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Toe-in or not to Toe-in?


felipe

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Toe-in sounds best with my 510 JubScala IIs.  Toeing in the speakers will direct the sound at the listening position and reduce the reflections from the side walls.

 

The degree of toe-in affects the width of the sweet spot, in my experience anyway.  I found that aiming the speakers directly at the listening position produced a sweet spot that was barely the width of my head, which was not ideal.

 

What seems to give the best result in my setup is having the inboard side of the cabinets lined up with the listening position.  This means that the centres of the speakers are aimed at a point slightly behind the listening position.  This way, the soundstaging/imaging is good, and the sweet spot is wide enough that I don't have to be so precise about where I'm sitting and holding my head.

 

An easy way to line up the speakers is to use a laser level.  The basic models are very inexpensive (I think mine was around $10 on sale) and are all you need.  You just put it on the side of the cabinet and aim the speaker where you want.  The laser will show where it hits your listening seat, and it's easy to get both speakers pointed at the same location.

 

Using the laser was way easier, quicker, and more accurate than going back and forth with a tape measure and protractor the way I used to do it.

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In my situation No toe in works best for me.  My forte II with tractrix mid range horn sounds best with No toe in about 10 feet apart.  Start with No toe in and adjust as needed.  Depending on horn type, listening area, etc.  You may be surprised and find that no toe in sounds best.

 

Best regards,

John

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I tried aiming the center channel up so it focuses the sound more towards my head than my torso, but in doing so it seemed to "pull" voices down from the TV to the speaker..drawing attention to itself. Right now its postioned so that the front face of the center is about 2-3 inches shy of being flush with the front of the TV. Would pulling the center so its more in front help any?

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For Home Theater use toeing in the L and R helps with the imaging but most 85% of the voices are coming from the center channel so toeing in can really limit the atmosphere from the left right channels. Also note that the more you toe in the less soundstage that you will get. Some posts above mention this and I am not a big toe in guy as I like a wide soundstage with voices in the center coming from the center channel.

 

As for the center speaker pull it out in front of the TV about an inch to start and in the normal listening sitting position, aim the speaker right at your eyes. Use shims or blocks underneath the front of the speaker to allow the angle. Good luck and let us know how it works for you. No harm in trying different ways until you get it to your liking. 

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Thanks again for the input y'all. For my L and R I toed them in to face my MLP...this yielded the best overall soundstage and imaging. As for my center, I found that aiming it DIRECTLY at my eyes/ears pulled it more off the screen, so I "un"angled it and postioned it literally within an inch directly below the TV..zero tilt. This created the best center imaging. Ill post some pics when I can to show were the center is.

On another note, I see that the rated sensitivity for my bookies and center is 96db for bookies and 98db for the center. Having owned the AJ Pios which are rated at 85db for bookies and 88db for center, these klipschs dont seem THAT much more louder. Could the Klipschs sensitivity rated be inflated? Anyone here know how klipsch measrures the sensitivity of their speakers? Does the method differ from each series? Maybe these need more time to break-in?

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Using the laser was way easier, quicker, and more accurate than going back and forth with a tape measure and protractor the way I used to do it.

 

 

This is what I did with the RF7ii's. You learn a little more each time you tinker. The wall behind us is maybe 18-20" behind the MLP. I found the midway point on that wall, between my wife and I, and marked it with blue tape. I then used a lazer pointer to aim the inner side of each tower at that point. So they are toed in, not too aggressively, and aiming at some point behind us. My 82ii's were about 8.5 feet apart and I found shooting them straight on did not sound good at all so I did not even try with the 7ii's.

 

When i originally did the RC-62II, I moved the MLP table out of the way and set a chair there. I kept aiming the 62ii up until I could see perfectly down the throat of the horn, and that told me it was now aiming at my eyes.

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In my situation No toe in works best for me.  My forte II with tractrix mid range horn sounds best with No toe in about 10 feet apart.  Start with No toe in and adjust as needed.  Depending on horn type, listening area, etc.  You may be surprised and find that no toe in sounds best.

 

Best regards,

John

How far back are you? I tried that with my Forte II's as per the advise of some expert on a review and they only sounded good when turned up loud. I have mine about 9' apart ans sit 12" back. over 3' from any side walls. I found a slight toe in about 10-15 degrees works best for my room for all speakers, the Forte II's at just about 10. 

  As stated start parallel with the back wall and toe in about one inch at a time and sit back and listen. keep doing this until they sound their best and when they get to sound slightly worse then go back. Sometimes a half inch or less will be the difference from bliss or weak thin sounding, all speakers are different. I put tape on my floors for a reference point.    

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  • 2 weeks later...

problem with toe in is creating a sweet spot.  If you have a single listening position, do it.  Whether to toe in or not for sa multiple seating listening environment is dependent upon how your seating is laid out and where your speakers are located.

 

A good example is my listening environment.  I have a L-Shape couch and it can fit about 7-8 people and the longest part is about 120".  My speakers L/R are about 16' apart and in the corners.  I have them toed in at different angles trying to get good coverage for the overall environment and trying NOT to create a sweet spot.  Essentially, i want the sound waves to cross at spot where no one sits...ever.  Obviously one speaker may sound louder due to listening position but i never ever have "oh it sounds awesome here" to "wtf, get out of my way i want my seat back" which is what i wanted.  I also have my center, actually, off center from the listening position since my built in wall unit has a fireplace on one side and the media center on the other.  I dont have any issues but i also want to mention that the seating environment along my back wall is about 12' from the center so it has a good amount of time to disperse.

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