Post your speaker set up measurements

Hi,

I was looking at the post a photo of your system thread. It's really interesting to see how people set up their systems. I guess I am a poor judge of distance because I'm having a tough time figuring out how far apart your speakers are from each other & from the walls.

I'm not looking to criticize anyone's room arrangement. Rather, I want to understand more about hi-fi in real-world settings. The photos are very inspiring - I'm looking to remodel my set up - and I would like all of the information I can get.

Thanks!

 

32 inches from the side walls, 36 inches from the rear wall, 8 feet apart, I sit 11 feet from the speakers and the wall behind me is 10 feet away.

 

My speakers are way out into the room. The rear panels of my speakers are about 30" or so from the front wall.

 

It depends on your point iof view.
There's no way I'd "move the room around to find the ideal location for speakers."

I've a pair of vintage Goodmans Havant speakers that are mounted either side of a big wall unit, I've had for decades. There's just enough room, so they are about nine feet or so apart.



I've a reclining chair opposite the TV.
I can channel the audio from my turntable and cassette deck in the cabinet, plus the selections on the two jukebox wall boxes on their shelf on the other side of the room, that play mp3s on iPods in the same cabinet...



Plus if I choose, the audio from the TV, Humax FRV, DVD/CD player, Virgin Tivo and a VHS player under it, through my vintage Leak 2000 tuner/amp.
I could adjust the balance to compensate for the different distances, but honestly? I can't be bothered.

 

Every room is different, every speaker is different. Different speakers will pressurize your room (and sound its' best) from a different position. Yes, it comes down to 1mm adjustments in the end. No free ride I'm afraid. Trial and error (or look up Sumiko Master set for speakers if you want a shortcut).

 

Trial and error for sure! I just want more context to go with photos.

 

My system is set up SORT OF adhering to Cardas Room Setup: Golden Cuboid Listening Room Diagram but as it's asymmetrical, not exactly! I have an 'imaginary' 14W x 18D x 8H area (green dashed) that I use. My listening position is also 1/3 of the way into the room, which I think is very good from a no-nodes perspective. It's also pretty close to 1/3 in one of the 'sideways' dimensions (the full width of the room is 23'). Width to low wall next to stairs (just taller than the speakers) is about 18.5' which isn't good but I can't do anything about that. I'm going to treat the RH side corners and wall behind the speakers (and possibly behind me). Probably put one panel on the RH side 1st reflection point of the MA Silver 8 next to the window. The cat scratching 'tree' will have to suffice for the RH Titus monitor (which is well into the room anyway). I pull the Tituses out of the way to the sides when I'm listening to the alternate A 21 / Silver 8 system.

The MA Silver 8s are also set up to the 'Golden ratio' in that (for the RH speaker anyway) the space from back and side wall is the 1.618 ratio. I haven't optimized the position of the Silver 8s but will slide them along these lines to do so. They might be optimal now anyway. The position of the Media Cab (glass front, taller than the speakers) probably isn't great but oh well. The 'record rack' is short, lower than the speaker heights and couch, so I don't worry about that. Might treat the wall behind me, we'll see. Thinking 4x4 panels, one sitting on the TV stand, will block the TV and Yamaha DSP soundbar under it, and another sitting on the record rack behind my head against the wall ... will remove one or both for using the TV/soundbar (which works pretty well!). The 300B amps are on the bottom shelf of the TV stand (OK, I'm adding a picture ...). Still setting up so it's a mess, but ...

I tell myself that the open area to the left of the speakers and behind the LH speaker is good ... it might actually be. Asymmetry seems good for some things WRT the room. My imaginary 14' wide area isn't real but seemed a good value to base my RH layout on, so there!

The only thing that really matters is that it sounds good to you. This does sound good to me, even without treatment. Looking forward to hearing changes when I install some panels, hopefully it'll remove whatever is coming off the wall(s)/corner(s) that is subtracting from giving me a completely wide open soundscape. The Tituses already disappear, they're known for that, they're amazing. They're almost 20 years old (with rebuilt improved 'crossover' components), might get some Ref 3A MM De Capos and see if they can be bettered.

I know, I could have set up a symmetrical arrangement centered on the window at a 90 degree angle to this, but wanted the TV in the center, and not to block the window ... and the cats like to sit there and look out (2nd story bonus room, overlooks a pond with ducks/geese in it).

That arrangement has drawbacks too, in that the main area / speaker output direction would be square ... so I probably won't even try that.

 

No toe in, 7' apart tweeter to tweeter, 3' away from sidewalls, 8'' from back wall. I sit in an equilateral triangle when I'm critically listening

 

Mine are about 9 feet apart and I sit 9 feet from speakers. My room layout only allows for 1 foot from back walls and right speaker is about 3 feet from side wall.

 

Really, you need to try a different setup and forget about symmetrical positioning of your speakers, because your left speaker simply cannot work its best/compared to the right speaker if you stick to cardas symmetrical setup. Your room is too asymmetrical for it to work imho.

 

Great topic! We see measurements all the time for every component and speakers. But it's ultimately the soundroom acoustics, speaker-boundary interactions, and how we put all this together that matters in the "real world".

Here's mine:
SUMMER MUSINGS: The Soundroom - speaker layout, vibration control & correction.

 

I appreciate your comments (sort of) but this sounds great to me. Maybe I'm blessed that whatever's happening doesn't bother me (or ignorant of whatever is happening, same thing). I think treating the wall/corner should reduce whatever's happening there on the RH side. Probably with the Tituses the nearfield/triangular arrangement negates wall interactions ...? and since things ARE asymmetrical, including my listening position, seems like node effects etc. are minimized. So MAYBE this arrangement has some resemblance to a 'rotated' one where nothing is parallel to the walls.

I just set this up, so later if things bother me, I might try another arrangement (I added some comments after you quoted). I can have a more symmetrical thing if I rotate 90 degrees, but then the main dimensions are square (18' x 18.5') and still not truly symmetrical WRT the sides and behind me. All that matters is what it sounds like to me ...

 

[/QUOTE]

I like the nice balance you have with the hamster cages.

Sorry!

I'm really impresssed.

 

Yes, I was thinking the same thing, turning 90 degrees so your speakers are left and right to the cat scratching tree .
You say it sounds great to you but you often mention the remote control balance setting which to me is somewhat a sign that something could be better and you might have some imbalance issues because of speaker placement. No criticism here, just trying to offer some kind of possible positive advice .

 

The fine balance is in VERY small increments around exactly centered. I think the remote gives 0.5dB steps? and I'm never more than a couple clicks to either side from centered. I used to move the RH Titus back and forth in <1" increments (from nominal exact measured position) to achieve soundstage perfection with various recordings. Maybe my tubes drift a little or something as well. Having the remote is quite a lot nicer! I also don't hear much of an imbalance with the Silver 8s, so don't think things are as bad as you fear. My soundstage between and behind (and sometimes outside) the speakers is, believe it or not, quite nice, symmetrical, open, deep, etc.. I'm hoping adding some treatment will 'solidify' things even more WRT soundstage/depth, especially for the Silver 8s, which aren't yet as good at this as the nearfield Titus setup (which makes sense to me).

LOL !!!! yes, I know they're really cheesy, they're Target (the store, not the speaker stand company) dish drying racks, which I bent up to use as 'tube cages' ... I used to have the amps on my lower shelf (where the A 21 is now), with record storage cubes just to the outsides a few inches away. I wanted something to keep the cats from messing with the tubes etc.. They were close together as well, so the open sides didn't matter. I left them in place to provide something of a barrier, the cats don't seem to mess with them (when I'm there is the only time they're on, hopefully they don't swat at the 300Bs while I'm away).

 

I have Kef LS50s in a 12x18 living room. Speakers are 5’9" apart and 6’8" from the listening position (both measurements taken from the center of the drivers.) The front of the speakers are 22" front the back walls with a extremely small amount of toe in. They are set up against the long wall - I’m not sure how far they are from side walls, but they’re quite far.

 

Back in the day, well ....the early sixties at the age of 21, I managed a branch of a chain of TV, radio and electrical appliance stores. In those days these stores were self-supporting, so I had a resident engineer of a similar age. (you know the ones who could use a meter and a soldering iron, not "board changers.")
He was responsible for mostly TV rental set repairs, but also other repairs of anything a customer brought in. Back then, any sort of valve were "cheap as chips" particularly Sylvanian. So I don't blame you for taking precautions, valves these days, seem to cost an arm and a leg.

 

Speakers are 20" off the back wall. 7' 9" apart, I sit 8' from them. Left speaker is about 4' from sidewall (record rack) and the right speaker the same distance from a couch, but the wall is 10' or so away.

 

Speakers, 7.5 feet apart on center
Speaker baffles, 5.5 feet from wall behind
Right speaker, 4 feet from side wall
Left speaker, 13.5 feet from side wall
Ears, 9 feet from speakers
Ears, 14 feet from wall behind
Diffusion behind speakers
Bass traps in corners
Absorption in various locations, including ceiling

 

My Klispch RF 160m’s are on stands about 8 feet apart. They are both about 2 foot from the back wall. I sit about 5 feet away. At times I move the right channel speaker a little more to the right. It seems to decrease the bass and up the high end. The set up is not perfect. The room is not square and thus the speakers are an uneven distance from my position. That why I sometimes move the right speaker.

 

Sorry, but this thread is useless. You can't follow someone else's speaker set up because it's room dependent and speaker dependent.

Even the type of crossovers employed (eg - 2nd or 4th order) because each X-over order has its own lobing patterns and what might work for a 4th order speaker may not work with a 2nd order. I've assembled 2nd order and 4th order X-overs for the same speaker to hear the difference and it wasn't all that subtle - I stayed with a 2nd order type because it matched my speakers' dispersion patterns better and sounded better.

I use an equilateral triangle sitting position to reduce room interference and to me offers the best stereo setup.

 

I thought this thread would be about acoustical measurements

And, the wall behind the speakers is the front wall.

Calling it the rear wall is like saying the back bumper on your car is outside of your windsheild.

 

Thanks for correcting me on my last post. I didn’t know the wall behind your speakers was considered the front wall.

But I have to disagree with the importance (or lack of ) of this thread. I always felt we were discussing audio issues. I don’t think that means those issues have to be relevant and sophisticated to all concerned.

If you note my post I stated when I moved the right channel speaker further to the right it altered the sound produced a good bit. I know speaker placement is very important.
I thought that an interesting point.

I can’t see how this thread or some of the less knowledgeable post hurts anyone, but it appears it irritated some participants. Maybe I miss understood the intend of the person who started the thread. But shucks, all one has to do is ignore my posts , or certain posts you don’t appreciate. Or, just ignore the entire thread.

I’m not trying to argue, or be the least but difficult. But, it’s important for those of us who do not have the knowledge of others to feel that’s it’s ok make a post.

And , when I make a glaring mistake I don’t mind constructive criticism. I’m simply trying to learn.

Thanks.

 

I'm thinking of moving my record shelf and placing my set up near this wall



I should be able to get 6 feet between my speakers and have them off of the wall by a foot or so