Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Speaker setup

How long do (did) you all spend getting your speakers placed "just right"?

Th reason I ask is because I have 2 pairs of bookshelves currently I'm rotating in my listening room. One pair was exceptionally easy to place and toe in, the other is a chore to get just right. They each performed best in differing locations/toe in- in the same room with regards to the mlp.

Since The 2 sets behave differently, it is easy to spot eachs strengths and shortfalls. One thing to note is the easy pair to set up also sound more accurate. The pair that are a chore are "sweet sounding" "audiophile-ish" speakers that are extremely transparent once placed just right. Like "there are speakers in here?" good. But they took a while.

I also noticed, as I recorded small movements in position first, then toe in, that minute changes in toe in changed the tone and texture of sounds. Especially noticable in piano and vocals. I put a scale behind the listening position and changed toe in 1" at a time. (Using a laser)

There was finally a point where everything just "locked in" and everything sounded real. (Or as real as I can imagine the performance was.)

For those interested the disc I judged instruments by was Bela Fleck- Across the Imaginary Divide.

Piano
Stand up bass
Banjo
Drums

The disc I judged vocals by was Barenaked Ladies- Gordon

After all was said and done, I kinda want to sell the audiophile ones and try something else more accurate. To compare the "accurate" ones to something else.

Pair of M3s on canuck.....

But I have already been "warned".

10 years so far. Before that I had different speakers and was working on getting *those* set up right.

Actually that's not totally correct -- the M60s seemed to be less picky than most about location, and once I learned not to toe them in as much as I was used to everything pretty much fell into place. What really mattered with them was getting the room right.

With the M40s and other smaller speakers, placement seemed to make much more of a difference and I'm still tweaking when time permits. My current theory is that the bigger Axioms spread the bass out enough (by having ports all over the place) to at least slightly average out the impact of room effects (kinda like having multiple subwoofers).

If you really want to get warned, there are a pair of AX2s and what seems to be a passive (dual voice coil) AX500 subwoofer on CAM too. I'm trying for fewer speakers at the moment, not more, but it's still tempting

Somehow I knew I would hear from you, and glad for it.

I checked out those older axioms too. Hard to beat that price for a speaker that works even. I would be killed! Lol.

Spending time doing this sort of thing has taught me the more I learn, the more I appreciate how little I know about perfecting audio. Like Golf, its one of those hobbies where getting good is easy, but getting great can take a lifetime.

I try to wring perfection out of as little $ as possible. Otherwise the hobby can get silly $ quick. More fun too!

I have a pair of pristine AX2s that I retired 3 years ago when I bought M22V3s to replace them. The last time that I looked, mine did not suffer the speaker surround rot that many have over the years.

Huge power handling & great performers especially with a sub which is the way that I used them for 20 years. They are languishing away in my garage & still on their 'Lifetime Warranty'.

Brochure (supplied to Axiom by yours truly) here:

http://www.axiomaudio.com/images/AX_Stereo.jpg

TAM

The best sound stage I've had took several hours spread over 2 weeks. I wasn't in a hurry and wow.

I've ruined it several times since, starting with the addition of an acoustically transparent screen.

A rerun of the original placement is scheduled to take place shortly. I am going to empty my room and start with a single chair again.

Maybe an hour?
Sometimes there are only so many locations or positional movements within a room that it doesn't take long.
Even then, i can't say anything is perfect.

I agree with bridgman though that the M60s were easier to place than the M22s but distance was a factor. The farther away from the sitting location, the less that speaker placement had much of a role.

Today a friend was over and I showed him the setup. I explained how painstaking it was to place the speakers and let him listen for a bit. I moved one channel 2 inches to the right and reduced the others' toe in by a half inch or so and he was amazed.

It all just fell apart. For a moment I panicked, then realised it was all recorded somewhere. He said "it sounds like 2 speakers now. The drums dont sound right."

I quickly swapped the more accurate ones in at thier predetermined optimal location, lasered them up and let him listen again. (Took all of 5 minutes to reset)

His response was "holy shit! Way better. You should keep these and sell the other ones." He is a headphones guy and described the accurate setup as a "big huge sounding pair of headphones." The bass extends about 10hz lower with the more accurate pair, an easy victory.

The dilemma is these bookshelves are ending up in the basement as surrounds. So the sooner I finish the basement HT, the sooner I'm left with an inferior 2ch rig. Lol. Now I'm tempted to move the floor standing rears out of the HT plan and have a 5.1.4 setup. But then I lose the rear surrounds.

The moral of the story is, as soon as you have options, you want to excercise them. Best to leave options off the table.

Hey brwsaw did you find the AT screen affected he 2ch soundstage in a bad way? Or more a high frequency db drop thing? I was hoping the basement setup would suit both uses.

The screen is awesome. Definitely recommend the Seymour XD if you're more than 8' from it. When I installed the screen I lowered the towers to just off the floor and have regretted it since. Voices don't line up with the video on screen like it did.
I didn't notice any SQ differences just that I couldn't leave well enough alone after the first set up mentioned above. I have issues.

We all have issues. Were here, aren't we!