Just got a new house and listening spot and am auditioning two sets of bookshelves: Elac DBR62 and Alexis Sound Rebecca (Designed by Dennis Murphy/Philharmonic). Will eventually add a center and sub for a 3.1 system. Currently the speakers are 120" apart with the listening chair halfway between and my head about 100" from each speaker, measured to the center of the speaker stand. Not quite an equilateral triangle, but pretty close. I felt I was getting good "centered" vocals, though my wife felt they were slightly off to one side. It was really fun hearing the "soundstage" on certain well mixed tracks, being able to separate the instruments. Because of the height difference between the Elac DBR62 and the Rebecca, the Rebecca's tweeters sit around 5" higher than my ears. Power provided by a Marantz NR1509 AVR and music sources are my Technics 1200 turntable and HEOS streaming from my media server.
I have a few questions for you more experienced listeners for general stereo setup:
1) How wide is "too wide" for bookshelves? Currently at 120" they sound pretty good, I have a little space to move them closer together, but it would actually be beneficial to move them slightly further apart. Is the maximum width of the speakers more a function of volume and distance of the listening position and less a function of the actual separation of the LR channels? When testing this, what cues should I listen for?
2) How high above the ear is too high for a tweeter? Specifically for the Rebecca, as it is not a dome. Some material I read suggests the speaker should be positioned such that the ear is between the woofer and tweeter and some suggests the ear should be at tweeter level.
3) Any suggestions on how to toe-in the speakers? Is toe-in a function of how far the listening position is from the speakers? E.G. speakers are currently 120" apart but listening position is only 100" away, should speakers be toed-in to face the exact listening position or toed-in to form the equilateral triangle?
4) Suggested playlists for auditioning speakers?
I figure my best way to compare the speakers is to get the listening position and speaker position dialed in and then do more A/B listening tests. My current thought is that the Rebeccas sound better and fill the room more with a little bit better bass extension, but the Elac DBR62 sure are pretty and have an easily available matching center channel for future expansion of the system.
Here's a rough idea of the room setup. I'm currently using a blanket in place of a rug while my better half figures out a rug to buy.
I have a few questions for you more experienced listeners for general stereo setup:
1) How wide is "too wide" for bookshelves? Currently at 120" they sound pretty good, I have a little space to move them closer together, but it would actually be beneficial to move them slightly further apart. Is the maximum width of the speakers more a function of volume and distance of the listening position and less a function of the actual separation of the LR channels? When testing this, what cues should I listen for?
2) How high above the ear is too high for a tweeter? Specifically for the Rebecca, as it is not a dome. Some material I read suggests the speaker should be positioned such that the ear is between the woofer and tweeter and some suggests the ear should be at tweeter level.
3) Any suggestions on how to toe-in the speakers? Is toe-in a function of how far the listening position is from the speakers? E.G. speakers are currently 120" apart but listening position is only 100" away, should speakers be toed-in to face the exact listening position or toed-in to form the equilateral triangle?
4) Suggested playlists for auditioning speakers?
I figure my best way to compare the speakers is to get the listening position and speaker position dialed in and then do more A/B listening tests. My current thought is that the Rebeccas sound better and fill the room more with a little bit better bass extension, but the Elac DBR62 sure are pretty and have an easily available matching center channel for future expansion of the system.
Here's a rough idea of the room setup. I'm currently using a blanket in place of a rug while my better half figures out a rug to buy.