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Depth of sound stage--I need help

I have a 14x18 listening room with Audio Physic Tempo EXs on the short wall set up per Cardas speaker placement guidelines. I am running Quicksilver Silver 60 mono amps(older version) with a VTL 2.5 preamp, and a Sony SACD 333ES changer. I have Silver Audio interconnects an DH-Labs Q-10 speaker cable. On the power end I am using a Monster Cable HTS1000 surge protector and Synergystic Research AC Master couplers on the amps and preamp. I have a very wide sound stage and for the most part the system (albiet modest) sounds pretty good. What I am missing is that 3D sense of the artist being right there with you. It is not nearly as "lifelike" as some of the systems I have heard (Most notably SET Cary gear). Where do I look for improvement--My room, the source, amp, preamp, cables? Or is the bottom line that I have just fallen for what people call the Cary "majik"? Please advise.

Thanks,

Greg
gcarbone

Showing 1 response by piezo

piezo
304 posts
 
I've been thinking bout this soundstage thing for a while now and depending on what is being listened to the depth part of it can be one big illusion. As indicated above the illusion can be helped by speaker placement but i think that walk around the dude feeling is very recording dependant even with a killer rig. If you are listening to classical or a small jazz band with the whole stage miked by a few overhead condenser mikes the depth thing is the real deal reflecting the time required for the sound to reach the mike from different parts of the stage. Likewise if you are listening to a recording where everyone played live and there was bleed through into the vocal mike up front or maybe, but not likely, into adjacent instrument mikes there may be some real depth. The truth is that for a lot of recordings a SM-57 or equivalent gets shoved in front of the amplifier or drum in a close mike arangement where every instrument is isolated in it's own channel. Ain't no depth to be found there. That being said as Drrdiamond pointed out for classical there isn't all that much depth i can back that up for almost any amplified instrument show i've ever attended.
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