2B placement question

gmcman

I'm going to experiment now that I'm planning to upgrade my display which will allow me to move my rig around. I currently have the speakers and display on the narrow wall which is 13' and will relocate the speakers (finally) to the long wall (28').

The speakers are currently 4'10" apart measured at the inside edge of the cabinet and have 3.5' to the wall on the left speaker and 2.5' from the right speaker to the wall.

Once I move them, they will have 6 to 8' from the walls and will still be just under 5' apart.

My question is, since the opposite wall will now be about 11-12' from the front of the speakers, will this negatively affect the SDA? The rear wall will be about 4-5' behind my head from the sweet spot.

With these dimensions, will I benefit from the speakers being closer together like they are, or the 6-8' apart "optimum" based on the manual?

Just curious to see how others have experimented with dimensions similiar to this and their results.

Nightfall

I have mine 8 foot apart and sit 8 feet away, 5 seems a little close together to me but experiment.

gmcman

I can move the AV rack and get them 7-8' apart, if so..how would the rear wall affect anything being just 3' behind me at that point?

Does a rear wall in close proximity have negative affects? I can always add treatment to the walls, but either way I'm sure the soundstage will open dramatically.

littlewoodboats

If it were me I would get my seating position as close to the back wall as possible (10' or so for a 12' space) and space the speakers to that width apart. I would not get right up against the back wall but I would get as close as possible.

Rubber backed black out curtains make a decent diy room treatment pannel. If WAF becomes an issue any curtain she finds suitable will work with a "flex seal" type material sprayed on the backs of the curtains. Dogs beds in corners make good Red Neck bass traps. We have a feed store that sells 150 pound burlap coffee been sacks for less than $3.00 and stuff them with whatever we have handy.

This is a bad image but this will give you an idea of what can be done on the cheap. There are windows behind the TV stand that are never uncovered. There is a second set of windows behind the Brown Curtains that are open most of the time. The curtains with the grommets came from Lowes as did the rubberized spray coating I used on the backs of the curtains behind the TV. The wife liked the alternating panels behind the TV where I would have gone with the same Brown used on the other wall. The camera flash makes the color differences in the panels look more dramatic than actuality.



In case anyone wondered those are Monitor 7 Series II with a CS400i and PSW-125 subwoofer.

boston1450

http://vr3mods.com/uploads/SDA_Handbook_2011_Rev2.pdf Valuable info here

boston1450

gmcman

I managed to get most everything switched around, still have some tweaking to do. The speakers are now 8'9" apart, left speaker is just over 7' from the left wall, and the right speaker is just over 10' away, rear of speakers are 15" away from the wall.

I will say that they are much different now. I think I need to get them a little closer together...not much but maybe a foot or slightly less. Everything is better now, to sum it up.....they are more accurate. All the instruments are much more detailed, they sounded great before, but you can tell right away now that there's no "crowding" for lack of better terms.

When I say crowding.....I mean that even though the placement of instruments and vocals were good before, there's no more resonance of other sounds that seemed to overtake another instrument or vocal.

I don't think a sound panel at the first reflection before would have given me this soundstage...may have helped, but now the speakers can really shine and everything sounds more true to life.

gmcman

I moved the speakers around a little, still sounds good but I think they may still be too far apart...not sure. I'll save the fractions for now and round off what I have...

I started with the speakers 8' 8" apart, left was 7' from side wall and right was 9' 7" from side wall, my listening position was 9.5' from speakers. They sound great, but at that width my Monster Z2 interconnect doesn't reach so used a 12' section of cheaper 12ga speaker wire twisted together. What I don't have much of is the imaging beyond the speakers..I can close my eyes and tell where they are.

I moved them closer and now they are 7' 8" apart, left is 7.5' from wall and right is 10' from wall, my listening position is still 9.5' and I also moved my seat about a foot closer but same deal...there is a large soundstage but the nuances are not much farther than the speakers and they would project much father before but again, the side walls were barely at 3'...just inside that criteria.

So I removed the cheap IC wire and used a 12' piece of AQ wire and it seems to actually help a little but the imaging doesn't extend much past the speakers. Polarity was re-verified and dimensional drivers are functioning as they were.

Because I haven't upgraded my display device yet, I don't have a centrally located stand so I'm using an AV rack. I have the AV rack to the right of the TV and the speakers are on the outsides of the equipment, before I had the speakers on the outside of the TV with the Av rack on the right side of the right speaker...and the speakers were about 5.5' apart.

I can swap the AV rack and the right speaker, and get the speakers 6' apart, then I could use my Z2 IC cable...I could use it now that they are closer but need to run it under the TV...pita but can be done.

Would the distance of the side walls have a negative affect on the SDA being 7.5' and 10' away from the speakers?

Speakers started at 15" from the wall and were flush with the front of the TV, bass was real tight and not boomy, now I have them 3" in front of the TV and are 18" from wall...slight loss in bass but not bad...I know that this measurement can make a big difference even in 1/2" increments so I will play with it.

Here's the current setup, nevermind center speaker placement...this is only a "test fit"

Nightfall

How far away is your seat from the speaker plane? What is your source, CD? What albums are you playing? Are you using any tone controls, loudness/bass boost buttons, or DSPs? Is there continuity in the SDA interconnect? Any of your midwoofers scratchy or frozen? If you listen with the SDA interconnect unplugged does it sound any different?

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.

gmcman

Speakers are 7'8" apart, I'm sitting 9'5" back.

CD, no tome controls, SDA IC cable is good.....drivers are good.

Maybe the soundstage doesn't normally project past the speakers....I do have a nice wall of sound from left to right, just like before but now the imaging seems to stop at or just after the speakers. ...but not way beyond.

Could be they are close together for the given room width of 13'....not sure.

leftwinger57

Your last placement is closer to mine and not bad w/ of course if the inside wall of the cabinets are that close to both your t.v. and stand and your closed gear rack.
Mine not perfect either. I have a good 7' spread, 12'' from front wall and 9' to my sweet spot on my couch which is almost the equilateral triangle people strive for. You have the outside 3' clearance and that's where I don't. Now I have an open type rack to the right and Lps on the inside.

Nightfall

I have that same dilemma. Keep them close to the wall for bass reinforcement but have them equal to or behind the plane of all my gear or pull them out in front of my gear but lose a little bass.

Pulling them out and losing a little bass was a lot better IMO. They imaged way better and there's still plenty of bass for my liking.

honestaquarian

http://www.polksda.com/srsreview.shtml

honestaquarian

That review-while old as he double hockey sticks-gives some important information about placement of SDA loudspeakers.