S3's W-I-D-E Placement?

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owldiscourse

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HELP! Need help with consideration for Magico room placement. Has anyone had any success or heard them placed far apart? In my room I have to have them placed 11 feet apart minimum due to being integrated to a theater with a screen that is that wide. I know the Wilsons and Rockports can stand it. The Sashas and Sophias did wonderfully in that location. I particularly have interest and am looking at the S3 and possibly S5's but don't have time to borrow a pair to hear in my own setup. TIA!
 
You better find time to compare it in your system.

You could have different likes from other people and you could end up very unhappy.
 
owldiscourse said:
HELP! Need help with consideration for Magico room placement. Has anyone had any success or heard them placed far apart? In my room I have to have them placed 11 feet apart minimum due to being integrated to a theater with a screen that is that wide. I know the Wilsons and Rockports can stand it. The Sashas and Sophias did wonderfully in that location. I particularly have interest and am looking at the S3 and possibly S5's but don't have time to borrow a pair to hear in my own setup. TIA!
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ok, 11 feet apart measured how? Tweeter to tweeter? Inside of speaker to inside of speaker?

How far back are you sitting?

ASSUMING you are 11 feet apart measured tweeter to tweeter, then you want to sit approximately 9.5 feet (9.46 to be exact) back measured right ear to right tweeter. Listening more in the near field (as opposed to being 11 feet back or more), will reduce reflections. Obviously, you will need to make subtle adjustments to accommodate for room variances (longer wall on one side, structural variances of back wall, etc.)

Once dialed in, should you be receiving any high frequency reflections in the form of an over exuberance of sibilance, a greater high frequency emphasis, etc., you will want to ensure your first & second (and possibly third) reflection points are properly treated with something like a combination of absorption/diffusion panels or pure absorption from Vicoustics. Unless your room is really overly bright/lively, a combination of absorption/diffusion panel is preferred. Something like this: Wavewood Nordik

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If you're not sure how to find the first and second reflection points, this excellent video from GIK should help:

 
Ok 11 feet apart is not necessarily far apart if he sits 20 feet away. Knowing more about room dimensions and where his seating position is would help a lot.


Unlike Mike, I normally do not like speakers that are farther apart than I sit away unless I have I have no choice or I listen mainly to classical where scale and a big stage is more important than centre focus.


So, back to 11 feet apart. I would generally prefer to sit 11-13 feet away (centre of your head to the tweeter) as long as the 11 feet is the distance between centres. 13 feet for vocal and rock, 12-11 feet for a good variety and with classical only - Mikes formula makes sense (to me that is).


If the room is narrow and the speakers are very close to the side walls I suggest having the speakers cross in front of the listener rather than the norm being behind. Easier if the speakers were a box (S3’s being curved), however much you see of the inside of the speaker, toe the crap out of it so you see the same amount but this time, on the outside. It will look odd but... this will deepen the soundstage (but narrow it), lessen side wall interaction (early refections) and make for a much wider sweet spot if listening is not a loner sport for him.


However, after all this rambling on, I do not believe in any room acoustic rules, it is more of an art than a science. Every move you make offers gains here and losses there. It being all about compromise means its about choosing the compromise that best suits his or hers wants and/or needs.
 
Mike said:
11 x 0.86. That's if you believe in Jim Smith's theories.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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That is exactly my seating distance! I've had good results from it - huge wrap-around soundstages - focused imaging but somewhat limited stage depth (perhaps due to the large screen reflections) and deep bass (though it's in a null - and loses deepest lows) although I do have some very good homemade acoustical treatments behind the screen as well as some trick bass traps (all Decware).
 
owldiscourse said:
That is exactly my seating distance! I've had good results from it - huge wrap-around soundstages - focused imaging but somewhat limited stage depth (perhaps due to the large screen reflections) and deep bass (it's in a null) although I do have some very good homemade acoustical treatments behind the screen as well as some trick bass traps (all Decware).
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Excellent.
 
The sidewall's room treatments have been previously mirror matched to place room treatments before the sidewalls were cloth covered and paneled. The ceilings have black velvet for eliminating light reflections so if anything the room is *slightly* overdamped. I would post pictures but I am a newbie and have to have > 10 posts to be able to put them up. I was a 2 channel guy before converting this *in my opinion* decent sounding room into a theater. I have fixed theater seating but could listen from the front row (9.5 ft.) to the higher level 2nd row seats (14.5 ft.) but imagine I'd have to build speaker pedestals that would be 13 inches high to keep the tweeter within 2 inches of ear level if forced to sit on the back row. My preference by far is to sit nearfield in the front row to take the room out of the picture.
 

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18 feet wide but it has some tricks to eliminate the sidewall signature. There is also a bar wall behind the second row which is effectively creating a bass trap/ false wall that makes the room smaller than it sounds by the overall dimensions and helps contain bass resonances. The bass in the second row is awesome. By that I mean well balanced and strong but not excessively reinforced by room boundaries.
 
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