soundstage/image: lateral/height...

Early B.

scottnbnj wrote: »

i've heard this in my rooms when speakers have to be placed very close to side walls too. i think what might happen in your case is a combination of being so close to the floor and far from the ceiling.

i think maybe the timing of reflections from a very close boundary might come closer to reinforcing direct sound rather than compete with it. for the ceiling, maybe the increased distance makes reflections from there weaker and arrive so much later than direct sound that they are subconsciously discarded, sort of like the difference between how a speaker performs that is placed 3 feet from a side wall as opposed to 6 feet from a side wall.

Scott -- you may be on the right track with regard to the interplay between speaker placement, side wall, and imaging height. I've had a bunch of speakers over the years, both bookshelf and floorstanding. I've also had a few different amps, ICs, etc., and in every case, the imaging height was the same - low height. The similarity is that with each setup, one of the speakers is always very close to a side wall due to the room configuration.

scottnbnj

i've never had a room that i could get that much distance between my lsi9's and have enough distance from side walls to keep it clean. i'm really interested in trying that some time. how far is your listening position? have you tried them closer together and/or closer listening positions? does that do anything for the image and soundstage height? if i remember right, my lsi grilles block sound waves travelling along the front baffle vertically moreso than horizontally, what happens for you with them on? if you have a coffee table in front of your listening position, that can mook things up a bit. if you have reflective surfaces right behind your listening position, that can amplify and add more bad ju ju to other reflections too.

you know, treatments don't have to be right on the reflection point. anywhere between the speaker, reflection point and listening position that blocks the path will get it done if it's thick and/or dense enough. i'm just sayin, height can do alot for the experience and it might be worth opening a can of crazyshit just to hear what's possible and find where the problem is.

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scottnbnj

yeah eb, i remember pics of your room. that's a bad situation you have with that wall unit. i guaruntee you that i'd have stuff close at hand that i could block those reflections with for when i'm in a serious listening mood if i had to set up my stuff like that.

i had a free standing coat rack in one of the more ridiculous rooms my gear was camped out in for a while. it was just a pole with branches that the coats hung on. that thing worked like magic.

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Face

You can also experiment with toe and height. Try having the speakers facing you, straight forward, etc... As for height, just temporarily place some books between you speakers and stands, and use the spikes to angle the tweeter at you.

I'm using bookshelf speakers at the moment, with my tweeters 3' or 4.5' off the floor, the center image is still at about the same height, but the speakers disappear a little better at 4.5'. I just have to angle them down slightly so the tweeter is aimed towards my head.

Something else to try.
http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=26&pagestring=Room+Setup

scottnbnj

Face wrote: »

... I'm using bookshelf speakers at the moment, with my tweeters 3' or 4.5' off the floor, the center image is still at about the same height, but the speakers disappear a little better at 4.5'. ...[/url]

i had my 9's with the either the tweeter or top driver right at mid-height between the floor and ceiling for a while. if i remember right, i think it might have worked out to just a little above the height of where the top drivers of lsi25's would be. i could adjust my ear-level to that height also with the chair i was using at the time. it was a bit unnatural, but it created a low/midbass pop that was searing. unnatural or not, it was alot of fun.

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