I love lasers! (insert Doctor Evil joke)
Here's how I do mine fer those interested. Probably easier ways but this is consistent and I can take notes on how each position performs with great accuracy (and repeatable if I want to change back. -Abort mission)
I put a scale behind the listening position on the centerline of the room. Scale gets larger off centerline so right and left channels can be set without moving scale around. To set the scale, I measure from zero point to each sidewall and make sure the measurements are equidistant.
Then I plunk a line laser atop the speaker and shoot towards the listening position along the centerline of the speaker cabinet. You can see an example of the laser reading in the scale photo. I match the toe in like this during setup. I take notes and change the toe in a couple inches at a time until it sounds like the singer is locked in place dead center
and the phantom image is as loud as the hard left and right panned sounds. I use the Barenaked Ladies album "Gordon" to do it and the songs
Yoko Ono,
Brian Wilson and
Box Set for testing. Centered vocals and busy percussion are good tracks to test with I find. Centered vocals for phantom image and busy percussion for timing cues\smearing.
Yoko Ono gets annoying, but there is a great right/left/phantom singer setup that makes sensing balance a little easier. Toe in too much and phantom is too strong, too little and other singers are louder. Toe in also affects treble balance, so it's good to listen to female vocals as well to sense if they are getting too nasally or sibilant. I use "Cults" self titled album, as she is already on the verge of being too nasal. The tracks
You Know What I Mean and
Oh My God are good ones. Love Madeline's vocals. I want to make sure I'm not shifting them any further.
Some people use mono recordings to do this, but I found that it is too hard to get a balance between phantom and left\right sound level when only a phantom image is present. Not sure if you are close to good stereo\phantom balance? Use headphones to check the track without the room involved.
Yes, I have speaker setup OCD.
