SHL5 Soundstage and Speakers' Placement

[STHLS5]

In the SHL5 manual it was stated that ideal speakers position should be 2.5m apart.In my small room 3.7 x 4.4m, I started the placement as per the manual but subsequently over the last 4 months or so I reduced the position to 1.9m apart but still felt the sound was not balanced in some of my favourite CDs. Last week, I decided to bring the speakers much closer to approximately 1.3m apart (or 1.6m centre of woofer to woofer) and the sound magically transformed. It is hard to describe but the vocals and instruments sounded so lifelike. I still get the soundstage from wall to wall but overall most playback now seemed to shrinked to a smaller soundstage. But what amazes me is sound is more accurate then before. The music is full and rich and I don't care about the wide soundstage anymore that I always thought was important in a good system/speakers.

Maybe, the SHL5 manual can clarify whether 2.5 meter is the ideal distance or it could go much lower.

ST

p.s. Sorry for the typo - spelling error check is not working )

[A.S.]

In the SHL5 manual it was stated that ideal speakers position should be 2.5m apart....Maybe, the SHL5 manual can clarify whether 2.5 meter is the ideal distance or it could go much lower.

Thanks for the feedback. Actually, one of the problems of writing any sort of user manual is trying to answer basic questions with 'facts' to allay the new-user's anxiety, and balancing that against the reality that there are few real facts in audio.

Folk seek black and white, yes/no advice and it's not really helpful to the novice to say 'put your speakers wherever sounds best to you ' so we have to write some number, as a starting point. So yes, I agree, if you prefer 1.6m apart that's great - but so much depends upon the room size and how far away you sit. I think I have them that sort of distance apart when I'm listening in my spare-bedroom study at home.

[agavins]

Morning All!

Speaker placement does seem to be ons of those personal preference vs room size vs seating position vs soft furnishing vs etc etc!

I moved into our new home after a ten year planning and build time last october, took my HSHL5's out of storage, placed them in the Living Room and turned everything on. 5 months later on, I am still experimenting with toe in, distance from me, distance from the back wall etc.

Finally get everything vaguely "right" and next thing, my darling wife goes and puts up curtains and the sound changes (a little) again

ahh well, back to the drawing board.

Interested in your experiences ST, sounds like your room size is similar to mine, might try and move them a little closed than I have "dared" so far and see how it goes,

Aus

[STHLS5]

Morning All!

Speaker placement does seem to be ons of those personal preference vs room size vs seating position vs soft furnishing vs etc etc!

Aus

My room is rather damped but playing at volume 73 to 83db I find it to be clean with quiet background. So far the general consensus is that Harbeth in my room is very relaxing though some says it lacks liveliness in some of their familiar tracks due to damping.

ST

[ryder]

My room is rather damped but playing at volume 73 to 83db I find it to be clean with quiet background. So far the general consensus is that Harbeth in my room is very relaxing though some says it lacks liveliness in some of their familiar tracks due to damping.

ST

If you feel your music sounds good on your current setup, disregard what other people have to say about the lack of liveliness due to excessive damping. The most important is whether you enjoy listening to music on your system. Everybody hears differently and has their own listening preference. However, if you feel that you need more liveliness and dynamics, you would probably need to remove some of the damping in your room. Damping in the form of absorption is good in that it reduces noise floor and you can crank up the volume on the amp higher, but too much of it robs off life and dynamics from the room and music.