Speaker placement along the long wall

Gentlemen, thanks for all the encouragement/insights. I moved the speakers last night as a trial and I'm quite surprised by the result!

I placed the speakers a foot away from the wall and 7' apart (inside edge-to-edge) with a slight toe-in. I couldn't believe my ears! Much better left-right staging and precise image localization. It felt like I could reach out and grab any particular image. Oh, the thrill of having Leonard Cohen's larger than life presence in between myself and the speakers! I only listened to two CDs last night but I'm sold on the long wall method.

Some other observations:

- Lack of soundstage depth -- doesn't project out behind the speakers that much. May need to pull the speakers out a little.

- Increased bass response. May be it is all real and I just had a null before. Or, it may be the distance/driver-integration that Tim pointed out.

- I lost the dog! Amused to Death by Roger Waters, which is QSound encoded, has a dog barking behind you. In fact, the album projects a lot of images behind you. I seem to have lost all that. This is probably due to the fact that I'm seated next to the wall as opposed to in the open between the two rooms.

Looks like I'll be busy this weekend optimizing the new set up. Thanks a lot to you all.

P.S.

Bob, you're right. It even sounds better in the dining room.

Rives_Audio, I'll check out you website.

Sean, I also have a distaste for ported speakers. I can't give an educated reason for it though.

Nighthawk, this change was necessitated by demands of unobstructed access to the dining room.

Unsound, the Hales manual, though very detailed, is a study of Fields and Waves in itself! I haven't looked at it in a while, but I don't think it covers long wall placement.

The rule of thumb is 1/3 into the room. If that doesn't work for your room 1/5 is the next best. Your seating position also should follow that rule. If this doesn't work for seating, Lugnut's comment of "experiment with absorbtion behind the listening position" is what you will need if you end up 1/5 or right at the wall as recommended by Audio Physics and Dunlavy. At any rate a min. of 8' and better at 10' between your ear and the tweeter.

The problem you may find in your room is that at 1/5 the depth will suffer, you may need acoustics on the speaker wall to help this.

BTW, I'm set up on the long wall, 1/5 for the speakers and 1/3 for my ears.

Wywhcan, congratulations. A little room treatment can go a long way. If your head is nearly flush against the opposing wall a section of absorbent material can be beneficial. If driver intergadation is challanged by moving your speakers out frome the back wall, some absorbent or difussing material may restore some loss of soundstage depth. My limited experience has demonstrated that long wall positioning allows for more spread between speakers, as such you may expand the sound stage (you may have to modify toe in) and due to increased distance from speaker to listener may allow for more distance from the rear wall. Of course there are other considerations such as bass loading due to closer corner proximity. Don't be afraid to experiment. It will be most helpfull if you keep notes re: sound impressions vis a vis speaker location (actual measurements). Good listening.

I really believe you will find that with substantial absorbtion behind the listening position the stage depth will just go on and on. I don't know a bunch about acoustics, but after 30+ years of placing speakers along the long wall that, shifting the entire arrangement a couple of feet to one side makes a huge, positive difference.

Wywhcan

I´m also in the long wall club.....
What song /time Amused does have the dog effect=?
Thanks