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Room acoustics how ? My image is not centered

The sound of my system is not good. the image is tending a bit to the left and not centered, the sound is "hard" and there is no much stage.

I own Merlin MMe, VAC Avatar super, Electrocompaniet EMC1 CPD, cables: audience au24, cardas golden reference

as for the unbalanced, I tried all the combination's of switching cables sides and every time the sounds is bit stronger on the left. so I suspect my problem is with the room acoustics. the left wall is made of concrete bricks and the right wall is all glass-fronted (maybe this is the cause?) the ceiling is made of wood.
do you know how can I scientifically measure and check the sound in my room ? and scientifically found the places where I need to put some materials for better acoustics ?
any good info and/or reference for web site explaining on room acoustics ?

about my amplification (VAC AVATAR SUPER), I suspect (only syspect) its really not match the Merlins since the sound is bright and "hard". anyone have experience with it with the Merlins ? better suggestions for amp or pre& for the merlins ? (for used price ~5500$)

thanks
128x128haimschindler
haimschindler's avatar
haimschindler OP
3 posts
 

This is a link to my room photos:

http://www.photogan.co.il/audio/

side walls distance: 3.6m (11.8 feet)
front rear distance: 7.0m (22.9 feet)
ceiling height: 2.6m (8.5 feet)

thankyou
ojgalli
165 posts
 
Acoustics can be very tricky, especially in asymmetrical rooms. Your room may look symmetrical, but the reflectance of glass and concrete at various frequencies is different—concrete being more linear—hence the bias in the image towards the left. The obvious thing to do is to use the balance control on your preamp. One half to one dB may be all it needs to center the image. Toe-in will help only for the high frequencies leaving mid to low still unbalanced.
programmergeek
322 posts
 
Try hanging a thick comforter from the areas on the side wall where first order reflection is, that is the worst reflection it will be 45 deg off the speaker cone. If that helps you either need defuses or absorbers there. Wall hangings like rugs, and stuff help or just search for sound panels there are easy to make.

Also check the position of the speakers in the room if look on Vandersteens site in one of the owner’s manuals he gives you a way to measure where the speaker should be in the room that is step one. if they are to close to a wall that can cause all types of trouble.

There is a always a balance between acoustics and function / ascetics in a room.
paulsax
275 posts
 
couple thoughts. I have a somewhat similar goofy room and found after much experimentation that I was able to "position" my soundstage by having different levels of toe-in. I tried for symmetry but always was skewed. GOt my distances right and played with toe in on one side and than the other. Found I could get what I wanted with roughly 3 or 4 degree difference. YMMV. On another note I would be really surprised if edge diffraction is at play here when so may reflections can have a field day. If I recall correctly the equations indicated to me that sound diffraction in something like this should be about nothing. Have to think but off hand I doubt it.
royj's avatar
royj
151 posts
 
From experience, those wall reflections are most likely the cause of your 'hard' sound, not your gear or cables.

With your speakers being rather far from both sidewalls and roughly equidistant from them, I do not think the acoustic-reflection differences between the two types of walls are enough to explain why your image is pulling to the left.

You are instead hearing the reflection off the top of your large coffee table, which is located left of center.

Best of luck!

Roy Johnson
Designer
Green Mountain Audio
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