Speakers Against Wall

[user 49612]

I currently have the EFX speakers but have the itch to upgrade to the ESL X speakers. They would be butted right against the wall though. I have no other choice in my room. How does that effect the sound?

Speaking of wall speakers….what is everyone’s take on FX vs FX2 for my surrounds….

 

[IEnjoyOLED]

I have the ESL X speakers close to my wall, but not touching. Since the rear of the speaker is the sub, you might get away with it, but it is unfortunate. Do you have room and appetite to experiment with some sound absorption behind the speaker? Do you have some Room EQ (eg, Anthem ARC) in your system?

In my theater, I’m going from in-walls to room speakers. I think you might wish you had stuck with on-wall speakers (budget kept me from purchasing EFX in the theater). What is it that you’re dissatisfied with in the EFXs?

Good luck.

ETA: my ESL X are in an entirely different room than my theater.

 

[user 49612]

I just feel like the stat panel is too small on the EFX. I ended up purchasing a near new pair of Theos speakers. I’ll see how I like them.

 

[ttocs]

You might want to read up on how the rear wave interacts with the front wave at the MLP. Lots of improvement can be gained with proper treatment and positioning - not just the distance to the wall, but also toe and inclination. And it's free to tinker with these aspects of altering the sound using household soft goods as temporary absorbers along with repositioning the speakers.

For example, place bed comforters behind the panels to find out how the sound changes when you limit the rear wave bounce from the front wall. I stacked pillows for this purpose when I had my Vistas.

 

[user 49612]

You might want to read up on how the rear wave interacts with the front wave at the MLP. Lots of improvement can be gained with proper treatment and positioning - not just the distance to the wall, but also toe and inclination. And it's free to tinker with these aspects of altering the sound using household soft goods as temporary absorbers along with repositioning the speakers.

For example, place bed comforters behind the panels to find out how the sound changes when you limit the rear wave bounce from the front wall. I stacked pillows for this purpose when I had my Vistas.

Could you recommend a thread to read?

 

[ttocs]

https://www.martinloganowners.com/threads/speaker-set-up-class.18741/
Watch the video. The speaker setup instructions are at 18 minutes into the video and this is what led me to how my speakers are positioned.

 

[Lightloopy]

https://www.martinloganowners.com/threads/speaker-set-up-class.18741/
Watch the video. The speaker setup instructions are at 18 minutes into the video and this is what led me to how my speakers are positioned.

I finally tried this last night and was impressed with the initial results. The first thing I noticed is how lively the bass became. The center vocal is much more challenging and has endless permutations with miniscule changes in toe in and rake.
It's definitely worth trying, with potential benefits, and well, the price is right.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[IEnjoyOLED]

I have my ESL X closer to the wall than I’d like, but things seem to be much better since I put some bass traps with dispersion panels behind the speakers. The dispersion panels don’t limit the reflection but do “randomize” the reflections; the bass traps do limit HF somewhat but mostly bass. I found them very useful in my small dedicated home theater to make the room sound larger, so I thought I’d give them a try in my much larger music room. It’s only been a week without much chance to listen critically, but so far I’m happy. My music room is modestly damped; my HT is damped within an inch of its life.

I also use the Anthem Room Correction software on my STR integrated amp in the music room. Toe in is 1/3 flashlight standard.

 

[MisterB]

I've used the "twice the diameter of the woofer" rule of thumb for minimum placement from the front wall. It works ok. Of course, the farther out into the room you can get them, the better they will sound. I think ML OVERstates the recommended distance from the side walls and UNDERstates the recommended distance from the front wall. I recently repositioned my Impressions moving them farther apart and closer to the side walls so that I could move them farther away from the front wall. They are now 5' from front wall to back of the panel, and only about 1' from the side walls. I do have absorption on the side walls behind the panels as well as floor to ceiling corner bass traps with diffusion plates. The overall soundstage sounds wider and taller, and the center imaging is amazing. It's going to take a little while for me to get used to them sitting that far out into the room, but the sound is worth it.

 

[Lightloopy]

My take was that instead of measuring distances and having them be exact is that you can tune placement with your ears and the end result is that the speakers may end up not exactly conforming to a formula but a result that depends on the unique characteristics of the room ( sloping ceiling, open side wall) . It actually has been fun.

 

[ttocs]

My take was that instead of measuring distances and having them be exact is that you can tune placement with your ears and the end result is that the speakers may end up not exactly conforming to a formula but a result that depends on the unique characteristics of the room ( sloping ceiling, open side wall) . It actually has been fun.

Exactly!
Speaker placement is not symmetrical in a non-symmetrical room.

Distance, Toe, Tilt, all may be different due to room conditions including how each wall is constructed because interior walls are usually constructed differently than exterior walls.

Consider this, if the Right speaker is always louder than the Left speaker, and the speakers have been swapped, amp channels have been swapped, but the Right speaker is still louder, then it's because the speaker placement is wrong. Change how the speaker is placed so the image is centered without any preamp settings being changed.