Often what is ideal for audio is not practical in the home. A few inches difference in distance from seat to center verses seat line to mains won't make a big enough difference to worry about. If you are talking about several feet, it might. Many receivers have settings where you can adjust for the different speaker distances. This would help.
I would try listening with them on an even plane. Pay attention to the sound stage you get (the virtual position of all the singers and instruments that is created by stereo effect.) Then move your mains out where you need them and listen again. If you notice a difference, then you can modify where you like it best within the parameters that the room allows.
Toe in has to do with pointing your two main speakers slightly inward towards the center/main listening position. Sometimes toe in creates a better sound stage. That is to say it helps to ensure you hear all of the sounds as if they are coming from various points in front of you, as the producer intended. If you need toe in and how much, is really impossible for us to say for sure. It can depend on the speaker, the room, the distances, etc. Again, you get to have the fun of playing with it.
I'd say, set em up in a basic, standard formation at the distances that make sense for the room and with no toe in. Enjoy them, because you will enjoy them even without these tweaks, and once you have grown accustomed to how they sound, you can start experimenting with positioning tweaks.
Striving for perfection can be fun. As long as it doesn't get so serious as to lessen the fun. I'm still having fun playing around with my stuff because you always wonder what if.... However, It's my own personal rule that I never do it before or during a movie and never when I want to just listen to the music. Oh, and never when my wife is sleeping. That's another goooood piece of advice.
There is more expert advice to be had for sure by the senior folks here but I like to throw in my basic help when I can as I feel I owe them the time.
Last edited by Murph; 01/29/08 08:05 PM. Reason: grammatical
