Measuring speaker distance - Kudos Titan

Hi all,

Quick one, when Kudos refer to situating the speakers 2m apart is that centre of tweeter to centre of tweeter?

If you were measuring a Titan from the back wall would it be from the back of the cabinet where the cables go in or from the little wing like protrusions that stick proud a few inches?

I am playing with the fine tuning and just wondered these mostly irrelevant things as I am moving to suit my ears anyway!

Have a good evening all and listen to music :sunglasses:

I always go tweeter to tweeter, however, I don’t get wound up by little things nowadays, if it sounds good, it is good no matter what the measurements say :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Hi Steve, can’t help thinking that the distance between the speakers should be determined by the sidewall distance or room width per se whatever the brand of speakers. Equally the distance to the back wall could be determined by the room’s bass response. :+1:t3: Have fun Peter
PS. What Titans are they?

5 Likes

I will measure later to see how far off I am from Kudos recommended measurements for interest I guess! I am not normally a fiddler with speakers but the Naim Chips make it a bit easier and these are pretty decent so worth making a bit of an effort I thought!

Thanks for the reply.

Oh, yes, its worth making an effort, just don’t get obsessed with it all and lose the enjoyment of such fine speakers :slight_smile:

1 Like

They are the 808. I am close to the sweet spot now in terms of my ‘probably damaged’ ears and they sound good! I will see how that references the starting point suggested by Kudos. The main movements were dealer done but 300hrs or so on these bad bois have mellowed them out somewhat now so I am making small adjustments and listening for a few days.

The room is about 5.5x4.5 and not lots of room for space around them. Kids and a lounge etc! They still have about 40cm one side, 35cm behind (to back panel) and about 30cm the other side next to Fraims. A compromise but a very good sounding one atm!

2 Likes

Hi Steve, my best suggestion would be if possible to maintain exactly the same speaker distance to the sidewalls before further mocking about :+1:t3: ATB Peter

@PeterR would you consider the Fraim to be a side wall? The actual wall is about 70cm behind the front if the Fraim! The stack is quite high though, not 808 high but about 20cm lower.

Any chance of a picture please? ( you know you want to :rofl:).
Tom Barron ( PMC’s delightful rep.) taught me the string method measuring from nose tip to inside corner of left and right channel obviously being sat in your listening position.
In my old house it turned that there was a 40mm discrepancy due to the walls not being proper straight ( ex house was built in the mid 1980s).
Clearly you need a helper to do it, but let’s just say that my wife being a psychodynamic counsellor has been very understanding in me setting my listening room up…. :partying_face: ATB Peter

3 Likes





@PeterR just lying in bed with my 5 year old so the above are pics from my camera roll! Probably not ideal and pre moving the fraim side speaker in a bit. No front on shots it seems!

5 Likes

Whilst everyone analyses the layout I’ll just say that those look like very fine speakers :slight_smile:

2 Likes

For measuring as such, a laser distance meter is 10 euros and a lot of help.
Whether tweeter or sides used for distance between speakers, those fine differences will be overshadowed by room specifics. And getting the right speaker out of that corner will probably be more important, if you can

2 Likes

Lovely room - your 808s look superb in the white finish :+1:

1 Like

@Suedkiez move the non fraim side speaker in further you mean? Its further from the wall by about 10cm than the other is to the Fraim. I guess the Fraim does not count as a wall??

The Fraim on the left is much less of a mirror for 1st reflections than the wall/window on the right*. I can’t imagine not having pretty bad 1st reflections with the right speaker. It might help to toe them in a bit - even if Kudos generally doesn’t want it, but your placement options seem pretty constrained and you are going to have to find the compromise that works best / is least objectionable. Best to try in any case. Or maybe some absorption panel on the wall.
(Edit: Though in the 3rd picture they apparently have more distance than it looks in the 1st pic)

For any other speaker squeezed into the room corner I would also be concerned about bass boom, but the Kudos being pretty tolerant might be able to take it.

It all depends on the room. With a system and speakers on your level I’d measure it if it was my system and room.

* Though it’s probably not ideal to blast the Fraim and units with sound if their construction is trying so hard to keep vibrations away. But I get it, real-life constraints, you do what you can :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Hi Steve, tell me about the Zildjian…

3 Likes

With a system like that I’d get everything set up properly first. ATB Peter

1 Like

Hi Steve, your front wall ( speaker wall) looks less than 4.5 metres in width in the photos?
In my view the speakers simply aren’t allowed to breathe properly.
The location of all your boxes on medium level Fraim is literally occupying the left hand corner, which beyond constraining the left 808 surely induces unwanted vibration into your Fraims. Beyond dropping the height aided by standard levels or 3 stacks even, is it at all an option to move the stacks completely away from the speakers??
Obviously working on the ‘the popularity vote’ here :face_with_hand_over_mouth: Peter

3 Likes

Those speakers need room to breathe Steve, they must boom where they are now. I would sacrifice some of the space between the speakers to get the speakers more into the room.

Can I ask, how close are they to the rear wall?

Can I also ask, what is hiding on the left of the system as you look at it?

3 Likes

I was recently reminded just how sensitive speaker positioning can be. I played around with my DBL’s the other night and just 1cm of toe-in resulted in a significant improvement. Any change to this, no matter how minor and things get worse.

I’m lucky that they are on Naim chips on a wooden floor, so I can draw small pencil circles around the chips to note if they move. It seems the wife’s vigorous vacuuming can some time move them!

1 Like