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cyberbri
06-25-2008, 12:47 AM
Hello, all.

I've had my 340SEs (x3, plus 2x 170SEs in the back) for a couple years now. I absolutely love the speakers. I run them with a HSU VTF-3 Mk2, which is eq'd with a BFD. I also have bass traps in the corners, and thinner panels in the top of the corners. All running on a Sony 5300ES receiver (upgraded in November from an HK 340).

Anyway, when I first got the speakers, I had everything situated so the side walls were 14' and the room was about 20' deep. I used the '.73x the distance to the mid-point between the speakers' formula for their spacing, and they sounded great. Especially with acoustic panels (GIK Acoustics) on either side.

In December we got a projector and changed the layout of the room, so it's 14' deep, and 20 or so feet wide. 22' for most of it, which includes a 4' walkway by the front door, so the back left corner has the room width at 18'. I moved the side panels to the upper corners of the three corners, which has helped with the slight high freq echoes I had. I originally had put 2 panels, one behind each of the 340SEs, but when I lent the panels to my coworker and heard the speakers without them, there was much more air and presence (which I had noticed seemed to be missing, thought it was due to the Sony receiver I just got, coming from an HK 340). So I relegated them to corner duty to help control the slap echo (3rd panel, which was behind the center speaker, on the wall behind the TV cabinet, is in the 3rd corner).

Anyway, when I moved everything around, I thought I had my 340SE mains at the correct width apart. I recently have been helping a coworker analyze and tweak his room (lent him 2 of my GIK 242 panels, completely changed the sound, so he ordered 6 for his small dedicated room). So I've been tinkering and tweaking. I had the speakers aimed right at the middle, but decided to toe them out a bit to try. Totally widened the soundstage, without too much loss of treble level. I loved the effect.

Then I measured the distance on the speakers, and noticed they were much further apart than the .73x formula. So I moved them in, and unfortunately I had to raise my screen's bottom height even higher to accommodate (somewhat of a strain on the neck). Imaging was good, tight center image, everything. But I missed the wider soundstage I had previously with the speakers a bit further apart and toed out - everything felt too packed into the middle, too constrained in comparison.

So I moved them out about a speaker's width on each side (nearly a foot per speaker). Toed them directly at the middle seating location and calibrated. Voila! Huge soundstage, great imaging, still maintained that strong center image. Instruments and imaging was more spread out, could hear more localized details across the front soundstage that seemed to blend together before. I love the way it sounds. Plus, they are far enough apart that they don't block the projector screen, so I've dropped its bottom height even lower than it was originally (no more neck strain!). I think this works because my room is pretty wide to accommodate the wider placement.

Right now the speakers 98" apart (tweeter to tweeter). From main seating position to each tweeter is 115" from seating. It's 108" to the midpoint between the speakers. So the formula dictates I have them at about 77" apart (forgot if this is tweeter to tweeter, or inside edge to inside edge). About 19" from the back of the speakers to the wall. Between the speakers is a brick fireplace (Sony LCD TV on the mantle), with the 340SE center on a stand in front of the fireplace. So pretty open there without a big TV stand to mess up the sound and imaging.


Has anyone else experimented with deviating from the .73 formula? To what kind of results?

debo
06-25-2008, 03:03 PM
I've played the same games you are. The .73 formula is a great starting point and the rest is really up to your room. Alot of of people use the triangle rule (equal distance between speakers and your listening point) with your room layout you might even want to spread them out some more and then also adjust toe in. This is the fun part of the hobby.

DougMac
06-26-2008, 05:16 AM
My HT, which is under construction, is ~16wx18d with a 96"w screen. Primary seating is at 11-12 ft. I've found a formula that says the distance between the speakers should be .667 of the distance from the midpoint to the listening position. Applying that formula to 12', I come up with right at 8' between speakers.

Another formula suggests the distance from the speaker to the side wall should be .276 of the width of the room, which works out to be ~ 4.5'.

With my speakers just to each side of the screen, they come very close to suggested placement. It's nice that the dimensions worked out and it's nice to have a dedicated room that requires no comprimises in placement.

We ordered carpet yesterday. The painting is done and the acoustic ceiling is installed. Last night we did a trial run to help with projector placement. It's the first time I've heard the speakers in their intended home. OMG! They sounded great! They'll sound even better once I finish installing the other half of the ceiling tiles and get carpet on the bare concrete floor.

The bad news is business will have us out of town over the next week and I won't have a chance to finish it up!

Doug