One inch makes a difference in quite a number of respects, especially in loudspeakers.
The angle of your speakers—whether they point straight ahead or aim directly at your ears—controls far more than most people realize. Toe-in affects tonal balance, soundstage width, imaging precision, and even the size of your listening sweet spot. Change the angle by a degree or two and you change the entire character of what you hear.
Heavy toe-in, where the tweeters aim right at your ears, typically gives you a precise, focused center image. The singer locks dead center with almost holographic solidity. But you pay a price—the soundstage often collapses between the speakers, losing that magical sense of width and depth that extends beyond the speaker boundaries. The sweet spot shrinks too, becoming less forgiving of head position.
Zero toe-in, with speakers firing straight ahead, usually opens up the soundstage dramatically. Music spreads wider, depth increases, and the overall presentation becomes more spacious. But, depending on your loudspeakers, the center image can lose specificity, becoming vaguer and less focused. The tonal balance often shifts too.
The right amount of toe-in depends entirely on your speakers' design. Speakers with excellent off-axis response—like our Aspens—need very little toe-in. Others with narrower dispersion patterns need more angle to maintain proper tonal balance. I've set up systems with everything from zero to thirty degrees of toe-in, each finding its own sweet spot.
The dance between center image precision and soundstage width is where the magic happens.
