Leveling and Plumbing your mains?

VR3

Who does it? Come on... I know I'm not the only crazy person here...

But I feel that having your speakers straight and at the same levelness is a good thing. ESPECIALLY Leveling front to back... as that decides where your tweeters are pointing.

Turns out my left main was dipping down about 1/8" more than my right main...

I don't know if it made a noticeable difference, but its a piece of mind... anyone else do this?

amulford

Umm, yeah...

george daniel

Me too

BrentMcGhee

Well no, but now i am going to.... thanks alot, you have just made me more anal!

VR3

I knew I could make life harder for people by posting this...

It literally took me about 20 minutes to get mine adjusted with the spikes, getting up and down checking and re-checking... I'm glad I did it though...

My left speaker was leaning to the left about .5" - that bad really...

After some further listening, the sound is much more balance between the right and left - nothing major though - just a more balanced sound.

Leveling is fun.

Polkersince85

My left one hangs a little lower, too.

Roy Munson

Now I have to go buy a friggin level! LOL

scottnbnj

yupper. if you don't feel like digging out your self leveling laser level, a bullseye level works well enough. and yeah polker, i've leveled the speaks with each other too. ya never know how far off the floor is until ya check.

anyway, i find that a more noticable difference can be had from placing the front baffles of each speak on the same plane or toed at the same precise angle. a long straight edge that spans between the speaks can be used if there is no or slight toe. when i set up for more radical toe or aim at the listening position i have plywood templates shaped like a right trapezoids. i place the right angles against the baseboard on the floor behind the speaks, then i just drop the stands and speaks in aligned against the angled edge of the template. i change placements alot, so stuff like this makes changes pretty quick and painless.

)

Shizelbs

Polkersince85 wrote:

My left one hangs a little lower, too.

lol.

mantis

I have been leveling my speakers for years. I level from side to side and use the front to back for setup. I actually off level from front to back pointing the tweeter up a bit.

Dan

PolknPepsi

Mmmmmmmm...Thats something new.

I've always aligned them to the center of the seating area with a laser.

EDITED:
I just use it to make them equal whether it is the center or or where ever they sound the best.

VR3

Mantis,
I also tilt mine up, mainly due to the design of the BP10B, the low tweeter.

I don't think I would use a laser to get my speakers pointing at me directly, I think toe in should be decided by your ears and tons of effort... if that is what you are talking about. I find toe in is a good thing for modern speakers, however I have found that direct toe in is rarely a good thing.

scottnbnj

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

Mantis,
... however I have found that direct toe in is rarely a good thing.

if i had to pick only one degree of toe with my room, gear and tunes, to my ears firing straight ahead (zero toe) works best in most cases and has fewest drawbacks.

when you start aiming or using alot of toe, treatments or an absorbent object (like a coat rack) between the speaks can control reflections off of opposing speaks' front baffles. this can be the problem if you have image problems like oddball footsteps that jump out on the wrong side of the stage on 'dark side of the moon'.

)

VR3

Actually I found firing straight ahead limits the soundstage width and depth... it also limits detail.

This is really by design, as my speakers fire front and rear - and the rear drivers reflecting right back at theirself is not a good thing I wouldnt think...

Every speaker is different.

But usually, skinnier speakers (RTi, LSi) do better in a toed in setup..

Polkitup2

To do it right you need two laser levels so that you can adjust the toe-in of the speakers so that the exact center of your head is where the lasers intersect. You may have to sit on a phone book for best results.

scottnbnj

Polkitup2 wrote:

To do it right you need two laser levels...

no problemo. i'd still have one laser level to spare. i could use #3 to assure that my ears are aligned correctly in relation to the front baffle plane,.. or the phone book. the possibilities are endless.

)

Ricardo

Polkersince85 wrote:

My left one hangs a little lower, too.

WHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

trubluluc

Guilty here also.
Having worked as a carpenter for years I find it distracting to have the mains, or any speaker out of plumb.
Don't know how much difference it makes to the ears, but the eyes like it better.
I also use a laser pointer to aline the line of fire of the speaks, you can still adjust by ear, but once you decide what sounds best, you can equalize the speakers.

-Luc

mantis

Here's how I setup any front speakers for 2 channel listening.

I measure the distance from the seating or listening area and use that measurement for the distance between the 2 speakers. this is a common problem many have there mains to close together.
I try to get the speakers away from corners and rear wall. I find that most speakers tend to BOOM when closer to the walls. No actual measurement I do just find where they sound the best or the wife will allow into the room.
Toe in I start at directly at the listening or seating area with no side panels exposed when looking at the speakers. Then I toe out a bit to hear what happens and use the perferred sound at a end result.
I level the speaker from side to side. Anal but looks really nice. I never found or tested for sound quality with on or off level speakers from side to side.
I then look at the tweeter and angle it up just a bit. I perfer the Tweeter firing at or a little over ear height.

This works for most speakers I have setup. My last 3 mains (rt1000p's , Lsi15's , Audience 82's) all seem to work well with this setup.

Dan

schwarcw

Don't forget to level your down firing sub. if its off axis you could be losing performance.