Hi everyone

My current setup is

Allaes connected via NACA 5
NAP 150x
NAC 122x powered by a
Flatcap 2x
CDX2

The rack comes from music line, the German naim distributor.

My last upgrade was changing my CD5x for a CDX2 (thanks to my wife, who made this the biggest birthday surprise I could imagine).

With that massive step ahead I enjoy music even more. But now I am trying to optimize the position of my Allaes, asking for some advice.

My room has about 15 squaremeters with 5.45 m to 2.78 m. To give you a better idea I took the pictures below.

The distance between wall and right/left box ist about 45 cm. The distance between the boxes about 138 cm. The left box stands about 60 cm from the wall, the right one about 56,5 cm. The space between box and courtain ist about 21 cm. If I choose the same distance for the right box as for the left one, the voices loose focus.

Every hint is welcome, perhaps even with a suggestion where to place an n-sub in the future.

In the next years (or better decades) I would like to achieve the following upgrades: NAC 282, HI-CAP, XPS2 and finally a NAP 200 or perhaps 250.

Bye
Arkan

The next photo...

The third one should be enough for now...

Hi Arkan,

Welcome to the forum.

Your system in the picture is looking very good.

RE positioning of the Allaes, you could try the following:

1) equalise the position of the speakers relative to the side walls.
2) Toe the speakers in by upto 1 inch, this should focus the soundstage, instruments and vocals.
3)Ensure that all the bolts at the bottom of the speakers are tight.
4) Lower the speaker as low as possible with the spikes.

This is what I did with my Allaes in my room and they were very good.

Also try and get the Flatcap as far away as possible from the pre and CD player.

Let me know how you get on. By all means contact me direct at the email address in my profile.

Regards


James

I have my Allaes away from the corners - they don't like corners and 7.4 inches from the rear wall. I'd avoid putting the kit between the speakers if you can. I also think that you should consider a bigger carpet to cover up the wooden floor and improve the sound in one go - IMHO, of course.

Great speakers BTW.

Good luck, Rotf

Arkan

Firstly let me say you have a lovely room. I wish mine was like that!

Is there any way you can move the speakers back towards the wall more? The 60ish cm gap is probably not doing you any favours. You may be able to partially achieve this by having the curtain only over the doors rather than full room width.

Secondly, could you move the room round try with the speakers firing across, hard up against the back wall? I can understand why you might be reluctant to do this though.

Best wishes, Julian

try putting your speakers on one of the side walls.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
I'd avoid putting the kit between the speakers if you can. I also think that you should consider a bigger carpet to cover up the wooden floor and improve the sound in one go - IMHO, of course.

Seconded...

I enjoy the sparseness of an empty room as much as the next guy but in my experience, music always sound best in normally furnished rooms.

best of luck,

dave

Hi Arkan,


In my experience of having my Allae's in two different rooms and three different positions you should experiment with positioning from hard up against both walls and out in the room. I had my Allae's first about 41cm from a brick wall and toed in about 30 degree's but in my present listening room they are 16cm out and are firing straight down the room. So just start with them hard up against the wall/window (try them as others have said on all the walls in your room) and then back out to their present position and just listen to the balance of the High's, mid's and bass then try them half way between the first two positions and do the same until you have a balance of all frequencies you like. A rule of thumb is usually up against a surface more bass, out in the room more treble. Hope this helps.

Ps: I forgot to say when you get the balance right try a bit of toe in to see if the music is coherent and together without a hole in the middle of the soundstage.



Dean..

Just to show how diverse a group we are...contrary to what ROTF says, my Allaes love corners. I have mine equadistant from the corners and back wall, about 6 inches each way. slightly toed in and about 11 feet apart. Sorry about the non metric dimensions, we in the colonies haven't embraced the metric standard yet. And I wonder if the curtains might serve to damp the sound, not in a good way?

Tom

I would never toe in Allaes by an inch. I might toe them in by a few millimitres but never a whole inch. That would just pinch the soundstage toward the middle, give little width and the bass slows down.

They could be a bit closer to the back wall.

The system often seems to sound better when it is not in between the speakers. If you do this ist'll also mean you can go out through the door!

As for setup, the lower the spikes the better, but most importantly ensure there is absolutely no rocking and when you push lightly on the top box, the speaker should feel sprung with no wobbles.

Your wife surprised you with a CDX2? impressive, very impressive.

Yes, you have a very understanding wife.
What are your thoughts on your existing sound from the speaker placement.Is it too bass heavy, not heavy enough, etc. Placement will have a BIG effect on this. Also, how about the stereo image. Does the system sound nice & big, or is the sound being beamed at you right down the middle.
Getting the equipment out from between the speakers is usually considered a good thing, helping with the focus & imaging. Speaker placement, relative to the side & rear walls is more individual & room dependant & worth experimenting with. Allaes can sound lovely when well set up. I've heard I've dave(scottyhammer) set up & its very nice. I've also heard Allaes sounding a bit average, so set up is well worth playing with.
Matt.

Hello

First of all thanks to all of you for your friendly answers.

Flatcap was already des lowest component, followed by the NAP.

Just experimenting with moving my rack aside. Because of the lenghth of my NACA 5 (each 4 meters/13.12 feet) I could move it to the middle of the side wall. I don't like the new view but sound seems to have improved. Of course I need some more listening time to this.

Moving the Allaes to one of the long walls would leave not much space to my listening position (distance over all between the longer walls is just 9.12 feet). Perhaps I will try this one later.

So far my Allaes fired straight down the room. Next I will try to toe them in a little. Could you help me with the distances to the side wall (Allae's frontside to side wall /Allae's backside to side wall)?

Other hints still have to be tried out.

Is it possible the the bass comes more boomy, moving the Allaes closer together?

Why seems the right box overemphasised, when it is not about 2 or 3 inches closer to the rear wall (Allaes firing straight down)?

I would like to lower my Allaes but although it should be possible some spikes won't turn further in. Perhaps the thread is defect (bought the Allaes new from a official naim dealer)? Current distance Allaes to floor is 1.46 inches. Which distance did you choose?

Bye
Arkan

First of all, congratulations on choosing wife. Does she have a sister? ;D

My Allaes are placed 30 cm from the wall. This gave me a "balanced" bass, when moved closer it was too much.

They are 35 mm from the floor when measured against the wooden edge. I don´t have them directly on my old wooden floor, though. They are placed on crete slabs (yes, I stole them from a pavement construction site, look at is as tax payback!). This resulter in a tighter/faster bass and a more "controlled" overall experience. Cheapest upgrade ever!

Toe in is very small, maybe 2 cm.

Experiment with distance to wall, distance between speakers and toe in. My experience is that all rooms are different. And do a test with the kit moved away to a side wall.

Good luck! /Thomas


PS. Very nice and clean looking setup!