Speaker positioning - new amp/source

[insider9]

Have anyone noticed they had to reposition their speakers after changing their amp or source?

I've played about with positioning after getting an amp not so long ago but now with addition of Yamaha as source noticed that sweet spot moved about a meter towards speakers. It may be that dac needs burn in time?

Soundstage feels flatter and narrower unless I sit closer. If I was to sit in normal listening position an reposition the speakers they'd need to face outwards to get same angle. That toe in (out) would catch reflections...

Is that normal? I'd like some opinions before I start moving things around. Thanks

 

[Al ears]

Have anyone noticed they had to reposition their speakers after changing their amp or source?

I've played about with positioning after getting an amp not so long ago but now with addition of Yamaha as source noticed that sweet spot moved about a meter towards speakers. It may be that dac needs burn in time?

Soundstage feels flatter and narrower unless I sit closer. If I was to sit in normal listening position an reposition the speakers they'd need to face outwards to get same angle. That toe in (out) would catch reflections...

Is that normal? I'd like some opinions before I start moving things around. Thanks

Interesting and in my experience the answer would be no. Once you have found the ideal position for speakers in a room then changing something along the lines of the source, a CD player say, should not mean you have to reposition the speakers. At least I have never had to, unless there is something seriously wrong with the balance output on CDP or amp but that should only effect speakers in a left to right sense and not shift the soundstage forward or back.

Let us know how you get on. I think you can disregard burn in time as a significant factor.

 

[andyjm]

Have anyone noticed they had to reposition their speakers after changing their amp or source?

I've played about with positioning after getting an amp not so long ago but now with addition of Yamaha as source noticed that sweet spot moved about a meter towards speakers. It may be that dac needs burn in time?

Soundstage feels flatter and narrower unless I sit closer. If I was to sit in normal listening position an reposition the speakers they'd need to face outwards to get same angle. That toe in (out) would catch reflections...

Is that normal? I'd like some opinions before I start moving things around. Thanks

Very unlikely that changing equipment has changed optimal speaker positioning but it is possible that a change in tonal balance may have changed your personal preferences.

Electronic equipment doesn't 'burn in'. This is nonsense put out by HiFi journalists who don't know which end of a soldering iron gets hot, and by equipment sellers who want you to go away and get used to your new setup before bringing it back and complaining.

 

[insider9]

Interesting and in my experience the answer would be no. Once you have found the ideal position for speakers in a room then changing something along the lines of the source, a CD player say, should not mean you have to reposition the speakers. At least I have never had to, unless there is something seriously wrong with the balance output on CDP or amp but that should only effect speakers in a left to right sense and not shift the soundstage forward or back.

Let us know how you get on. I think you can disregard burn in time as a significant factor.

Thank you! I will report once I've done more listening and I'll keep the positioning as is.

Electronic equipment doesn't 'burn in'. This is nonsense put out by HiFi journalists who don't know which end of a soldering iron gets hot, and by equipment sellers who want you to go away and get used to your new setup before bringing it back and complaining.

That made me laugh 🙂 Thanks for your input. Not a huge believer in burn in of electronics myself but noticed differences between first use and after a day. Particular area where it's most pronounced is treble. Yes, it is a little brighter (not a bad thing) but sounds less natural.

On first listen cymbals sounded very shril, metalic, digital like. It's like they've been played on with nylon drumsticks... Ride cymbal sounded as if they were hit almost too close to the centre and crash sounded more like a splash. Felt as if I heard some sort of compression or artifact around that frequency and the decay didn't sound right. Hope that makes sense as it's difficult to explain.

It was less pronounced the following day but still somewhat present.

Very unlikely that changing equipment has changed optimal speaker positioning but it is possible that a change in tonal balance may have changed your personal preferences.

That's a very interesting point. With Yamaha sounding a bit brighter it would make sense that sitting closer (more off axis) would tame this and sound more neutral as a result. What I don't seem to understand is the fact how big of a difference it makes with soundstaging. Sitting in a normal position Yamaha's soundstage seems less flatter and narrower but when I move closer it all changes. This difference is rather significant to me. The music doesn't sound engaging when soundstage is flattened by that much. I understand that the easiest solution here is just sit closer and enjoy the music but a) I'd rahter not have to sit almost in the middle of the room and b) would like to understand this phenomenon a little bit better

 

[luckylion100]

is being fed to the Yamaha?

I changed my whole set up at the same time as acquiring the WXC-50 so unfortunately didn't use it with my previous system to offer a comparison.

Edit; and are you using any EQ setting on the Yam or is it set to bypass?

 

[insider9]

is being fed to the Yamaha?

I changed my whole set up at the same time as acquiring the WXC-50 so unfortunately didn't use it with my previous system to offer a comparison.

Edit; and are you using any EQ setting on the Yam or is it set to bypass?

The source is FLAC library via USB to Yamaha as well as Spotify. Preamp is set to direct mode so not using tone controls just volume. The eq is set to Auto although I don't think that applies when in direct mode as these settings are greyed out. All I'm able to change is jitter and speaker type.