2. amps-preamps
  3. 1367163375

Is soundstage just a distortion?

Years back when I bought a Shure V15 Type 3 and then later when I bought a V15 Type 5 Shure would send you their test records (still have mine). I also found the easiest test to be the channel phasing test. In phase yielded a solid center image but one channel out of phase yielded a mess, but usually decidedly way off center image.

This got me thinking of the difference between analog and digital. At its best (in my home) I am able to get a wider soundstage out of analog as compared to digital. Which got me thinking- is a wide soundstage, one that extends beyond speakers, just an artifact of phase distortion (and phase distortion is something that phono cartridges can be prone to)? If this is the case, well, it can be a pleasing distortion.
zavato

Showing 2 responses by zavato

zavato's avatar
zavato OP
1,414 posts
 
I don't think my componenets are "poorly designed", as I use a rather nice Sim Audio CD player, and have an LP12/Ekos/Arkiv B turntable set up. I don't know whether the point of stereo is to spread the sound outside of between the speakers. I thought it was to create a sound stage as wide as the distance between the speakers, which of course was nothing when dealing with a single speaker in mono reproduction.

None the less, rarely do I get much of anything beyond the speakers unless the speakers are pretty much pointed straight ahead, but then I loose a solid center image.

Notably, the widest soundstage I can get at home sometimes seems to be through a pair of AKG 701's but I know some view their portrayal of soundstage as exeagerated.
zavato's avatar
zavato OP
1,414 posts
 
I could have been clearer- is soundstage extendeding beyond the speakers a product of a distortion?
More to discover