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Posts: 12331
Joined: February 9, 2010
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There's definitely a pattern, or, rather, patterns. But I find that each room will have a point at which you have the best possible balance of attributes, and there's no way to predict where that will be. Some guidelines that won't necessarily apply to others: I find they work best with the tweeters on an equilateral triangle. (I'm in the minority on this.) I find that they're at their best when they're as far away from surfaces as possible, assuming of course the equilateral triangle and a typical listening distance. About 8' seems a good distance, but it's going to vary with model and not all of the considerations are audio ones (the big ones can be visually problematic close up). I find that they prefer a fairly flat wall behind them -- some diffusion, e.g., brick is good. Major irregularities (like the fireplace in my room) can ruin the image. In my current small 13 x 14 room I find they're good about half the way in, with me listening near the rear wall, but my room is too small to be ideal -- it's just what works for me.
Ideally, they will be at least 15' out from the front wall, but if I did that, they'd be out of the room! Diffusers at the first reflection points can help with that.
The Rooze configuration (listening edge on) is fascinating and compelling but won't work in every room.
In a rectangular room, listening from the same distance off the rear wall as the speakers are from the front can have remarkable effects on the deep bass by creating a plane wave that cancels out modes. AndR gave HP's rule of thirds, which I think is an ideal starting point, if you have a large enough room to get them out into it. But note I said starting point, every room is different with the bass modes at different frequencies.
Generally, I find that bass and imaging aren't ideal at the same place. I tend to favor imaging because bass can be fixed to some extent with traps, equalization, and other techniques.
There are some good brief setup tips in the manuals and some excellent longer ones in Jim Smith's book, to do this right you really need to use a tape grid as he suggests. Whatever you do, mark the positions you love with removable painter's tape, because even inches can make a difference!
Anyway, just some thoughts and starting points, I have found that some spots are more likely to work than others but as others said every room is different. And it doesn't always work out as you thought, forex, I thought I could put my speakers in front of the fireplace since that had worked in my apartment but here I couldn't get it to work at all. (Different speakers -- Tympani 1-D's in my old place, MMG's here, plus a "new" pair of Tympani IVa's that will present completely different challenges.)
BTW, don't know about others, but I find setting them up an enjoyable exercise, gives you an excuse to listen to music while doing something interesting (even if I do get complaints that I'm playing the same cuts again and again!).
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