distance between speakers


been reading a few articles on speaker placement to get idaes on how to best position mine.
When people talk about the distance between spaekers do they mean inside edge to inside edge or tweeter center to tweeeter center ... or something else
also when they say x feet to the back wall do they mean x feet from the back of the speaker to the wall behind or x feet from the front of the speaker?
thanks
ray
rrm
I disagree. The OP's question implied that he was attempting to set up his speakers by measuring the placement. Newbee merely said to measure from the drivers.

Hmm, you and I understood the OP differently then. I would not make the same assumption as you have. I see that he's reading articles (plural) on speaker placement and some mention measurements. He seems to want to clarify those points the measurements were taken from. I would never have read into that he is subscribing to any one of those methods. Just that he was curious enough to read more than one article. That in itself would prompt me to offer suggestions, as you and others have. Furthermore, Newbee suggested what HE used as the points in question. He did not suggest subscribing to using a specific methodology.

Yes, I think we basically agree, though I'm not entirely sure. I agree with some of the things you said - as I've pointed out later, I do not think there is a single methodology to use, that, as a rule, will work with every room, including the Sumiko one you suggest. But then I only have half of your 50 years in this hobby. Do you get a gold watch or certificate for your wall when you reach that landmark? :-)

Yes, I did feel you came off as disagreeable and thank you for the apology. Call me thin-skinned, but the phrase "extremely naive concept" as well as the general tone of your post rubbed me the wrong way.

Newbee - Yes, you've described it better than I did; essentially a triangle where two sides are identical (distance from ear to driver, not ear to speaker plane), and the base is 83% of those sides. Again, a suggested starting point.

If you came at this with no suggested starting points at all you might very well put one speaker in a corner in front of you and the other to your left side facing away from you and see how the sound pressure suits the music. Keep moving them around until you figure it all out and the pressure is equalized, and measurements are strictly verboten.

Mockturtle - No worries. I have had systems in various small rooms and, again, ran into some of the same challenges you describe (per my response). Sometimes a good solution, I've found is an asymetric corner placement. Man, Roger Sanders did that with his panels at a couple of the shows I've been to and was able to achieve a pretty impressive soundstage considering the size of the panels vs the size of the room they were in. Very impressive.

Marco
Clio09, Nice speakers I think. I've read about them and would like to hear them someday. I've always wanted to do business with Duke.

LOL at myself. I just erased a long diatribe about how to determine how far to place speakers from the wall behind them and why. Then the light went on! That was neither what you asked or wanted read.

As I 'thought' I mentioned originally, but didn't, I believe set up folks always refer to the front of the speaker. If I had to pick a driver I would pick the woofer because of it's utilization of the back wall in its output but I don't think anyone really has fine tuned their recommendations that closely.

FWIW
Clio09, Nice speakers I think. I've read about them and would like to hear them someday. I've always wanted to do business with Duke.

Ditto. His rooms were sounding GREAT at two the two shows I've heard them at. I think the Jazz modules were what was playing at THE Show recently...outstanding! He'd be a good one to ask about anything speaker/placement related (member: Audiokinesis). Definitely one of the good guys, and very talented as well.
Newbee said:

"Clio09, Nice speakers I think. I've read about them and would like to hear them someday. I've always wanted to do business with Duke."

I prefer Vienna Acoustic, but I must say that Duke had some of the best speakers at the last RMAF. Speaking of placement problems, he struggled a little early on, but really had his main room working well by Sunday. He's really a great guy that makes some great speakers.

Dave
At the 2009 THE SHOW the Audiokinesis speakers were from Duke's new Planetarium series. Same with 2008 RMAF. I've been extremely happy with the Jazz Modules. Duke has a forum over on Audio Circle if anyone is interested in learning more about Audiokinesis products.