How far to space front speakers apart??

[nautica250]

I sit 14 feet away from my tv and I was wondering how far I should space the front speakers apart?? I dont know if there is some science to this or if it really matters at all..I have gallery pics up so if you could just let me know if the way I have them set up is correct...Thanks alot!!!

[tootall82103]

Originally Posted by nautica250

I sit 14 feet away from my tv and I was wondering how far I should space the front speakers apart?? I dont know if there is some science to this or if it really matters at all..I have gallery pics up so if you could just let me know if the way I have them set up is correct...Thanks alot!!!

Looks good to me after viewing your gallery. As long as it sounds good to you that is all that matters. I have my mains spread out a bit and pointed in.

[kareface]

Originally Posted by nautica250

I sit 14 feet away from my tv and I was wondering how far I should space the front speakers apart?? I dont know if there is some science to this or if it really matters at all..I have gallery pics up so if you could just let me know if the way I have them set up is correct...Thanks alot!!!

Asking other people where to put your speakers w/o being able to listen to it in person isn't going to get you anywhere. You have a few problems tho.



I'm not sure what your room dimensions are, but hopefully you are one of the better options listed above. Even if that's the case, you have a second problem. The doorway there will create a dip in the room response. To try and correct for this you'll likely need to move one of the speakers out of symmetry to compensate. You don't appear to be in the center of the room. Also your speakers are too low, you need to get them high enough that the tweeters are at your ear level. So, ignoring for now the potential problems I just listed, here's how you would normally go about positioning your right and left front speakers.

1) Do not put them too close to the side or rear walls. Try and keep their distance from the from the side and rear walls different by a ratio of ~2:1 or greater in either direction.

2) Start by determining where you plan to sit (ideally not against a wall), and from that position setup the speakers in an equilateral triangle keeping your sitting distance the same as the distance the speakers are separated from each other. Keep the speakers perfectly straight, no toe-in at this point & make sure the tweeters of the speakers are at ear level. (Which you speakers are currently not, this alone will make a huge difference) If for some reason you can't space your speakers out equal to the distance you will be sitting at, move your listening position up to match the speakers separation.

3) Once you've positioned the speakers and yourself ideally, begin playing your test music (using only the right and left channels). You'll want to listen for the front sound stage (ie how wide the sound is and if it sounds like it's coming from the entire front wall.) & stereo imaging (ie a clearness of the sound that results from the sound waves from both speakers arriving at you around the same time). At this point, keeping your listing position the same if you move your speakers further from each other you'll broaden the sound stage at the cost of celerity. You want to find a nice middle ground between the speaker imaging & sound stage, what degree of them will be up to you, your room and your speakers. Moving them closer to the walls will increase perceived bass output but can make the mids and bass sound unclear. Moving them closer to the back wall can also increase bass, but will hurt imaging with reflections off the rear wall and I suggest that you maintain a good distance from your rear wall whenever possible. Keep adjusting them until you find a sweet spot, if you find one but want to continue testing you can mark the speakers position with tape.

3b) In your case you'll likely need to play around a lot with the left speaker, even moving it closer to you relative to the other speakers to correct for the doorway. This is a huge problem for sound and there is no easy way for me to offer advice for correcting that. Just keep testing.

4) Once you've found a good sweet spot, mark it and begin to test toe-in. Angle the speakers inwards and test every few degrees to see if you hear any improvements. Toe-in is similar to moving your speakers together and apart, but isn't a supplement for a real sweet spot. You should only test for toe-in AFTER finding the ideal position for the speakers.

5) If you are having trouble finding any position that sounds good, try moving your listening position forward or back a little and start from the top. In general, if you don't have anything like a stairwell or door in the room and it's one of the 'good' room layouts posted above, as long as you aren't listing against a wall you should be able to find a sweet spot at any reasonable listening position.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by nautica250

I sit 14 feet away from my tv and I was wondering how far I should space the front speakers apart?? I dont know if there is some science to this or if it really matters at all..I have gallery pics up so if you could just let me know if the way I have them set up is correct...Thanks alot!!!

What you want to do is form A perfect Triangle . Same distance from Right to left front speakers as from seating (sweet spot) to the same 2 speakers . optimum being 6 to 10 feet between the front speakers .

[nautica250]

Ok thanks crazyblue.

[Beerserker]

Thanks Sentinel for taking the time to post such a great summary.

[richteer]

A good rule of thumb is that your seat should be between 1 and 2 times the distance between the speakers. So if your speakers are 10 feet apart, you should be sitting between 10 and 20 feet from them.

Keep them away from walls and make sure your seat isn't near the back wall.

You can tell when your speakers are too far apart by listening to a stereo recording. If your speakers are too far apart there will be a "hole" in the middle of the sound stage.

[kareface]

Originally Posted by richteer

A good rule of thumb is that your seat should be between 1 and 2 times the distance between the speakers. So if your speakers are 10 feet apart, you should be sitting between 10 and 20 feet from them.

Keep them away from walls and make sure your seat isn't near the back wall.

You can tell when your speakers are too far apart by listening to a stereo recording. If your speakers are too far apart there will be a "hole" in the middle of the sound stage.

2:1 is a bit much. The only reason why you'd ever need to sit that far away is if your speakers were a single full range driver which hurts horizontal dispersion and had no toe-in to correct it. Some larger speakers have huge near fields and you'll want to sit farther away, but you'll still want to keep a <2:1 ratio in relative distance. You will have a hole if the speakers are too far apart, but having them too close creates a smaller sound stage and can detract from tonality and LF.

[richteer]

Originally Posted by sentinel41

2:1 is a bit much. The only reason why you'd ever need to sit that far away is if your speakers were a single full range driver which hurts horizontal dispersion and had no toe-in to correct it. Some larger speakers have huge near fields and you'll want to sit farther away, but you'll still want to keep a <2:1 ratio in relative distance. You will have a hole if the speakers are too far apart, but having them too close creates a smaller sound stage and can detract from tonality and LF.

Well, I did say "between 1:1 and 2:1". :-) (My listening distance is about 1.5:1.)

BTW, nice looking speakers you made, although I'm surprised you didn't mirror the driver placement of your fronts (also, they look like they might be a bit too close to the corners). I bet that black gloss finish was a lot of work!

[kareface]

Originally Posted by richteer

Well, I did say "between 1:1 and 2:1". :-) (My listening distance is about 1.5:1.)

BTW, nice looking speakers you made, although I'm surprised you didn't mirror the driver placement of your fronts (also, they look like they might be a bit too close to the corners). I bet that black gloss finish was a lot of work!

You'd think that but they actually sound really nice where they are atm. The smaller size of the room allows for a nice mix of sound stage and slightly amplified bass with out sacrificing imaging. I prefer a room curve because I don't like harsh highs and I enjoy deep lows, as this layout allows me to take advantage of this fact. You were saying 10 feet apart would be 10-20 feet listening position, which is a 1:1-2:1 ratio. If they are 10 feet apart, and you sit 20 feet away, the speakers would almost have to be turned sideways to achieve that narrow of a dispersion.

Thanks for the compliments on the speakers, they really are my pride an joy. They'll look even better in about a week when I start the final process needed to polish them to a mirror finish. As for the driver placements, it was actually originally a mistake. I was tired and didn't notice that I had reversed the tweeter. However, after looking into it there was really no negative side effects. It will only hurt off axis sound, (which doesn't hurt a room where there are no off axis positions) and the horizontal dispersion is almost symmetrical. It pushes the center point for the sound off about 1.5 inches to the right on the right speaker. It's pretty easy to correct for that. They are built well with lots of high quality dampening material and proper bracing, and compared to the ones my friend who introduced me to the design built, we both agree that my speakers sound better.

In the end they are just a place holder for now. This room is only the testing point for a much larger room I'm planing. Once I move I plan on building a pair of Aria 10S. The design I decide on might change, but at the moment that is the one at the top of my list. Anyways, friends are here to grab lunch and watch a movie so gotta go.

[Beerserker]

Originally Posted by sentinel41

In the end they are just a place holder for now. This room is only the testing point for a much larger room I'm planing. Once I move I plan on building a pair of Aria 10S. The design I decide on might change, but at the moment that is the one at the top of my list. Anyways, friends are here to grab lunch and watch a movie so gotta go.

Dude, I really dig that Aria too. It is on my short list for two channel builds for sure. Jed is great to work with.

[kareface]

Originally Posted by Beerserker

Dude, I really dig that Aria too. It is on my short list for two channel builds for sure. Jed is great to work with.

Nice, let's be twins! lol

I was thinking those or maybe the statements as they'll be cheaper. However I'm still looking around to see if I fall in love with any other design.