Tim,
2X6 has a point. If the speakers are out of phase, it could produce the effect you describe, as music happening "somewhere down the hall."
While you're at it, check that the gold links between the woofer and tweeter speaker binding posts are secure and connected.
Make sure all the drivers are operating. ... etc.
Speakers are in phase. I alternated reversing wires on one side while pointing speakers towards each other and putting my head between. Max. bass was on red-to-red. I've always been pretty 'anal' about double-checking my wire connections. Interestingly, my amp has a menu choice for "Reverse Polarity" but I couldn't distinguish any difference when toggling. The manual describes it as:
Allow compensation for recordings that have reversed polarity.
Positive: A positive sine wave at the input remains positive at the output. Polarity is defaulted to “Positive” setting.
Reversed: A positive sine wave at the input is negative (inverted) or reversed at the output.I don't understand what they're getting at. If it's happening on both channels what difference would it make?
I hope it's not all psychosomatic, but I believe my symptoms are not as bad now as originally described. The only thing I can recall doing is facing the speakers straight ahead rather than toed in. They are also a few inches closer together now. As Alan has pointed out, the M80's are not easy to manhandle around to try different options. And I've read a review where the reviewer felt that the M80's were quite sensitive to placement, (perhaps especially with earlier versions? mine is V2).
Anyway, I'm going to work with the ideas you've all provided so far in an effort to get the best sound I can. I think I may revisit placing speakers along the long wall and experiment a bit with that.
Alan, when you speak of using a 9-volt battery, am I correct in assuming that you do this at the terminals on the back of the cabinet, thus activating all drivers within and listening to each in turn for a click? Otherwise, I cannot see how I could do it driver at a time without getting inside the box or removing each driver in turn through the front. I'm pretty sure all drivers are firing just by listening in front of each, but maybe that's not foolproof.
When all is said and done, I think I might be better off with smaller speakers but I cannot afford to buy new ones at the moment (by 'afford' I include the spousal resistance
There are a lot of nice bookshelf options available.
Cheers all !
Tim
P.S. It's an interesting observation that the sound seems like it's coming from "down the hall". That's mostly true for orchestral recordings. But I play amateur viola in a community orchestra. I can't say that I've ever heard a recording/system combination that could fool me into thinking the orchestra was right there in front of me. I wonder sometimes if someone is going to hear me play viola in front of them and say "that's not what a viola sounds like" and point out the difference with their mp3 recording.
