? Huge improvment !!:cheesygrin:

dorokusai

scottyboy76 wrote: »

Of course you do, if i had a head like that..............well you know the rest.

Russman is the Polkie known for the giant head, not me.

I agree the room is important but I wouldn't say the most important.

tonyb

rebuy wrote: »

I like listening in the missionary position. :rolleyes:

Interesting....and you do this when alone ?

I don't want to visualize that, for fear of burning my eyeballs out of my head.

Drenis

tonyb wrote: »

Funky ? How so Drenis ?

Not like ya have wall to wall big chested naked women in the room. That would certainly mess up the sound waves, and your shorts.

How so? Have a look at the following pictures.

First up is the listening position. Take note of the 13" space behind the couch which is where my dual Velodyne's sit (I don't run them). This area allows me to somewhat be 16"-ish off the back wall so bass isn't muddy as it is strong and felt.

Next we have the view FROM the listening position. I just finished reorganizing my stand and speakers yet again... staying like this though. Tweeters are 9 feet from my ears.

Here's a view of the room as it extends towards the front of the house where my somewhat office if you want to call it sits.

And now a shot looking into the open kitchen.

So yes. I have a funky room layout that I'm sure the lack of straight walls and design help with bass response. I know when I move my head back towards the back wall when listening the bass really gets muddy. A sub crawl will show that area behind the couch and on the insides of the towers between the TV stand are the best places for a sub based on output.

Please don't razz me on the mess. We don't get much time or motivation to unpack boxes from when we moved in. It's a slow process. You can see that the house is quite small. Sounds great don't get me wrong. However, It would be great to take that bass load off the towers for the low stuff.

tonyb

Pretty small area my friend and with 2 couches in there, I can see what you mean. No big deal though, we all do what we can with what we have to work with.

I might be tempted to switch positions of the couch and system though. I know behind the couch is somewhat smaller of an area, but you can still put the speakers forward and wider than that cubby part of the wall. No surrounds as of yet ? Have you tried hooking up one sub at least ?

bikezappa

pearsall001 wrote: »

And there you have it...the room is the most important part of the puzzle. Just be thankful you didn't spend mucho $$$$$$ on cables thinking it would get you there...ain't gonna happen. Just a simple & inexpensive, as in not costing you a dime move gave you a whole new & more enjoyable listening experience. The room baby is where it's at.

+++++++

tonyb

fastz28 wrote: »

sorry just could not help myself seems like a good listening position
Attachment not found.

You dirty **** of a man..........I like you.:cheesygrin:

Drenis

tonyb wrote: »

Pretty small area my friend and with 2 couches in there, I can see what you mean. No big deal though, we all do what we can with what we have to work with.

I might be tempted to switch positions of the couch and system though. I know behind the couch is somewhat smaller of an area, but you can still put the speakers forward and wider than that cubby part of the wall. No surrounds as of yet ? Have you tried hooking up one sub at least ?

I don't know why I wrote muddy bass but the sound gets muffled and too busy I guess is the right definition I meant.

The subs used to be at the front between speakers and TV stand both used. Then I moved to the back and just don't use them at all. They don't blend well and they run out of power real quick. That or they port chuff hard. Never the less, I don't like them. Wish they would sell.

We contemplated switching everything to the one side but this layout worked better due in part to the couches. We have to work with what we got. Not hard to make those A9's rock though. I've even thought of bookshelves and subs in the front stage... I think I need to just do nothing for a year cause I can never make up my mind LOL.

steveinaz

I bet your bass is muddy, a 68Hz tone needs 15 feet to fully develop. It's going to be tough in a small area like that....bookshelves? Lsi7's would work much better.

gdb

Sit on a subwoofer while wearing good headphones.....