Towers toe-in and imaging
I wanted to ask this question for some time now.. My tower speakers are about 7 feet apart and I sit about 8-9 feet from them. I find that the dead centre seat is the money seat. The image is perfectly in center and I don't hear left or right speaker more than the other. I have to go to about 2 feet in front of the center channel speaker to make sure it's not ON accidentally. However the image collapses within even few inches probably around 4 -5 on both sides. I start hearing that side of the speaker more than the other. Is this normal for the way towers are designed? I heard that some manufacturers try to pin point the speakers but Ascend tries not to alter anything so that these speakers emulate a real life situation- lets us say an orchestra where one player is on one side, and if you are sitting near that player, you definitely hear that player more than the one on the other side?
Is this the correct understanding or do I need to toe in to have at least 2 seats have the sweet spot? I tried slight toe in which seems to work for now till the maid or kids move the speakers slightly😝
Thanks
Ron
Re: Towers toe-in and imaging
Center imaging is tricky, assuming that the left/right speakers have good horizontal off-axis dispersion (which all of our speakers do), imaging as you have described is much more a factor of the room and positioning. In order to achieve that pinpoint center image while sitting in your listening position, the energy from your left needs to equal the energy from your right. Of course, if you are sitting closer to one speaker than the other, the sound from that speaker will reach you sooner and be of higher amplitude and that will pull the image towards that direction. In most cases, the differences is subtle so that center imaging will still be perceived even when sitting slightly off-axis. However, it is extremely important to understand that you are not just hearing the direct response from the speakers themselves, but also from all the reflections from both sides of the room. These reflections influence what you hear just as much and often times, even more so from the speakers’ direct sound. By reducing sidewall reflections, the listener will hear more direct sound and as such, can often dramatically improve center imaging when sitting off-axis.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rsmt2000
within even few inches probably around 4 -5 on both sides. I start hearing that side of the speaker more than the other. Is this normal for the way towers are designed?
This is physics, it is normal for any speaker. The only possible way to compensate for this with just a pair of speakers is for your receiver/processor to have some type of laser that pinpoints where the listener is sitting and then is able to compensate by slightly lowering the volume and adding slightly more delay to the speaker the listener is closest to. Of course, this would be really cool but it is impractical if more than one listener. The other approach is already in practice – a center speaker :)
Hope this makes sense!
