Toeing in also deepens the soundstage, placing vocalists further back in the mix IMO. If you go straight ahead, you might want your speakers a little closer together while keeping a solid, floating center image. Female vocals are always my test. For off axis listening, I prefer no toe in.
I never toe in my speakers. Maybe because they are bookshelfs/monitors or because they image so well I've never find the need to do it.
Exactly what I find with my Dyns too. About an inch or so of toe in is about right. No toe in creates a bit of a hole in the middle, more toe in narrows the soundstage too much.
Most of the time but depends on how you have things set up, if the speakers are close to each other it probably doesn't work well.
I pretty much always adjust the speakers to the space. That includes toe-in, distance from back and side walls, etc. As all my speakers are acoustic suspension design, I believe it's not as critical for back and side walls as ported speakers but I do it anyway. The one thing I often fiddle around with on the main system is tiny tweaks of my Celestion DL-8 II speakers. A lot of that depends on the source music.
While you are at it; try adjusting the "rake". This is the tilt up or down. All I will say is it makes a difference. Find what sounds best to you and the other primary listeners in the house.
Right. a lot of people use spikes/cones and discs on hardwood floors, which raises the tweeter level higher than optimal. Tweeters should be at ear level.
Depends on the speaker, but I almost never use full toe-in and often very little. I find with most speakers toe-in reduces soundstage size, image size, and often gets a bit too bright or timbrally whitened. Toeing out tends to sound timbrally more rich and lush, with a larger feel for the imaging/soundstaging.
I've got my Klipsch KLF-20s toed in but I've often wondered if I should point them straight ahead. I'm curious if pointing them straight ahead would lessen the shoutiness and brightness of the horns?
I have Focal Chorus 826V Floorstanders. For years - no toe. About a year or so ago, I experimented with towing them in ever so slightly, towards my listening position. I decided I liked them better that way and that's the way they have been since. Better? Who knows. Different? Absolutely.
Approx a 1/2" toe in.......Seems stupid but it enhances the soundstage of my room. Don't ask me why.......
Totally depends on the speaker. No toe-in at all with Forte III's while my O/96's are toed in so that the drivers are pointing directly at the sweet spot - probably 25 degrees.
No toe in for me. I too have Polk speakers and I much prefer them firing straight down the room. In fact I have never liked any speaker I have owned toed in. Sounds too 'in your face' for my tastes.
Graham LS5/9s toed so I just can’t see the inner side panel of the speakers. If I lean forward a bit, I can see a little of the inside panels. Graham LS3/5s set up the same way. Less toe in with these BBC style speakers things seem to fall apart a bit.
Room and speaker dependent. Toe in would kill the expansive soundstage of my sda's. But I'd consider my khorns toed in when they're properly jammed into the room corners
Lots of good info here. Especially the links provided by DavidR. From my recent newer experience since I got my speakers in early 2020 I have pretty much found the spot they sound the best in my current room. I know the slight deviations which will make differences sited in those links. again trust your ears. And HAVE FUN WITH IT. Set aside a weekend of fun experimenting with different positions and what you are hearing. Those links will verify what you are hearing. I like a tad bit more of a focused sound so my speakers are about 2 feet from the front wall. Remember that’s always measuring from the front of the speaker. Not back. The more I move them into the room I gain a deeper soundstage and the speakers disappear more. Which is pretty cool for sure but then I lose the more focused punch which I like. That’s from an ‘ anomaly’ of my room. So there is always a trade off. As for toe in it’s pretty much the same. The more I toe in the more of a focused center soundstage I have. But in this instance I don’t like mine toed in too much. I bought a laser pointer to help me with that and what I do from time to time is place the laser on top of the speakers and point it to my listening position. Then I go and mark on the wall where the laser points. Then I do it with the other speaker and make incremental changes. I use a couple tracks for center imaging until I hear a pretty good center image and then listen to a few songs. Do I like what I hear or do I want a slightly wider soundstage? Cause that is cool as well. And I just mess with that for a couple hours or however I’m in the mood for and settle on what I like. For me the markers on the wall usually are about a foot away from both my ears on both sides so I’m sitting right before the end of that triangle which is made from the toe in. That works for me. I don’t like too focused of a sound cause I don’t always want to sit just in one flipping position on the sofa and be locked there like a slave to the sound. Just not practical. I want other place on the long sofa to sound half decent as well. hope all that made sense. but again. Have FUN WITH IT. keep that in mind. This is supposed to be fun. Make exaggerations as well to see the effect it has. Good learning method. And trust your ears. Unless you are in a perfect room there will always be compromises. Screw it. Have fun with your stereo and mess around. Don’t think everything has to be perfect cause it won’t. Always give and take. Cheers and ask more questions. I always do.
Yes it will help. For horn loaded speakers some use extreme toe in so that the point it intersects is in front of you. They say it’s nice. My listening area (living room) is a mere 13’w x 10’d and opens another 14’ behind to dining area. Too narrow for toe in when using floor standers. At best 5 degrees. With bookshelf , maybe a mere 5-10 degrees max. I like a wide sound stage.
