Stereo Image

[admin_exported]

There's always something that annoys me about my system - its lack of a stereo image. I can honestly not pinpoint the voice at all in the soundstage. There is height and depth and width to the soundstage but it is soooo diffuse that I can't pinpoint a single instrument at all - when I heard the Marantz/Mordaunt-Short system at the Bristol show 2008, I was shocked that components costing 1/4 of my system could literally create the sense of the musician being in the room with pin-point accuracy. But my system - the sound is just hung between the speakers...or so it seems to me...

Maybe the whole issue is that I can't visualise where the music is and that maybe the soundstage is magnificent! Have any of you had problems with your soundstage being rather...well...missing?

 

[Anonymous]

Shock - is it my cable I'm using? Just a QUD Qenex with Maplin 99.99% oxygen free copper?

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's your room. Your equipment is fine, there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. I had similar problems, until I (very) recently changed the way my stuff is placed in my room. Both my speakers are now 45 centimeters from the back wall, and free of side-walls, the result is stunning, stereo imaging has improved ten folds, there's much more depth, and especially vocals are placed with more accuracy. Still not pin point accuracy, but I fear that's because of my speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

How far apart are they and how far are you from them?

 

[Anonymous]

Perfect triangle now, 3 meters apart and distanced 3 meters from them with some toe-in, pointed at the 'sweetspot'. Especially moving the speakers farther from the wall helped, I feel, it removed a slight mid-bass hump resulting in a clearer, more precise sound.

 

[Dan Turner]

Here here - side walls are the enemy of stereo imaging, the reflections just mess everything up. Toeing-in can help to 'focus' things up a bit too, and experiment with moving closer too (more bass) or further from (greater transparency) the rear walls.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree you have to experiment with the speaker position.

Try with the help of a friend (you listen and your friend moves the speakers) until you're satisfied. Depending on the room, maybe you won't be able to find the perferct stereo image you're looking for.

Good luck

 

[Tear Drop]

Hughes123:literally create the sense of the musician being in the room with pin-point accuracy.

Go and listen to some live, acoustic, unamplified music and then re-evaluate your listening experience at the Bristol show. It might surprise you.

 

[Anonymous]

maplin wire might not be your systems highlight. maybe its fine... but i wouldn't expect it.

Would also think about positioning. usual stuff. sat in some sort of a triangle, tweeters at eye level, refflective surfaces avoided or perhaps treated. The cushons off the sofa can come in handy for messing about. Go on... have a crawl about and find the sweet spot

 

[fatboyslimfast]

From memory Hughsey, I think your listening room is far from ideal for stereo imaging.

Obviously you are stuck with that for the time being, so I wouldn't get too hung up on imaging - you might be chasing a rainbow until you can get a room dedicated for listening...

 

[Thaiman]

The good imaging (real close to live music) can only be heard with stupid price pair of speakers (IMO and E). The midrange system can get a fairly good image with a decent amp (more noticeable in Preamp). and this is the reason why everytime I wanted to downgrade, I end up very un-happy with the sound.

again it's all down to personal taste. I like my sound as close to live preformance rather than hear the engineering down mix. I suppose Imaging is more important if you listen to a lot of Classical music where you could hear layer upon layer on different instrumentals coming towards you in different time.

 

[Anonymous]

And often you are at the mercy of the recording engineers as to the experience you'll get. In the classical sphere I have experienced everything from a single stereo microphone a few metres behind the conductor, a combination of a couple of directional mics and stereo mics, up to rigs of microphones all over an orchestra.

There are benefits to each (in the pared-down version you are more likely to be hearing what a listener would actually hear, but in the comprehensive approach you can reduce ambient noise - v. important for live recordings, and control balance if the venue is unsympathetic to particular instruments), but the more microphones there are, the more judgement has to be taken as to the relative positioning and prominence within the soundstage, and that will be influenced by what sounds good on the engineers monitor speakers/headphones.

Certain discs are engineered to have a much greater emphasis on sound stage, so that may have been a contributing factor to your Bristol experience.