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Shifting center image and recommendations on an approach

I am a relatively new member of Audiogon and this is my first post. I apologize for the length of this. I’ll get better in the future. I’ve had the same system for many years and recently upgraded old Dynaudio speakers to Focal Aria 936. I’ve had them for two months and have struggled mightily with placement. For context, I have a Rotel pre-amp and amp (both older) and a Bluesound streamer. I also have an off-brand integrated tube amp (Yaqin).

 

I continually experience a shifting center image. It is primarily skewed more to the right. I’ve used the usual test songs such as Ballad of a Runaway Horse (as well as others, including 3 people Describing Position On Sound Stage in Stereo). The strange thing is that I hear the center image shift over to different positions across different listening sessions. I’ll adjust the speakers slightly to regain a center image, come back and it will be back to right or left. I eliminated the speakers as the problem by hooking up my old Dynaudio’s and experienced the same condition. I switched outputs on the pre-amp, also resulting in the same condition.

 

Well, today, I hooked up my integrated tube amp and I no longer experience the problem. Image is center and overall soundstage is good. So, it would seem to be a problem with my old Rotel pre-amp. Apparently, I must have been dealing with this for a long time and only became aware of it once purchasing new speakers and being more intentional about the soundstage. Ironically, I don’t hear a significant difference between my Dynaudio and Focals – I’m comparing each at this point.

 

Here’s my question (sorry!). Have others experienced a similar situation and how did you resolve it? And, I’m interested in opinions regarding returning the Focals (I’m within the period to do so) and getting a better integrated amp OR keep the Focals, knowing down the road, I’ll upgrade the integrated amp, thereby (hopefully) realizing the greater potential of the Focals?

 

Thanks very much in advance

128x128hazeloop
kota1
2,706 posts
 

OP, the rack, the speakers, the electronics +1, nice job! It seems you are working with a less than ideal space. Curtains are not really absorbers. Despite what you may have read a book case (like the one on the left) is not really a diffusor. If you gave your room a makeover it would upgrade everything. I recommend a studio room kit from sonitiususa.com. When it comes to room treatments you can easily make it worse, you need to treat the whole room (ceiling too):

https://www.sonitususa.com/product/studio-acoustical-systems

 

hazeloop's avatar
hazeloop OP
12 posts
 

dadork - Howdy. I would say around 80-100 hours roughly.

jtgofish
490 posts
 

Sounds like Yamaha NS1000s!You end up moving your head from side to side trying to get a central image to lock in but it never happens.

ghdprentice
6,445 posts
 

Thanks. I love your room / system. Looks great… nice place to listen. While @kota1 brings up good observations that improvements in the venue could really improve the sound. Typically, I would do that after you have all the components you want to live with.

 

If you are not hearing a real improvement in sound quality… regardless of how good or not the rest of your system, i’m not sure it is justifiable to keep the speakers. 

 

So, more questions. Typically, a system might cost / value 30 - 35% speakers, 20%  streamer, 20% preamp, 20% amp. So, are you intending to just swap one thing (speakers) or upgrade your whole system? 
 

If you want to upgrade your system… you might want to take time and audition different speakers until you find some you love. Also, audition integrated amps. I recently did so with three,., that are all well respected contemporary integrated amps with vastly different character: Luxman, Pass, and Audio Research. Luxman is really detailed (not very musical), the Pass is powerful. Detailed and musical, the Audio Research incredibly musical (I just fall into the music). Audition these and you will get an idea what high quality components can do. Coupled with speakers that speak to you and you will have a system far beyond your current system… likely to take you the next twenty years… well, we will have to get you a better streamer and DAC… but that comes later.

hazeloop's avatar
hazeloop OP
12 posts
 

@ghdprentice - thanks for the comments. I will upgrade the whole system at some point. This isn't a fair assessment, but currently the speakers are roughly 50% of the cost - I say that due to the age of much of the equipment - 20+ years (I didn't count for inflation - 😀).

I will say this to you and @ghdprentice ​​​​@kota1 - I haven't been fair when it comes to the amount of break-in period and dedicated listening sessions. Since I switched to solely using the off-brand Yaqin (which I want to swap out), they have sounded better and I'm moved the speakers out for a wider soundstage w/o losing center stage. I will look into Audio Research per your suggestion. When I purchased the Focals from a local dealer, I also auditioned B&W's (704's I think) and Sonus Faber (Lumina and Sonetto) side by side and did like the Focals better (plus it was a better price since Focal seems to moving the 936 out).

I think the next step is to sell the older equipment (Rotel's) and the off-brand tube-amp (not until I replace it mind you). The challenge is where to even sell this equipment at this point?

Thanks very much for the all the advice. 

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