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In Reply to: RE: Shifting instruments and room layout posted by pistonengine on March 01, 2012 at 19:48:27
The best thing to do is to figure out if it is your system or the recording.
I have a few recordings where movement of the vocalist is in the recording.
Can you play the same song on headphones?
If it is not the recording, a good culprit would be that the tweeter distances are too far apart and slight head movements will shift from center to the left or right speakers.
Try moving the speakers an inch or two closer.
Afterwards we discovered faith; it's all you need
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Try putting the tweaters to the inside. Should give you better focus
Also the tv might be the source of the problem
Alan
The room is 15'2" deep and 15'6" wide. The front wall is 12 feet wide on the far right-hand side and the system is centered on it.
The speakers are 34" from the front wall on the back edge, 43" on the front edge.
The back of the couch is 31" from the back wall. Can't move it back without blocking access to the kitchen.
I'll do your suggestions when it's a decent hour for critical listening. Probably will be a few days - I have a trip this weekend to Whistler.
Cool, I was worried about the space but you have enough. Well...hmmm, would your couch fit in the kitchen? : - ))
I should have something more for you tomorrow evening.
Couple of thoughts before I go to kip.I used to have tweeters in. IIRC, the sound stage was much more defined, but at a loss of depth. I might switch back that way. I will for a bit, at least so I can remember why I liked tweeters out better.
The room actually feels quite cramped with the big ol' Magneplanars there, so you aren't wrong on that bit. I feel with a couple of extra feet I'd be able to widen up the speakers a bit for a more expansive stage and still improve image resolution. In order to bring them out far enough from the wall, I had to tighten them up together a lot. Before I had them about 2 feet from the back wall.
I doubt the panels I built are causing many issues, but it is a possibility. I realize there is a lot of absorption behind the maggies, but none on the sides. I built the big ones to set in the corners as bass traps. I wonder if I built two more smaller ones for the sides walls, and set the "bass traps" on their sides, angled along the wall for trapping bass.
Edits: 03/01/12
try listening to the pole piece side. Just as an experiment.
I run that way, tweeters IN.
Too much is never enough
Magnavox NB530MGX
I actually just flipped the speakers for poles facing (tweeters out). Definitely different. Can't say better. Certainly not worse. Funny thing though... before I had all the channels the same level, with the exception of the right woofer slightly higher to bring the woofer image to center.
Flipping-and-reversing the speakers, I had to dial DOWN both right tweeter and woofer to center it. Not what I was expecting.
JBen, the picture isn't loading :-(
Huh, I missed this one. Did the image ever show up? If not, let me know and I'll try something else.
Yes, it did.
That room is tough especially with the door and the fireplace.
Here are 2 alternate options that might work better:
The sideways setup
or the Rooze
Try the rooze with the tweeters further from you and both panel's edges pointing right at you.
Afterwards we discovered faith; it's all you need
Well, it is just past 3am here and I was about to sign off...so my pistons may be misfiring...
- With the setup here, room width 12' (25'long), the sounsdstage can be larger than the room, in all 3 directions in front of me. The walls can vanish. I use a tweeter-in config but tried tweeter-out for a while just to evaluate. The stage width is just as good with either but tweeter-in is sharper and more focused here.
- Tweeter-in's stage here is deeper. Again, room config and size may play a role.
- We will get to the panels later but I do worry a little about the current placement. My initial thought is that light treatments will be better. The panels, at least experimentally, may turn out to be better on the wall behind you, on the right. Their absorption may help balance against the open space to the dining room. In addition, you could wind up with better dynamic punch. If it worked, a prettier alternative may be mandated later, unless you are single... : - ))
- In the meantime, I have to figure out how you can take advantage of a room feature that we partially share; the truncated corner on one side. In my case, I had to match it on the other side, and it became an asset. You can't fully do so. We'll have to be creative.
And now it is 3:30am...later!
Cool, let us know how it goes.
I have a trip this weekend to Whistler.
To see his mom???
Afterwards we discovered faith; it's all you need
Hey D, good call. I forgot to mention the headphone call. Peter Gabrial is front and center in what I have here but it may be a different recording.
Thanks J,
I am not JUST a pretty face. Most likely it is not the recording but we need to rule that out before we go messing about in the room.
It does happen on some recordings.
Are you still a fan of the TV in the middle??
Afterwards we discovered faith; it's all you need
D, "pretty face" did not even cross my mind. LOL!
Yes, actually, I have recordings where there is singer movement. I've kept one in my test music selection because of the awesome imaging it has. The producer wanted to keep some of the "on stage" experience of a Broadway musical.
Well, I am still a fan of "something in the middle" for some situations that may require it. However, the more places I try this where planars are concerned, the more I find situations that would benefit, or at least, offer an optional presentation...given a person's preferences. To be sure, I don't yet know the range of situations this may work on.
Here's an additional perspective. The Minis were designed for the desktop environment. Guess what tends to be on the many desks? Exactly. Which is why I tested it. The Minis with a laptop folded down sound great. But, with the laptop monitor open, they sound more impressive and image better.
And for some tastes & preferences, of course, there the Rooze and variants thereof.
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