Philharmonic Continues Its Stage-Setup Experiment : Music: Conductor Salonen cites richer sound in the new configuration but acknowledges a sight-line problem.

Patrons who attended last week’s Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion were greeted by a new setup onstage. It won’t be any different tonight.

In a two-week experiment, the orchestra is being positioned in front of the proscenium, farther into the auditorium and seated directly over the Pavilion’s orchestra pit.

This new configuration, which Philharmonic Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen says he discovered while conducting rehearsals and performances of Debussy’s opera “Pelleas et Melisande” last month, seems to cause the orchestra “to sound warmer and more spacious, more intense . . . ,” Salonen said.

However, Salonen said, “there is a problem of sight lines, which we acknowledge, and which we are trying to find solutions to rectify.” A spokeswoman for the Philharmonic explained that in some areas of the balcony audiences cannot see the front of the orchestra as a result of the change.

Salonen said that response to the change already has been good. He said that after the orchestra’s Sunday concert, “I went down to the bar and had a beer, and lots of patrons came to talk to me.” Those patrons expressed positive reactions to the sound of the orchestra in the changed position, he said.

After Monday, Salonen’s next Pavilion performance is scheduled for April 12. A spokeswoman for the orchestra said it has not been decided if the reconfiguration of orchestra players will be used at that time. It will not be used for guest conductors in the meantime.