I've been slowly experimenting with speaker placement in the past week. First I started with the speakers about 7 feet apart and 9 feet from the sweet spot. Toed in slightly. Nice imaging, good soundstage width. I've been slowly increasing the distance from speaker to speaker, and I think I've found the magic spot. The equilateral triangle. Speakers 9' from each other and the sweet spot. Toed in not quite to directly face the sweet spot but almost. I think JohnK might just know what he's talking about!
I've tried toeing the speakers in so that their angles would intersect just in front of the listening position, but it seems to reduce the soundstage width considerably, although it does provide more precise imaging. I've found the current toe in to be a nice compromise - the lines would intersect maybe a foot behind my head, but it still provides excellent imaging and a nice wide soundstage.
I had a really cool three-dimensional experience with Radiohead's "Street Spirit" just a few minutes ago. The main guitar that runs through the entire song sounded as if it was playing on a plane even with my seat, the vocals sounded about even with the plane of the speakers, and the soft strings sounded like they were a few feet behind the plane of the speakers. It was actually a little disorienting at first, but it was really cool to be able to kind of "look" at the different layers of sound that way. Playing Telarc's recording of Fauré's Pavane was similarly immersive. Cool stuff!
I should've burned a copy of your Sacred Treasures cd, Peter.
