# Speaker Distance help



## jbear33 (Jan 4, 2009)

Hi all ! I took your advice and set my tv in front of the seats. Big improvement! It sounds much better, but when i set the speaker distance it doesnt sound uniform. Cars change tone when they go across the front soundstage, and the details in the instruments arent as distinct as they should be. Everything calibrated and checked for phase. Front speakers are 13 ft. from the sofa, rears are 8 ft. and raised 2 ft. above ear level. all speakers are on small and cut off on the sub is dialed all the way up. Any advice would be appreciated, I cant wait to see the Toy Story 2 intro on Blu-Ray the way its meant to be seen! Thank you!


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Not sure what you mean by setting the TV in front of the seats.

What Speakers do you have? Can you post a picture?


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## jbear33 (Jan 4, 2009)

The speakers i have are from a Sony mini hi fi system ive had for years. The L +R speakers have ports in front. Model MHC-BX6AV I would like to upgrade, but money is tight. sub is an Sony SA-WM 40. What I meant was I previously had a corner setup and everyone told me to talk the DW into rearranging. She gave in (finally). I have a Sony reciever also, model STR-DE597. Please help!


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Move the couch about 3 feet away from the back wall if you can. This will help with bass response.

Is your center also a Sony? Is it from the same series? If you mix brands of front/centers, you'll often hear a difference in tonality as sound pans across.


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## jbear33 (Jan 4, 2009)

They are all the same. I wanted to make sure they are all timbre matched. May be able to do 1-2 ft.on the couch but that might be about it because of the table in front. Do you think toe in might help or harm the sound? The guide says the fronts need to be at a 45 degree angle.


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

With 3 identical speakers up front, you shouldn't have much tone shift during pans. Did you run an auto setup routine of any kind built into the AVR?


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## jbear33 (Jan 4, 2009)

No I used a copy of Avia to calibrate the volume. My center is below the projection tv tilted up with an eraser aimed at my seat, and the other fronts are aimed at ear level


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Is your center tucked into a TV stand? Putting a speaker in a box can make it sound "boxy", an accentuated low-mid range.


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## jbear33 (Jan 4, 2009)

yes its under the stand but i cant put it on top because of the weight of it


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Would it be possible to put it on top temporarily, just to see if that solves you problem with changing tonality?

Also, I did a google search for MHC-BX6AV and it doesn't look like it uses 3 identical speakers for Fronts and Center. Do you have 3 speakers that are exactly the same?


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## jbear33 (Jan 4, 2009)

They are all the same speakers that came with the set so im assuming that they would match the tone. But the center doesnt have a woofer like the others


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Right, so they're not identical, i.e. exactly the same (Same brand, yes. Same speaker, no.). Anytime there is a difference in the speaker, you introduce the likelihood of a change in tonality, which is what you are experiencing now. Try to find a similar system on Craiglist for cheap so that you have 3 identical speakers across the front.

Getting you current speaker closer to the same level of the other two (preferably ear level) will help as well.


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## jbear33 (Jan 4, 2009)

Tried the center on top and no change to the tone. Tryed an old Pioneer center that had more bass and that made a big difference! So the speaker might be the problem. Ill try to look one up somewhere. Thank you for your help Marshall


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## jbear33 (Jan 4, 2009)

Sorry, one more Q: About the 45 degree angle does that mean I toe the speakers in? Or do I spread them out farther?


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

45 degrees from listener is a recommended speaker position (30-45 actually), where they sit on your floor. Toe-in refers to whether the speakers face straight out from the wall, or whether the are pointed in-ward, towards the listener. I've found that I prefer, in a 5.1 environment, to have my speakers toe'd-in pointing directly at my ears, but you should experiment with this. Listen for high-frequency rolloff as you point them further away from your ears, as well as whether the sound stage (the sense of a wall or cloud of sound directly in front of you) expands or collapses.


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