Hi, I am unsatisfied with the soundstaging of my current setup. In particular I am not getting the 3d soundstage (depth) that I would like. Currently, I have my audio rack in between my speakers. Rack itself is about 3 ft tall. Could having this rack in between my speakers be causing my lack of soundstaging?
I would have to agree with others as I have an audio rack (3.1/2' tall), a TV and TV stand and couple of plants between my speakers. It will likely be a weak link in your system or speaker placement. Have you tried repostioning your speakers? I played with my speaker placement for days (if not weeks) before I got it right. Now I have good depth & hieght with reasonable width. Your room is going to play a big part in soundstaging as well, I know mine does. Good luck.
1. Room acoustics. 2. Speaker placement. ...... ..... .... ... .. N. Corrupting object in the center comes lower on the list but higher than cables or swapping DACs.
The best rule-of-thumb is to ensure your rack's highest component is lower than the midrange driver of your speakers.
Adhering to this general rule should not affect soundstaging. Even if your rack is a bit higher, my hunch is you will still hear no difference.
For starters, trying bringing the speakers further out into the room so that there is at least 5 or 6 ft between the front face of the speaker cabinet and the wall behind the speakers.
Having a reflective object, like a TV screen, between speakers is bad for the midrange center soundstaging. Pull speakers out from wall & put a rug or heavy blanket over the reflective object when critically listening.
Everything affects everything. A mega tv of 300+lbs will have some affect. The less you block or absorb the sound the better the results. If things did not affect or produce an effect we would not need to tweak.
I have a HUGE, Guargantuan, massive, behemoth, wooden "entertainment center" between my speakers. It was present one day when I got home from work years ago and to this day I don't remember agreeing to its purchase.... Anyway, "it" was a big reason that my interest in audiophilia waned for several years, thinking that it would be useless to try to get speakers to image the way that I wanted (I heard some old, three box Audio Physic Calderas, and those imaged better than anything I'd heard up to that point). My interest soemhow got piqued by Audiogon listings of some Paradigms (I had Paradigm 9 SE's at the time), and I ended up with Paradigm Studio 100 V3's, purchased at a dealer, who was meticulous in setting them up. They actually managed to image fairly well.
Then I heard the Intuitive Design Summits, had to have them, got them, and the soundstage that they throw is phenomenal, so much so that I posted an Audiogon review about them where I basically went ga-ga over them. (The speakers and the "entertainment center" are pictured in that review.)
So....it's possible to get central imaging even with a huge monstrosity between the speakers. My suspicion is that the imaging would improve still further if the "thing" weren't there between the speakers, however. -Bill
I don't want to seem picky but a rear projection tv will absorb sound and not reflect it. I have done tests. Just because it shines doesn't make it auto reflect. It will reflect light ..but not sound . I know ....iknow..I the negative one.
I have a large bigscreen TV between my speakers and it makes no difference whatsoever. I rolled it down the other end of the room and A/B'd the difference. None that I and my "golden eared" buddies could hear.
It's a big bugger too, 65" Mitsu. Picture in my system link. I always thought I'd be better off with nothing between the speakers...........goes to show that is not always the case.
I think 3ft is shoft enough not to present problems in most rooms. I believe how high the rack is positioned in relation to he height of the speaker drivers and of course the distance of the rack away from the speakers play an important role as well.
Removing the rptv in the middle has been one of the best sonic upgrade for me personally.
As this thread might indicate as it has progressed, the larger the better. If you have the room I'd recommend putting a small tugboat in between your speakers. If space is an issue, perhaps a piece of farm machinery like a thresher or a combine. Either one will make you think you were wearing some of those carboard red and blue 3-d movie glasses on your ears! Whoohaaa, now we're talking "sound stage"!!
Marco
PS....If you go for the tug or farm machinery solution, don't try running the engine in either one while you are listening to music. It'll ruin the 3-d effect.
cables play a big part the acoustic zen speaker and interconnects image very well
I bought a couple of diffusers to put between my speakers and tv - the tv is back slightly from the front of the drivers. Von Schweikert's image so well you don't notice the tv
A slight twist...not sure if it's different, but as long as the topic is up...
I've been thinking about a new arrangement for my system that would have the speakers a foot (no more) off the long wall(15 feet). The speakers are designed to have their backs close to the wall, 6-12 inches. In between the speakers would be a six-panel oriental screen that's around 6.5 tp 7 feet wide when set up in the normal mild zig-zag. The screen would be as close to the wall as possible, sort of like this -->
The screen panels are 15 inches wide, anyone that seen a series of these panels can imagine what they might look like when setup in a shallow zig-zag(shallower than the characters above). I know there's nothing like the real thing and testing it, but the topic is up so...
In my case, the speakers front edge needs to be at least 10" in front of my 64" rptv or the sound is deadened. Soundstage doesn't change much. Say a prayer and move the speakers out if you've got the WAF.
Unfortunately, since I have been banished from my study (the wife turned it into a playroom for my kids) I do not have a lot of flexibility in terms of speaker placement. I cannot move the speakers that far from the front the audio rack. I think the best I can do is to have the front of the speakers about 1 ft in front of the audio rack. I will try this tonight and see what happens.
audtiotomb: I actually just bought some Acoustic Zen interconnects today (Silver and Matrix Ref) after auditioning them. You are right, they do seem to improve my imaging especially with regards to female vocals. I get a better holographic image now.
Tboooe, from my experience trying different interconnects will greatly enhance a good system, increasing transparency etc but will not transform an inferior one. I try to select gear that is known to offer a large three dimensional soundstage. Unfortunately I have had gear in the distant past that only offered a 2D sound in the same room. The culprit can be just the preamp, power amp, or both. Replacing this undesireable gear was a revelation for me. By no means am I suggesting your gear is inferior but you would have to come to your own conclusions maybe after trying everything else including some of the above suggestions.
thanks Phd. I totally agree with your post. I am actually in the midst of upgrading both my preamp and amp. My shortlist is currently Classe, Ayre, and BAT.
Taboooe, your shortlist is excellent. I especially like the Bat. I understand this amp is a zero negative feedback design and has only two gain stages (a very good thing!). Build quality is about the best I've seen & should provide the sound your looking for.
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