Soundstage Puzzle!

[Rodney Gold]

Its down to asymmetry .. what will really help is a program like DIRAC which will correct each speaker individually .. balance will just make one speaker softer , which ignores variances in the actual freqs and treat the speaker globally as a whole
The suggestion re a purpose built dedicated room sounds good. Even if it costs a lot.. you can normally get it back on resale...if you ever resell..if not.. you have a marvellous room to enjoy and futz around in.

 

[DaveyF]

Its down to asymmetry .. what will really help is a program like DIRAC which will correct each speaker individually .. balance will just make one speaker softer , which ignores variances in the actual freqs and treat the speaker globally as a whole
The suggestion re a purpose built dedicated room sounds good. Even if it costs a lot.. you can normally get it back on resale...if you ever resell..if not.. you have a marvellous room to enjoy and futz around in.

+1

 

[rockitman]

My image balance can change by adjusting the toe in 1/2" increments. If you have uneven reflections...use your ear to fine tune your toe. The laser works well when both walls are equal reflectively. That's what I would do. Sound absorption can kill the life in the sound.

 

[garylkoh]

Even with "exact" positioning with a laser, there is only so much accuracy you can achieve because of centering of the laser pointer, how steady you are holding it, etc.

If your image is to the left, move the right loudspeaker close by 1/8 of an inch. You may need to do multiple increments to get to a center image.

I thought I explained loudspeaker set-up here many, many, many moons ago but can't find the thread now. Here's a link to my set-up procedure.

http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/whitepaper/Genesis_Loudspeaker_Setup_Procedure.pdf

 

[FrantzM]

Its down to asymmetry .. what will really help is a program like DIRAC which will correct each speaker individually .. balance will just make one speaker softer , which ignores variances in the actual freqs and treat the speaker globally as a whole
The suggestion re a purpose built dedicated room sounds good. Even if it costs a lot.. you can normally get it back on resale...if you ever resell..if not.. you have a marvellous room to enjoy and futz around in.

+2

 

[MadFloyd]

Steve answered the question and yes it will be for every source.

The imaging problem isn't the direct sound since the speakers are exactly the same distance to your listening position. It's the reflected sound. There is more reinforcement from the walls near the right speaker that push what should be a central image to the left. To offset that you can change the preamp balance favoring the left channel or move the left speaker forward, as you have done, and it will sound better, but the image balance will still be slightly off. Any asymmetrical toe-in vis-a-vis the listening position will likely mess the soundstage up more. Don't do that.

You might consider hanging something above the half wall in the kitchen seating area to partially fill in the open space. Perhaps, a 4' x 4' framed stained glass art work that matches the decor and maintains the open feeling of the house but provides enough reflective surface to restore the balance? You shouldn't have to build a new room!

Oh, I've had this problem too so I know what you're dealing with. good luck!

Aha! OK, the notion of the reinforcement from the right wall pushing the imaging to the left is what I didn't consider.

While suggested solutions are always appreciated, what I mostly wanted was to understand the nature of the problem.

Interesting suggestion to consider hanging something above the half wall.... as I have no desire for a dedicated room.

Thanks, all.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Beautifull system / room .
The unevenness will be the problem imo as stated before by others , isnt it possible to close the open space a bit by hanging a heavy curtain between room / kitchen to create more of a closed listening space , if its to much absorption maybe something a little more reflective /diffusive

 

[andromedaaudio]

It will ad bass pressure/extension as well , a speaker has to be able to pressurize a room , if the energy can just float out to an open space it makes it harder for the speaker to do that