Loudspeaker Placement

[reickmey]

TT: Music Hall 2.2

AMP: REGA Brio-R

Speakers: KEF Q900x2

So I bought a pair of KEF Q900's a few weeks ago...now don't leave just yet.

After plugging them in I didn't really notice a large improvement over my old JBL E80's...pissed to say the least. The Q900s were too bright, boxy sounding and the bass was muddy...eesh what a poor purchase on my part.

I read that the Q900's can be bright out of the box and require at least 100 hours of break-in time to warm up...so I figured I would try that.

I also read up on loudspeaker placement...I initially had the Q900's placed perpendicularly right up against the wall(Room size 14'x12') to save space...which sounded like crap of course.

On my second try I moved the Q900s about 3 feet from the wall and toed them in so that they were pointed right at the center of my listening couch...the bass was far less muddy...everything was still bright but accurate sounding and less boxy.

...I continued to play music for a few weeks happy with the setup.

On my most recent attempt I got a little crazy and toed my speakers in so far that the intersection point was about 2.5 feet in front of the center of the couch.

The results were absolutely amazing in my opinion. The boxy sound was completely gone...there seemed to be a large amount of depth and the sound was warmer(probably due to the break in period). The bass wasn't as tight as when toed right at me but acceptable.

Anyway...I just thought I would share.

Happy listening!

Ryan

 

[hoopsontoast]

Yup, its always the best free tweak, it can take some time but more likely to give results than trying expensive cables for example to fix issues.

 

[Ketan Bharadia]

Getting the speaker positioning just right really does make a massive difference to the final sound.

 

[GMK]

That's twice in two days I've read that aiming the speakers to meet in front of your listening position can give great results. That always seemed counter-intuitive to me so I'd never tried it, but I will shortly :cheers:

 

[TubularTechnician]

Interesting :?

I'm experimenting with positioning at the moment. Currently my speakers are 6ft apart centre to centre, 20 cm from wall and I'm sitting 7ft away from that wall (thats the max I can go back) with speakers toed in to cross about 1ft in front of me. Is this correct ? or given the distance that I'm sitting from them, should the speakers be closer together or further apart ?

Complete novice so any help appreciated.

 

[hoopsontoast]

Interesting :?

I'm experimenting with positioning at the moment. Currently my speakers are 6ft apart centre to centre, 20 cm from wall and I'm sitting 7ft away from that wall (thats the max I can go back) with speakers toed in to cross about 1ft in front of me. Is this correct ? or given the distance that I'm sitting from them, should the speakers be closer together or further apart ?

Complete novice so any help appreciated.

There really are not any hard and fast rules, it will vary from speaker to speaker and the room its in.

For example, in my room I have had some speakers that sounded best with no toe in and about 2m apart, other that needed a lot but closer together and my current ones which are far apart in the rooms corners but toed in in front of the listener.

Its all about experimentation.

 

[DocG]

Interesting :?

I'm experimenting with positioning at the moment. Currently my speakers are 6ft apart centre to centre, 20 cm from wall and I'm sitting 7ft away from that wall (thats the max I can go back) with speakers toed in to cross about 1ft in front of me. Is this correct ? or given the distance that I'm sitting from them, should the speakers be closer together or further apart ?

Complete novice so any help appreciated.

Slightly off topic maybe, but you should also consider the distance from your listening position to the back wall (which reinforces bass).