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Improving 2- Channel Soundstage

I don't know if I'm asking my question in the right topic area but I figured folks with HT experience may be able to help. It may also sound like an odd/stupid question so please bear with me. I'm a 2-channel/stereo audio guy and I'm trying to improve the soundstage in my listening experience. Has anyone tried a set up where you put another pair of (smaller) speakers between the (front) 2-channel speakers, closer together and pushed further back behind the two main speakers, sort of like deeper into the soundstage. I suppose using a "center" speaker/channel is another option. Now, would using the main speakers as front and the two behind them as rear/surround or cenetr speakers and apply an EQ such as "Hall" or "Concert" help with creating a deeper soundstage? This is of course assuming the source material is just 2-channel audio and the EQ choices are based on what the HT receiver can offer. Thanks.   
128x128kalali

Showing 1 response by erikt

erikt
256 posts
 
I've found that a center does more harm than good with what is traditionally considered the 'soundstage'.

The autocalibration routines in most AVRs are going to set the center volume to be equal to that of the fronts because from an HT-centric perspective, dialog is equally important as L/R content.

But for music, what ends up happening, from my experience, is that this is too high a level and the soundstage becomes non-descript, almost 'mono' sounding.

For multi-channel music, or some of the HT modes (such as NEO6 or PLII, etc, et al), I manually lower the center level until some semblance of L/R separation and soundstage 'returns', then save the setup in one of the memory settings.

For 2-channel, all the funny sound modes get turned off and I get much better soundstage results with just L/R.
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