Got the spirit level out last night...

[roger06]

My right speaker had been bugging me for ages - it looked to be leaning forward and to the left (despite being sturdy on the stand). So out came the spirit level and it was indeed pointing forward a good 10 - 15º. So that rectified and onto the right speaker – not as severe but still needed tweaking.

Obsessive behaviour? not a jot – instantly a more coherent sound and improved clarity in the vocals.

My wife and her friend walked in just as the spirit level was atop one of the Dynaudios: they looked at me like I was some weirdo beyond help and walked out again...

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

roger06:

My wife and her friend walked in just as the spirit level was atop one of the Dynaudios: they looked at me like I was some weirdo beyond help and walked out again...
I'll have to try that one when the next footie match is about to start on TV.

 

[Anonymous]

Yup, this is definetely worth doing. I found the same though my speakers are angled up to my ears.

It's not so much about them being level (though for some speakers this helps) but about alignment of the tweeters firing the sound out.

 

[shooter]

roger06:
>My wife and her friend walked in just as the spirit level was atop one of the Dynaudios: they looked at me like I was some weirdo beyond help and walked out again...

Every time i get a tape measure out and go towards the hi-fi Mrs Shooter and the kids pipe up and ask what i'm buying, sadly most of the time nothing but it is amusing!

 

[mitch65]

roger06:
My right speaker had been bugging me for ages - it looked to be leaning forward and to the left (despite being sturdy on the stand). So out came the spirit level and it was indeed pointing forward a good 10 - 15§. So that rectified and onto the right speaker - not as severe but still needed tweaking.

Obsessive behaviour? not a jot - instantly a more coherent sound and improved clarity in the vocals.

My wife and her friend walked in just as the spirit level was atop one of the Dynaudios: they looked at me like I was some weirdo beyond help and walked out again...

Oh I know that look, would have been less embarrassing being caught looking at porn!!

 

[True Blue]

roger06:
My right speaker had been bugging me for ages - it looked to be leaning forward and to the left (despite being sturdy on the stand). So out came the spirit level and it was indeed pointing forward a good 10 - 15§. So that rectified and onto the right speaker - not as severe but still needed tweaking.

Obsessive behaviour? not a jot - instantly a more coherent sound and improved clarity in the vocals.

My wife and her friend walked in just as the spirit level was atop one of the Dynaudios: they looked at me like I was some weirdo beyond help and walked out again...

What???? you mean there are people out there who DONT do this every time they move kit. I do, all the time

 

[professorhat]

True Blue:What???? you mean there are people out there who DONT do this every time they move kit. I do, all the time

 

[chebby]

roger06:My right speaker had been bugging me for ages - it looked to be leaning forward and to the left (despite being sturdy on the stand). So out came the spirit level and it was indeed pointing forward a good 10 - 15§...

Ok. I could not let this go. Just what sort of topsy-turvy living room/walls/floor do you have?

10 - 15§ should not just have been 'bugging' you, it should have been panicking you into thinking it would fall over any second!

Example....

The most famously 'leaning thing' in existence only leant 5.5 degrees - at it's worst extent - around 10 years ago. (It is now about 4 degrees.)

You are saying your speaker was leaning between 2 - 3 times more than the tower in Pisa and it only "bugged" you?

 

[Anonymous]

If my speakers were out of level, the first thing the wife would is "that speakers wonky". And it would annoy her. It annoys her that they are toed in at slightly different angles so they fire the sound towards the sweet spot (where I sit).

 

[Big Chris]

Must admit I was thinking the same thing. 10 - 15 degrees is one hell of a lean!

 

[Anonymous]

I was thinking it seemed a bit extreme also but didn't want to come across all Deirdre (one for the late night viewers).

 

[6th.replicant]

So should speakers be at ear-level, when seated, for 'optimum performance'?

I ask because I used to live in one of those 'converted warehouse-/loft-style' apartments, it had a heeooge living-room - which was fff-freezing in winter and like a furnace in summer due to its full-height windows - with a hang-gliding-height ceiling and was overlooked by a mezzanine/gallery bedroom.

Curiously, hifi sounded best from the gallery bedroom - bass was punchier, separation excellent, treble sweet and detailed, with a marvellous 3D-effect soundstage - and the gallery was c. 18ft above, and facing, the speakers. Make sense??

 

[JoelSim]

NSYGrinner:I was thinking it seemed a bit extreme also but didn't want to come across all Deirdre (one for the late night viewers).

Quite right too. Rude boy he was. Nearly got a piece of my mind