Speakers "Disappearing"


I have read a lot about speakers "disappearing" so that one can't tell from where the sound is emanating. But, what about all the stereo tunes where the recordiing engineer intentionally pans the music to come from one side or the other? Can the speakers be made to "disappear" in that situation? Or, is it just the nature of the particular recording?
rlb61

Showing 7 responses by rlb61

Great suggestions, but the size of my room precludes implementing several of them. My room is 11x9x8 and well treated. I have the speakers 3' from the side walls and 3' from the back wall. That's about the best I can get ... it's a challenge.
@milpai ... thanks. That’s what I’ve suspected. I’ve done the whole measuring thing and have my speakers equidistant (front, back and sides) to within about 1/4". That’s about as good as it’s gonna get. The speakers do "disappear" for the most part, but there are those records where it’s just obvious as to the location of the music.
@georgehifi  ... any idea where I can get that disc? I looked on Amazon and the Chesky website, but couldn't find it.
@georgehifi ... thanks. I looked for "DJ 37 Sampler" instead of "Vol. 1." Unfortunately, it's a digital download only and I'm a CD dinosaur.
@milpai ... I most definitely agree with you. In my 10x10x8 tiny man-cave, it’s critical to get the measurements on both sides of the room as close to each other as possible.
@bluesy41 ... funny you should mention that method. I was on the Cardas site and came upon his method for speaker placement. It's similar to yours. So, I have each speaker 3' from the side wall, 3' from the back wall, and about 6.5' apart. After measuring, my room is 11'(L)x9'(W)x8'(H). Thank goodness for a laser tape measure. I now have a solid center image and cannot locate sound coming out of either speaker on many recordings. Of course, that also depends on the recording and the engineer's panning preference. All in all, things seem to be working OK, but likely it will remain a work in progress.
@michaelgreenaudio ... OK, I’ll bite. How does one tune in a "Recorded Code?"