Holography/Depth Localization

[PristineSound]

Ok, I really hope those who knows the science of room acoustics can weight in on this.

First, I am an absolute sucker for spatial performance specifically imaging and depth localization (holography, 3D imaging or whatever labels, and terms are out there); I like soundstage, but I don't care for a ginormous soundstage.

Anyway, after so much playing around with room treatments, I noticed that damping the sagittal plane (front wall and back wall) with absorption panels, it is a huge improvement in depth localization. I would like to use the term holography and 3D soundstage because these terms best describes what I am hearing as sometimes certain vocals and instruments just floats in between the speakers and the listener. In my experience, this is only the case with tightly pair matched speakers, within couple of dBs at most.

Can anyone confirm this experience?

 

[Sokel]

Back wall not so much if it's far enough.
Ceiling is the most important, by far.

It's the closest first reflection of the tweeter after all with tower speakers and helps very much with vertical directivity issues and height that many speakers has.
Depth goes hand in hand with height, if you feel that the scene is lower than it should depth suffers as well.

 

[PristineSound]

Back wall not so much if it's far enough.
Ceiling is the most important, by far.

It's the closest first reflection of the tweeter after all with tower speakers and helps very much with vertical directivity issues and height that many speakers has.
Depth goes hand in hand with height, if you feel that the scene is lower than it should depth suffers as well.

Interesting, the two speakers I've experience this so happened to be speakers with very narrow vertical beamwidth. We're talking maybe +/-30 degrees or less?

For both of them, when I put panels in the front wall and panels or curtains in the backwall (my reasoning was to control room modes), but the first and most pronounce effect I noticed was depth localization, it was uncanny; and yes, it did tame the room modes. One of the room, side wall wasn't an issue due to the extraordinary width; the other room, one side wall opens up to the first floor, and the other wall has a bookshelf. Both rooms have carpet/rug and both rooms back wall is right behind me.

 

[mps]

Interesting! What kind of absorption panels did you use?

 

[PristineSound]

Interesting! What kind of absorption panels did you use?

Any is fine, but one room, I have this, the original thought was to tame the room mode, which it did do as well.

Acoustimac DMD-BT6000 Bass Traps 48"X24"X6"

DMD BT-6000 MEGA Bass Trap 48" X 24" x 6"Used to control and clean up low frequencies, our DMD Bass Traps will help to keep bass from being too "boomy" or "muddy".

www.acoustimac.com

 

[Suono]

It's the closest first reflection of the tweeter after all with tower speakers and helps very much with vertical directivity issues and height that many speakers has.

It depends on how large the environment is, otherwise the first early reflections are the 2 lateral and the 2 contralateral.

 

[sigbergaudio]

It's many things and not always intuitive, and I suspect not always universal with all speakers or rooms. In my dedicated listening room I for example experience a shift in perceived height depending on the distance between the speakers.

 

[Sokel]

It depends on how large the environment is, otherwise the first early reflections are the 2 lateral and the 2 contralateral.

And the height of the tweeter and the ceiling of course.

(I'm at the long dimension, so 4.5 meters from the side wall for each speaker, sometimes I do forget that's not the norm)

 

[DavidMcRoy]

Back wall not so much if it's far enough.
Ceiling is the most important, by far.

It's the closest first reflection of the tweeter after all with tower speakers and helps very much with vertical directivity issues and height that many speakers has.
Depth goes hand in hand with height, if you feel that the scene is lower than it should depth suffers as well.

Thanks for the tip. I bought some ceiling "cloud" acoustic panels some time ago and they're still boxed up. They have hardware for suspending them several inches. Where exactly should a pair of them be optimally placed on the ceiling relative to the speakers and the main listening position? (I'm guessing on the ceiling between the speakers and the MLP?) Would another pair on the ceiling behind the MLP be of much use?

 

[Sokel]

Thanks for the tip. I bought some ceiling "cloud" acoustic panels some time ago and they're still boxed up. They have hardware for suspending them several inches. Where exactly should a pair of them be optimally placed on the ceiling relative to the speakers and the main listening position? (I'm guessing on the ceiling between the speakers and the MLP?) Would another pair on the ceiling behind the MLP be of much use?

Judging by where the people who fixed my room have placed it, it's between speakers and MLP starting a little in front of the speakers , I guess where the first reflection is.
Make sure you leave enough gap, the hardware you mentioned helps with that.