Hello all, not usually found in this territory as I'm generally over on the TT forum, so a big "howdy" to you!
After doing all the tweaking I could do with my system (phono, vinyl listener) I came to the unavoidable conclusion that, as you all likely know here on this forum, that it's ALL ABOUT THE SPACE after you've maxed out everything else! Unfortunately, I am not able to redesign my house and my listening space is far, far from ideal. Soooo.....went on a quest to find more information and possible solutions to at least make it as good as it might be. Admittedly, I'm a newbie to this frontier and will try to enhance my understanding of such things as bass traps and wall treatments etc. etc., but the single most profound thing I've picked up on these past few days is about ambiophonics and the science behind it. Again, don't profess to know much about it since it is a bit overwhelming and requires more knowledge than I have to digest it fully, but the one thing I picked up on that has helped tremendously is about speaker placement....
Previously, I had attempted to use the conventional approach of the equilateral "triangle" and found it OK, but I seemed to be lacking a bunch of frequencies that my gear should be infinitely capable of revealing. When I put on my Sennheiser HD600 headphones, it was all there.....take 'em off and just listen to the speakers.....much was gone! The one thing I did get, right off the bat, about the ambiophonics stuff was that moving the L & R front speakers close together would provide better sound......huh? That just didn't jive with my previous 50+ years of listening experience but I also had never done that.....just didn't seem "natural," after all we've been told about stereo separation and imaging and blah blah blah.....
Well, here's my conclusion. With my L & R speakers no more than about 32 inches apart, directly in front of me and aimed at my nose roughly 12 feet away from my listening position, everything has changed. Instead of narrowing the soundstage, it is HUGE!!! At first, with my eyes open and looking at the close proximity of the speakers, it didn't really register. Then, closing my eyes, I realized what had just happened and am blown away.
Just wondering if anyone else here has experience with this and would really appreciate your comments/observations/feedback. If you have the flexibility in your room, please give this a try and tell me what YOU think.
I did have to make some other fine-tuning adjustments, e.g. moving a large overstuffed chair out of the room and this opened up the soundstage even further. I also took my center channel speaker totally out and increased the output from my rear speakers (now I have, basically, a 4-speaker stereo system) as suggested on the ambiophonics site. Here's the link:
http://www.ambiophonics.org/
I have a long ways to go as far as understanding it but even this relatively basic tenet of the theory has piqued my interest and moved me towards uncharted territory, at least for me.
Thanks for reading and look forward to meeting some of you here on this forum of AK....
After doing all the tweaking I could do with my system (phono, vinyl listener) I came to the unavoidable conclusion that, as you all likely know here on this forum, that it's ALL ABOUT THE SPACE after you've maxed out everything else! Unfortunately, I am not able to redesign my house and my listening space is far, far from ideal. Soooo.....went on a quest to find more information and possible solutions to at least make it as good as it might be. Admittedly, I'm a newbie to this frontier and will try to enhance my understanding of such things as bass traps and wall treatments etc. etc., but the single most profound thing I've picked up on these past few days is about ambiophonics and the science behind it. Again, don't profess to know much about it since it is a bit overwhelming and requires more knowledge than I have to digest it fully, but the one thing I picked up on that has helped tremendously is about speaker placement....
Previously, I had attempted to use the conventional approach of the equilateral "triangle" and found it OK, but I seemed to be lacking a bunch of frequencies that my gear should be infinitely capable of revealing. When I put on my Sennheiser HD600 headphones, it was all there.....take 'em off and just listen to the speakers.....much was gone! The one thing I did get, right off the bat, about the ambiophonics stuff was that moving the L & R front speakers close together would provide better sound......huh? That just didn't jive with my previous 50+ years of listening experience but I also had never done that.....just didn't seem "natural," after all we've been told about stereo separation and imaging and blah blah blah.....
Well, here's my conclusion. With my L & R speakers no more than about 32 inches apart, directly in front of me and aimed at my nose roughly 12 feet away from my listening position, everything has changed. Instead of narrowing the soundstage, it is HUGE!!! At first, with my eyes open and looking at the close proximity of the speakers, it didn't really register. Then, closing my eyes, I realized what had just happened and am blown away.
Just wondering if anyone else here has experience with this and would really appreciate your comments/observations/feedback. If you have the flexibility in your room, please give this a try and tell me what YOU think.
I did have to make some other fine-tuning adjustments, e.g. moving a large overstuffed chair out of the room and this opened up the soundstage even further. I also took my center channel speaker totally out and increased the output from my rear speakers (now I have, basically, a 4-speaker stereo system) as suggested on the ambiophonics site. Here's the link:
http://www.ambiophonics.org/
I have a long ways to go as far as understanding it but even this relatively basic tenet of the theory has piqued my interest and moved me towards uncharted territory, at least for me.
Thanks for reading and look forward to meeting some of you here on this forum of AK....