Sweetspot

We use the Tune Method to evaluate performance

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beck
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Sweetspot

Post by beck »

I my room listening to music I never find it interesting to sit in the sweetspot. The sweetspot is however there. In my room I have to sit right in the middle of the room with the same distance to the speakers as between them.
Sitting in the sweetspot listening to music is much like listening through headphones. You get all the space, placement of instruments and so on from the recording. Things I normally never listen for and do really not care for that much.

Do you have a sweetspot in your listening room. Is it important for you to sit there to enjoy the music?
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springwood64
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Re: Sweetspot

Post by springwood64 »

Yes there is a sweet spot, and the speaker positions are tuned for it.

However it is a very popular seat in the family for non audio reasons: it's the best seat for gaming on the Xbox or for playing cards or for dressmaking.

Consequently I rarely use it! The music is enjoyable in most places in the room, apart from the seat that is right next to one of the speakers
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David Neel
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Re: Sweetspot

Post by David Neel »

Yes, and no. Some years ago when my system was all Linn, and in a different flat, a visiting friend tuned it so that it sounded really fantastic, especially from the sweetspot. But it was no more musical, and listening for the "headphone effect" got in the way of enjoyment.
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Charlie1
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Re: Sweetspot

Post by Charlie1 »

Same as you really back. It's there but I don't need it to enjoy music. In the office, I'm always sat way off to one side but only about a meter or so in front of the speakers. In some ways, it sounds better than in the sweet spot but the eaves of a garage make for a very strange listening room. And besides, I think older Linn speakers are even worse at all that.
beck
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Re: Sweetspot

Post by beck »

David Neel wrote: 2021-02-21 10:14 ........But it was no more musical, and listening for the "headphone effect" got in the way of enjoyment.
I agree and find this very interesting. I get much more out of listening to a voice recorded close to a mic than listening for soundstage and the likes......
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OscarH
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Re: Sweetspot

Post by OscarH »

I like the Sweetspot, as others have suggested it does the “stereo stuff” well and when I do get to sit down I like that.

But most of the time I’m somewhere else in the apartment doing something and I don’t enjoy the music less then.

When off the Sweetspot the system does other things well. Overall the mix seems to work out for me.
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John
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Re: Sweetspot

Post by John »

Interesting video on loudspeaker setup and stereo.

https://youtu.be/4U68pM-3xwM
Robert Lake
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Re: Sweetspot

Post by Robert Lake »

Do you have a sweetspot in your listening room. Is it important for you to sit there to enjoy the music?
My quick respsone is that I never had a sweet spot. I have though about this quite a lot over the years and wondered why people are so obssed by these sweetspots. I might had some sort of sweet spot before I got my Kabers. For me there is just music, especially after using tunedem to find the best place for the speakers. For me it doesn't matter where I sit in the room, as long as I am in front of the speakers. On the other hand I never had any "fancy speakers", beyond my active Kabers. For me, if Ihad to think about a sweetspot, it would ruin my appreciation of music, or at least the type of music I listen to. Mostly female and some male vocalists. To use an analogy from the video above: stereo (sweetspot) is only in the mind of the listener.
Charlie1
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Re: Sweetspot

Post by Charlie1 »

I tend to have my speakers quite close together (~1.5m) and not toed in, so there's not really any sweet spot unless I sit quite close and form the classic equilateral triangle.
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John
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Re: Sweetspot

Post by John »

I have recently dialed in the location of my speakers and listening position where they sound better overall musically. I was introduced to some good information some of which from Earl Geddes who has a website with access to papers and the two books he’s written.

http://www.gedlee.com/Default.aspx

Here’s a bit from the book:

5.4 Sound Perception in Rooms

Before I return to room acoustics design I need to define some requirements from the perceptual domain drawing on some of the aspects of hearing that I touched on previously. To a large extent, the sound quality of a sound system in a room is characterized by three subjective aspects. They are its spaciousness, its localization capabilities and its timbre or coloration. The room can have a major, almost dominant, influence on these aspects of the sound system and expecting high quality playback without due attention to the room is naive. I will discuss these three criteria for a sound system by first defining what they are and how they are influenced by the room. Then, I will return to the acoustic problems that influence these criteria and address the room design to optimize them.


It’s cool sitting in the sweetspot something I did 35 years ago and have just started doing recently. It’s not the most comfortable position on the sofa because it’s in between cushions and it does distract a bit from the music. I started sitting a back on the left cushion which takes me a bit off the sweetspot but still get good spacial effects because of the type of speakers I have and the way they are toed in.
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