how close is too close

[viseral audio]

Just curious how far away most people are from there loudspeakers, towers mostly. Because of room size limitations I'm only able to get around 61/2 feet away to leave room behind for surrounds.What do you think the minimum is?

 

[ryanosaur]

How far apart are your Speakers? How big is the area you have for your set up?

I like to sit a little further away than the distance between my Speakers. My Mains are ~6' apart (on center) and I sit about 7.5' away. I'm in an 11x15' room. Any smaller and I would have issues, I think.

Generally, you don't want to really sit any closer than your Speakers are apart from each other.

 

[viseral audio]

My room is also close to11 by 15 ft. speakers also 6ft apart( jbl 3800) speakers 3' from front wall

 

[lovinthehd]

My room is also close to11 by 15 ft. speakers also 6ft apart( jbl 3800) speakers 3' from front wall

Which wall are the L/R speakers on? Where's your seat in relation to the front and rear walls?

 

[Kvn_Walker]

My room is also close to11 by 15 ft. speakers also 6ft apart( jbl 3800) speakers 3' from front wall

You could move the towers closer to the wall, and just adjust your bass and sub levels appropriately.

The rear plane of my towers are less than a foot from the wall and they still sound amazing. Positioning speakers isn't equal parts objective and subjective. There's math behind the calculated response, but you may well find that a "bad" spot sounds really good to your ears. And there is no scientifically perfect speaker or listening
spot unless you're outdoors.

 

[viseral audio]

Im set up the long way, seating about 5' from the back wall, I have L,R speakers pulled out 3' from front wall to keep them a couple feet in front of tv, seems to be only way to get pretty good imaging

 

[lovinthehd]

I might experiment with the speakers/seating positioning a bit more....but if you think you're already ideal from previous efforts you may well be there now.

 

[Teetertotter?]

My distance is determined by the size of my 4K TV, which is 55". For best 4K picture quality viewing, I am at a distance of 7 feet, with mains and center at about the same distance. All bookshelf front speaker tweeters are at ear level. TV is on a 48" high open-air stand with shelfing, with equipment. The center channel is directly below the TV on the open-air shelving. The front mains are on wood TV trays.

The side surrounds are a bit behind the head with their tweeters 24 inches above ear level and angled down.
Subwoofer is between TV and the RF speaker. The Room is 8 x 12

 

[viseral audio]

Thanks for the insight, wish having the tv close to main speakers didn't interfere with imaging.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks for the insight, wish having the tv close to main speakers didn't interfere with imaging.

Where is the tv in your case in relation to speakers and your seat?

 

[ryanosaur]

Thanks for the insight, wish having the tv close to main speakers didn't interfere with imaging.

I’ve seen professional acousticians admit there is no agreement on how audible the diffraction of a TV screen is.
Based on these folk, the common consensus I extrapolated is that if the screen is at least 1’ away, you should be fine.
As discussed above, our rooms are very similar. Before my current mains arrived I had 18” behind my mains, and maybe 2.5’ stand-off (front wall to baffle).
My current mains are 2’deep, so I I only have 12” to the front wall behind them, and 3’ standoff (front wall to the baffle). The Screen is wall mounted and pulled forward 16".
My Center is closest to the screen as could be expected, and I still have a distance of 12" from edge of Speaker to the nearest edge of the screen.
Again, this is simply considered as a "best-practice" as there is no real understanding of the audibility of the diffraction as opposed to the knowledge that there is diffraction and what a person can reasonably do to minimize it.

 

[ryanosaur]

@viseral audio
Side note: my room has a loft on one side and a ladder built into the corner and I physically cannot move my mains further apart as I do need access to this ladder. As it stands, I have 32" from center of baffle to side wall. (Speakers are asymmetrical and other side is 34" by happenstance...)
Anyway, I would gladly move mine further apart if I could, but admittedly am pretty happy with my experience as it stands.

With your HDIs and their Controlled Directivity, I would think you could easily move your Speakers back and out if you so choose.
Personally, I wouldn't go crazy and would try to maintain a minimum of 18" from both the Front (wall to back of Speaker, not actual standoff distance which should be measured to the Baffle) and Side walls.
Every room is different, of course, and your Speakers and mine are significantly different as I have very wide dispersion and an open back-Dipole Midrange.

Ultimately, my message is that if you have the inclination and time to experiment more with placement, you may be surprised at what you find...
...or as these things go, perhpas you are at the sweet spot already.

Just short of measuring with REW or using a pre-treatment Room Correction measurement, there is no real way to see what is happening other than relying on your ears. If it were me, I would try pushing your Speakers a little wider... 7' apart, 8' seating distance... still gives you room behind for Rears and in theory should help improve stereo imaging.

 

[viseral audio]

My listening pos. is about 8' from a 84 " tv and my main speakers are 2' in front of tv and about even with the sides for width

 

[ryanosaur]

84 " tv

What shoe horn did you use to put that into an 11x15" room?!! Sweet Jeebus, man!

(I stuck with a 49"... may upgrade to a 55", can fit a 65" without obstructing the screen...)

 

[viseral audio]

had to take it out of my living room to turn it around lol

 

[ryanosaur]

had to take it out of my living room to turn it around lol

Ever read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams? If so... the couch in the stairwell will mean something to you.

 

[Wardog555]

I've had towers 1.3 meters away from me. And one side surround is 0.8 meter away. Yes I've had to use spl meter to adjust and set distance properly!
So the min distance is 0.8 meter and the max distance is 1.4 meter in my room.

Darn tiny bedroom and sitting on a gaming chair against my bed dictates my seating distance.

 

[fmw]

The closer you sit to the speakers the less effect room acoustics will be involved in the final sound reproduction. That may be a problem or not depending on how the recording was done and, of course, the nature of your room acoustics. Usually, mixing and mastering is done with near field monitors (speakers designed for use close up) to match how microphones are placed in the studio for multi channel recordings.

The best approach is to find speaker locations that work best for your room. Trial and error is the only way.

 

[shadyJ]

I wish I had seen the original post sooner. This is a tricky one. 6.5' from the HDI-3800s should be enough IF you are listening to them with your ears level with the tweeter. Since they are a 2.5-way speaker, the sound of the drivers will integrate at a closer distance than a normal 3-way tower. However, the 3800s are fussy about vertical listening height. The closer you are seated to the speaker, the more that listening height will make a difference.

 

[viseral audio]

Thanks shady, that's about what I got 6.5ft to speakers and to leave room(4.5 ft) behind listening position to back wall,Trying to get smooth bass is a challenge in this room, I have (6) 18" subs to try to get to work together.