There's an old chestnut that goes "rules are meant to be broken".
The original quote was made by a man who should know: American General, Douglas MacArthur (who famously broke a lot of rules).
His actual quote is: "Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind."
I couldn't agree more.
How often have you made a rule based on an observation only to later have to break that rule when circumstances change? Mine are too numerous to count.
I remember preaching the Toe In Rule for years. Toe the speakers in until the center image reaches perfection and you're good! Only, that rule is incomplete at best.
A better rule is to do the opposite. Start with no toe-in and adjust the distance between the left and right speakers until tonality in the midbass is perfect and images seem palpable. Then, and only then, toe-in slightly to get the center image to pop.
And as we each learn more over time, these rules change again and again.
The takeaway should be to always make rules that are malleable and open to change.
That's one good rule to stick with.
