Speaker positioning, a black art or ??

[Folsom]

one time visitor's feedback is different, but still valuable. it's all data points, but everyone who comes has their own prism of reality they filter through, as well as the time it takes to fully appreciate what my system is doing. I find when a visitor has a second session that they 'get' what is going on much better.....

I think it would be nice to be able to go from your system, back to another, and back to yours. Although changing something in the system seems to give a similar affect. I'm somewhat surprised, to me it was really clear how well your entire setup is tuned, and what it can do. But I admit I spent a lot of time all year practicing hearing the differences in things, and trying hard to avoid false-positives. As far as being critical I'll come around to that at some point. It's sort of like taking a ride in a Koenigsegg and then being asked what you didn't like; even if there's areas you may well believe you could change it was still the best ride you've had.

The speakers are closer together, and more on-axis than I thought they'd be, but I couldn't possibly fault their position without an awful lot of time, like, living with them, to even conceive of moving them. I think it goes to show that a lot of intimate time and tuning goes a long way because all speakers and rooms are different. But I guess that's where the benefit of someone walking in and it getting it to say a good 90% or better is appealing since you can spend months on it yourself with a lot of your spare time.

 

[PeterA]

Although this is surely the most important aspect considering visitors, most of the time I also profit from the opportunity of using them as guinea pigs for my audio experiments!

That's pretty interesting. Do they know your intentions?

I was told that I was used as a guinea pig once after giving my opinion about the sound of a system. The host later told me he intentionally gave me wrong information about component settings or cables or something, I can't remember. I thought that was odd.

Do you use visitors as guinea pigs because you don't trust what you are hearing, or do you want others to confirm what you are hearing? Perhaps you just want another opinion? The term, and this approach, are not why I invite others to hear my system. I want to see audio friends, meet new audio people, and simply enjoy listening to music together. Perhaps I don't understand what you are saying.

I have found some people are more receptive to opinions than others. Some ask for them and appreciate candor, others just give their opinions, unsolicited. I agree that one should not take this stuff very seriously.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

That's pretty interesting. Do they know your intentions?

I was told that I was used as a guinea pig once after giving my opinion about the sound of a system. The host later told me he intentionally gave me wrong information about component settings or cables or something, I can't remember. I thought that was odd.

Do you use visitors as guinea pigs because you don't trust what you are hearing, or do you want others to confirm what you are hearing? Perhaps you just want another opinion? The term, and this approach, are not why I invite others to hear my system. I want to see audio friends, meet new audio people, and simply enjoy listening to music together. Perhaps I don't understand what you are saying.

I have found some people are more receptive to opinions than others. Some ask for them and appreciate candor, others just give their opinions, unsolicited. I agree that one should not take this stuff very seriously.

i view feedback as data in a data bank. that data may not fit my current narrative of how I view my system. or I may discount it based on my viewpoint of the bias of the source. however; my view may adjust based on some other input, maybe hearing something in another system, my own viewpoint adjusts, and now that piece of data in my data bank fits the new narrative.....or at least sheds more light.

you just can't take stuff personally, but no need to reject or accept anything either.

 

[Rodney Gold]

my "critical" pal insists on moving my speakers after I have positioned them to the milimeter..p's me off no end..like your mother in law coming over and re arranging your furniture

 

[Mike Lavigne]

my "critical" pal insists on moving my speakers after I have positioned them to the milimeter..p's me off no end..like your mother in law coming over and re arranging your furniture

well...er....maybe you need twin tower, 7 foot tall.....750 pound each tower, speakers. no worries about anyone moving them.

 

[microstrip]

That's pretty interesting. Do they know your intentions? (...)

Peter,

Surely. I only used the term "guinea pig" to avoid the long statement "listening without proper knowledge of what they are listening". It is all done in a friendly and long term complicity. But yes, many times I want to cross their opinions with mine without influencing them. I should say that my visiting audiophile friends are in a very limited number - a small group where we know each other for decades. 95% of the people I met who are concert goers or enjoy good food and nice places are not audiophiles...

 

[JackD201]

Peter,

Surely. I only used the term "guinea pig" to avoid the long statement "listening without proper knowledge of what they are listening". It is all done in a friendly and long term complicity. But yes, many times I want to cross their opinions with mine without influencing them. I should say that my visiting audiophile friends are in a very limited number - a small group where we know each other for decades. 95% of the people I met who are concert goers or enjoy good food and nice places are not audiophiles...

We're a very small 5% then

 

[DaveyF]

my "critical" pal insists on moving my speakers after I have positioned them to the milimeter..p's me off no end..like your mother in law coming over and re arranging your furniture

Rodney, this may sound a little odd...but have you ever let this guy re-arrange your speaker positioning? By putting tape down where you have your speakers currently, you would be able to re-position the speakers if you did not like your friend's results.
Perhaps, you may prefer your friends positioning? By never letting him do this, how would you know?

To add another wrinkle here, I would question ( wonder) if a listener who is primarily a 'classical music' lover would have the same opinion of the SQ as a listener who only listens to rock or jazz or----G-d forbid..RAP. ( or insert the music type here).

 

[Rodney Gold]

Ive let him move them around many times , only to put them back.
He has different priorities in respect of sound than I have , he likes a small intimate sound and I bought my speakers due to their "big" sound. It's getting tiresome having him impose his values.

 

[DaveyF]

Ive let him move them around many times , only to put them back.
He has different priorities in respect of sound than I have , he likes a small intimate sound and I bought my speakers due to their "big" sound. It's getting tiresome having him impose his values.

Got it.
Your Giya's can easily do both,although I'm sure that your positioning would better allow for the "big" sound. Seems you are more attuned to that than your friend. I can easily see how his insistence would become tiresome.