How tall do you like your images?

The acoustic of very small room cannot be set as very big room... And great hall acoustic is very different...

I dont have money , then i decided to embark in a homemade set of experiments 7 days on 7 for more than a year because i am retired...

A dedicated acoustic room make it possible such set of experiments,,,

i learned to experiment with passive material treatment but also with what i called active mechanical controls with a grid of distributed Helmhotz resonators tuned by ears all along the room near the speakers and near to my listening position...

The end results was not perfect but so hugely different from average speakers in a living room , there is not even comparison...my 2 way box system gave me what a multichannels gave in some way...

 

It was not perfect because my speakers so good they were , were not top nor my other gear pieces...

But my experience was so stunning that it resemble being in the sweet spot on a great musical hall and hearing music around me ...

Because my gear was average it can be improved on many acoustic aspects, but learning how to control a room taught me how general acoustic recipe given as solutions can be useful but scratch only the surface of the acoustic puzzles and the acoustic power of transformation in a room...

Those who did not experiment it cannot have an idea...

If someone want to reach the top, he must create an acoustic room for his speakers , buy the best gear, and buy the BACCH filters....No need to multichannel...

Acoustic consist in helping the ears to create, not tricking the ears to go where human brain do not naturally go...The difference between these two roads is very, very small... Milliseconds...

It is only my limited experience teachings...

There is three main focus in my tuning experience of very small room ( 131/2 feet by 15 feet by 8 feet 1/2) : the main aspect is timbre experience, because you can have localization of sound in space with a not optimal timbre experience or a distorted one....Then in second localization of sound sources all around you....But the third last aspect ask for more work and it is immersiveness, the way the listener is included in the recording acoustic translation experience in his acoustic room reproducing the recording but including him with his listener position in the soundfield...

This is possible to some level with purely mechanical means... It is not perfect as i said but going back to normal room listening or even to a room only passively treated with usual acoustic recipe is impossible...But to reach perfection is impossible with homemade mechanical controls made by tuning ears ... If someone read about the BACCH filters i think the next acoustic tool to buy it is this one...

I learned a lot doing it...

I learn at least that it is less the gear but acoustic that is the basis of audio...

We are all different with budget differences and different spaces... Then no one can impose his road to others for sure...

I only advise people to read basic acoustic more than gear review...😊

 

 

 

BACCH Choueri filters is the future of listening...

Only reading his articles is enough to be sure of it...

There is NO TIMBRE degradation in the process...

 

I am sorry but i owned a two way speaker box ( 7 inches driver for bass) in his dedicated room and i never had an only between the speakers soundfield...it is recording dependant but with half top recordings album on 100, 50 will fill the room outside of the speakers plane, with front sound sources and back one simultaneously or around the room sound sources ... It is completely recording deopendant with all levels variations possible...no recording engineer use the same acoustic materials nor the same locations nor the same trade-off choices..

Why  is it recording dependant ?

Because when room  acoustic is lacking the soundfields stay between the speakers nevermind the recordings...Especially with relatively low cost speakers even with good one  as mine...

For example i listened a brass ensemble playing Gabrieli music the soundfield is completely divided in two groups of players answering one another , as the music was written by Gabrieli and as it was recorded with two groups facing one another...

The soundfield of each playing groups half the album extending completely out of the speakers by the side coming from each opposite walls... Half of the albums is recorded with the players in depth back of the plane of the speakers coming from the wall facing the listener  and in front of the speakers in the room in front of me ... Then with my "traditional speakers" the image was never coming from the tweeters... All that resulted from my heavily designed acoustic room...

It is why as Mike lavigne said , i agree completely with him,  that the soundfield variation and dimension and orientation come from the recording acoustic choices ... Anything else indicate design/acoustic related problem...

My system dont compare one second to the resolution clarity of Mike lavigne, but my speakers/acoustic is so good i hear  also results coming ALWAYS from the recording... but not with the clear crystal definition as Mike Lavigne system, i dont need to verify this it is evident  so satisfying my low cost system is for my needs ... my system value is very low... nevermind the price tag,  room acoustic is the main factor in audio not the gear price tag if the basic components are relatively good or passed a minimum quality treshold... But i will repeat even in soundfield location precision and for timbre experience my system cannot even compared with Lavigne, but the soundfield impressions are for me too ONLY recording dependant...

 

My experience with planars though is the same as you...

 

My experience with line and planar sources is that the height is actually wherever my ears are. That is, if I am sitting the music seems to be right in front of me, and the same standing up.

Compare to a traditional system where the image remains between the tweets.

 

 

 

I am not sure what to answer to that because as mikelavigne said it is completely recording dependant...

My soundfield vary completely from one album to an another NOT ONE SOUND THE SAME... ... A jazz trio does not occupy the room   as a recorded organ in a church  do and even each recorded organ are completely different  nor a Chorus with an orchestra well recorded as The Christus of Liszt by Antal Dorati...here all the soundfield is distributed filling the room all around me...Same with Kurt Weill opera with lotte Lenya... The recording is STUNNING...