distance from speakers ?

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Russb

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I just had a question ON how far should you be sitting away from your Summit speakers, or any electrostat for that matter?
I have mine 8' apart and I am sitting about 10' away. I tried sitting in a perfect triangle 8' , but it seemed to close.
I just wanted to get everyones thoughts on your seating placement. What is the ideal distance ?

Thanks

Russ
 
Ultimately, there is no certain "ideal" distance. A lot has to do with the room size, shape, and room acoustics. The "ideal" distance is the spot where it sounds best to you in that room. Having said that, Martin Logan does recommend that you sit further from your speakers than the distance between them for the best imaging. If you have your speakers 8' apart, I would think your ideal distance would be somewhere between 10' and 12'. Again, it depends on your particular room acoustics and also the on toe-in and vertical angle of your speakers. Just keep tweaking and trying different things (small adjustments) until you feel you have the best sound.
 
I agree with Rich, with that being said mine are approx 8' 6" ctr /ctr and I sit about 10-11 ft back.
 
Similar setup

Russ,

I have my Summits positioned the same as yours. 8' center to center / 10' from front of panel to listening chair. Front of panel to back wall is 4'. Center of panel to sidewall is 5'-6''. Toe in is per Jim Powers / ML guru guidelines, which I've used for my other 3 ML's (CLS2A, Aerius, and SL3's). With a flashlight sitting at the center point between the speakers, point the flashlight at the panel and toe in so you are listening to the "inside 1/3rd" of the panel. Check the distance of the reflection on the panel to the inside edge of the inside railing so that it is exactly the same for both speakers. You'll need another person to measure while you are holding the light. FYI, exact same distance from the panel to the rear wall is equally critical.

This will provide a solid center image and maximize the overall width of the soundstage. I settled on this placement after 8 months of listening. Hope that helps.

GG
 
My Summit setup is similar to those above, 8' center to center, and 10-11' to sitting position. However, there are TWO other important adjustments to play around with...

1) Toe-in... I prefer EXTREME toe-in (as does Joey, and some others), where I can see about 1" of the OUTER edge of the woofer box when sitting in the sweet spot. This gives a more realistic soundstage width when the speakers are more than 6' apart.

2) Tilt/Rake angle... I have found (relative to my seating height, anyways) that a more FORWARD tilt of the stat panels (vs. the default) makes a substantial difference in overall tonality, and brings the soundstage forward. My Summits are tilted back only 4.5 degrees (just past vertical). I accomplished this by extending the rear spikes out as much as possible, and just using the flush legs in front (inverted spikes). Unfortunately, the Summit spikes are a bit too short (with padded carpet) to achieve this angle using them on ALL four legs, so I had to compromise.

FYI, the Denali Digital Protractor is a great tool for measuring the angle, as available on Amazon... http://www.amazon.com/Denali-Inch-Digital-Angle-Protractor/dp/B000HDK6RM
 
Thanks everyone for the information.
It looks like I am on the right track.
My chair set at 10' back verses 8' sounds much better, wider sound stage, center stage is not so small, not as bright,and deeper image.
I will also try the flashlight toe-in techinque.

Thank You
Russ
 
So far, me and Sleepy are in concurrence... we both love EXTREME toe in! :cheers:

Try it if you have the newer XStats, you have nothing to lose.

JOey
 
So far, me and Sleepy are in concurrence... we both love EXTREME toe in! :cheers:

Try it if you have the newer XStats, you have nothing to lose.

JOey


Sleepysurf & Joey,

I want to see pics of this extreme toe in. Now you have me wondering...I just don't want to move them after spending all that time dialing them in.
 
Sleepysurf & Joey,

I want to see pics of this extreme toe in. Now you have me wondering...I just don't want to move them after spending all that time dialing them in.

Jason,
You could always mark the floor with masking tape (paper) just to keep your original toe-in marked in case you need to go back. It's a relatively easy process. I should take a pic, let me see if I have the camera.

Joey
 
Joey,

Yeah, that's what I did when the window treatments had to be hung up. I'm just a$al about moving them. I'm nuts!!!:D
 
Sleepysurf & Joey,

I want to see pics of this extreme toe in...

Here's a quick pic of mine, taken from the sweet spot. FYI... measured from the front wall, the woofer cabinet left corner is 43" and right corner 37".
 

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There are different ways to setup your speakers. It's a matter of finding what suits your preference. More toe-in or placing them closer together increases the imaging but lessens the soundstage. More toe-out or placing them further apart usually improves soundstaging but lessens the imaging. The goal is to find the optimum position that gives the overall effect your looking for and positioning can be very room dependent.

On Sleepysurf's setup, notice that you can see the outside of the speaker from the listening position. That's extreme toe-in.

Mine are only slightly toed-in (almost facing straight forward). Both positions are optimised for thier particular room and furniture setup. I've tried many different positions and settled on what I have for now.

There's no real right or wrong, it just depends on what works best for you and your particular room situation.
 

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