room size question.

i keep saying that the system sounds fine, i have vocals that image from the front.....but that is where it stops.

@bshaw , Sorry if I missed something, but I thought that you said that you either had imaging and no real sound stage or if you moved your speakers far enough apart you lost the imaging? That doesn’t sound fine to me.

.....and hence my post about can this be achieved in a smaller room ?? if you look at the size of both of those rooms in the videos, they are big rooms....a lot bigger than mine. i think that a small room like mine has its limitations and this is going to be it.

I listen in a room with less clean space than you have described, and although I do not know how accurate it is, my sound stage presents the illusion of being wider than the room is laterally and filling the space between my listening position & the rear wall and dead center imaging.. I hear plenty of height. (A lot of this is dependent upon the source CD. Some are WAY better than others.) I have no doubt at all in my mind that if I was to move back out into the living room with my gear that there would be sonic benefits, but I believe that the limitations of close field listening can be mitigated to a large extent.

the equipment has to stay in between the speakers , there is no other option.

Now this, above, I see as presenting a real problem. As I typed, I think that the sonic limitations of near field listening can be mitigated, but one of the things (that I think) need to be done is to have a clean triangle.

However, I make no claims at all of being an expert on this subject.

@immatthewj 

my sound stage presents the illusion of being wider than the room is laterally and filling the space between my listening position & the rear wall and dead center imaging.. I hear plenty of height. 

that is what i dont have.     i have the center imaging, but what you just described is what i am missing.

This is a very challenging situation; however, you can get a good sounstage in a small room. Room treatments are essential, and I use GIK for mine. In my 11x11x8 room, my speakers are about 3’ from the back wall (measured to front baffle) and 29" from the side walls. Speakers are abiut 7.5’ apart amd my listening chair is about 8’ from the speakers. Suggest using corner bass traps, side panels for first reflection points, and an absorption panel behind your listening position. With some experimentation, you should achieve a good soundatage.

@rlb61 

if you have read all my replies....i have GIK panels, i have the bass traps in the corner, i have the acoustical panels behind the listening chair and i have the stand up diffusors..

speakers are( i forget now as  i have moved them so many times,) but from the back wall to the rear of the speaker they are out at least 3 ft, maybe more....and 29" from the side walls.

if i go wo wide with them, then it sounds just like 2 speakers playing and i lose center imagining.         i have the triangle from speakers to listening chair.

@bshaw Sorry, I haven’t read the entire thread. However, when measuring speakers from the back wall, the measurement should be to the front baffle, not the back of the speaker. Similarly, side wall measurements should be to the front baffle. Also, it looks like you may need to move the speakers closer together since you’re not getting any soundstaging with them wide apart ... if you move them closer in small increments with no toe-in, there should come a point where they will snap into focus and you’ll achieve a nice soundstage.