Is sitting distance a factor in choosing speakers?

[Eppie]

I was thinking about this topic before the the new Philharmonic BMR towers were announced and a member asked about sitting distance. I've also been looking at Focal and Paradigm towers and the Focals recommend a sitting distance of 10 to 12 feet and a room of 270 sq.ft. Is sitting distance and room size an important consideration with speaker selection? Is there a point where bookshelves on stands will sound better than a tower, or is it safe to go with whatever sounds best in a listening room or tickles your fancy? (This precludes near field speakers that are designed for desktop listening.)

 

[lovinthehd]

I think both distance from the speaker and the overall room makes a difference in terms of the choice of speakers. Like having ginormous towers in a small room where you're sitting fairly close wouldn't be something I'd do....or the opposite like in Pogre's thread, the Take 5 system get somewhat lost in a large room. As to any specific predictions as to the dimensions/drivers/design of the speaker to the room and listening distance, don't know of any particular guidelines to point you at on the other hand.

 

[MalVeauX]

Hi,

I think it has a lot to do with the design relative to the imaging and dispersion. Some speakers just need a bigger triangle to show off. Some are great in near field. It also greatly matters where in a room they are setup with boundary interference effects.

But ultimately I think it only matters if you like it.

I think a binaural measurement would be needed to even begin to come close to having some way to put a metric on imaging and sound stage. And I don't know how it would be easily graphed either to have meaning. But a single microphone probably cannot relate the data compared to what we hear psychoacoustically.

Very best,

 

[snakeeyes]

The smaller room owners get to save money by choosing smaller subs and bookshelves instead of towers.