Often one reads about where certain speakers position stage (in front, between, behind)... In my case instruments are always on the wall, no matter where I have the speakers. Right now I pulled them almost 2m from front wall and about 1.8m from my listening position and still music "comes" from front wall.
-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Is position of stage speaker or room dependant?
- Thread starter sajgre
- Start date
Well the obvious solution would be add absorption to the front wall. Your front channels are also pretty close together, which is usually not helpful, reducing the soundstage width, and concentrating the room reflections.
The "rule" about having your speakers away from walls is misleading. It is equally valid to have the speakers close to the walls, which increases bass loading, and then use 2-4" treatment to absorb the SBIR effect.
The "rule" about having your speakers away from walls is misleading. It is equally valid to have the speakers close to the walls, which increases bass loading, and then use 2-4" treatment to absorb the SBIR effect.
DVDdoug
Major Contributor
- Joined
- May 27, 2021
- Messages
- 3,023
- Likes
- 3,977
The soundstage illusion depends on "everything", including your brain. The recording is also a big factor.
Personally, it's not something I worry about. I know I'm listening to a pair of speakers (or multiple surround speakers) and I'm usually listening rock which is "artificially" mixed and panned.
...With headphones I get the impression of the sounds coming from somewhere around my forehead, or I can hear hard-panned sounds "injected" directly into my ears from the headphones.
Personally, it's not something I worry about. I know I'm listening to a pair of speakers (or multiple surround speakers) and I'm usually listening rock which is "artificially" mixed and panned.
...With headphones I get the impression of the sounds coming from somewhere around my forehead, or I can hear hard-panned sounds "injected" directly into my ears from the headphones.
sam_adams
Major Contributor
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2019
- Messages
- 1,000
- Likes
- 2,435
Without knowing the dimensions of the room it is hard to be exact, but with the speakers that close—and even at the further distance mentioned—you are probably within the critical distance for the room/speaker combo. This means that you will be hearing the direct sound of the speakers without the 'benefit' of the reverberant field that would be developed by the room acoustics—reflection, dispersion, etc. Being that close, you would not get the sense of envelopment that the diffuse sound field produces.
- Thread Starter
- #5
Thanks for all the replies. Just to clarify, my post was not intended as seeking advice. I just want to know if soundstage is really speaker dependant because in my case it seems it is not. No matter where I have speakers (by front wall or extremely out in the room as right now) stage appears on the front wall. I actually like that.
And btw in this position soundstage is very wide, almost 5m, it is as wide as "projection of speakers from my point of view".
I'm not native speaker, sorry if it is hard to understand me sometimes.
And btw in this position soundstage is very wide, almost 5m, it is as wide as "projection of speakers from my point of view".
I'm not native speaker, sorry if it is hard to understand me sometimes.
It is speaker + room dependent. The radiation pattern of your speakers changes how the energy interacts with your room, and those reflections + the direct sound make the "soundstage". Those same speakers in a different room will sound different, different speakers in the same room will sound different, changing the material of the walls would sound different, etc.
In order to understand this better, you could look at the energy time curve of your room. It allows you to see what percentage of acoustic energy is arriving in a given time slice. You can also go further and look at the decay slopes of individual frequencies.
When you see "estimated in-room response" shown in reviews, this is based on a typical rectangular room, with a typical level of absorption. Things like a slanted roof, low absorption, high absorption, or an L shaped room would all make that data less accurate.
The phantom center sticking to the wall is telltale sign absorption needed.
Good thing is that not all that much absorption is needed to fix that.
If you‘d place an acoustic panel in front of that furniture, instead of the white chair, while listening to music, you’ll notice the change immediately.
The height of the panel could be the height of your speakers. Then you could put it in a closet or somewhere else, when you are done listening,
Tell me if this is what you are experiencing: Odd sensation that things panned near center or at the exact center sound coming way back from the wall, but at the same time sound very forward and prominent.
Good thing is that not all that much absorption is needed to fix that.
If you‘d place an acoustic panel in front of that furniture, instead of the white chair, while listening to music, you’ll notice the change immediately.
The height of the panel could be the height of your speakers. Then you could put it in a closet or somewhere else, when you are done listening,
Tell me if this is what you are experiencing: Odd sensation that things panned near center or at the exact center sound coming way back from the wall, but at the same time sound very forward and prominent.
Concentrating the room reflections? Lmao.
Anyway listen to Paula Abdul’s Vibology. If her voice is not jumping at you and sitting on your shoulders in some passaged then there is something wrong.
Otherwise this is a very typical stereo experience.
Otherwise this is a very typical stereo experience.
KxDx
Senior Member
In that picture you're way too close to the speakers. Move them back and separate them to get as close as you can to an equilateral triangle. Put some absorption behind them and at the first reflection point.
The rear of my speakers are only 6" from the wall and they still throw an amazing stage.
The rear of my speakers are only 6" from the wall and they still throw an amazing stage.
tallbeardedone
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2022
- Messages
- 102
- Likes
- 215
I've written two very detailed docs describing how to optimize soundstage and frequency response in your room. If you want to have a read message me your email address. You can also read a short(ish) version of one of the docs in this thread:
Optimizing Speaker Placement and Listening Position using REW
Hey everyone, Last night I hooked up my Macbook Pro to my Hegel h390 integrated amp and ran frequency sweeps in REW to determine the best placement of my Monitor Audio gx300's in my listening room. It's super easy to do and really helped me nail the perfect placement in my room resulting in...
www.audiosciencereview.com
Similar threads
- Poll