2. speakers
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My soundstage is terrible. i need help bad.

Ok i have the following pieces. Pioneer 39tx a/v reciever. I have Psb stratus silver i speakers, allantis biwire speaker cables. Tara labs vector 2 i/c. And a large subsonic 5 subwoofer. rarely used. I have little to no soundstage at all. almost sounds like a 5yrs old boom box. i dont understand which direction to go. I am going to be getting some psb stratus gold speakers here in the next 2 weeks from a buddy and im trying to get things straightened out before the new arrivals. do you think going to the better speakers will help or is it that i have everything setup wrong in the house. Cathedral ceiling home. Equipment set up on the highest wall. 26ft. and the seating postions at the lowest around 12ft about 4ft from the back wall. Im just confused on wehere to strart. My kitchen has to open doors to the right if ur sitting in my seating postion. I dont think the room is ever going to be able to give me what i want at any price. I just need some help on setup. lmk what you think i should do first. aprreciate all the info guys. this site rules. Kevin
flyin2jz

Showing 3 responses by cleaneduphippy

cleaneduphippy
323 posts
 
Flyin2jz,

Definely pull your speakers out in front of your wide-screen TV. I myself have a large entertainment cabinet housing my TV and components in between my speakers. And I know for a fact that if I position my speakers behind or even with the entertainment cabinet, then I lose my soundstaging. Pull forward some, soundstaging returns. Btw, I used to use a NAD C542 CDP, and I got good soundstaging from it, so I would suspect your NAD C541 would do the same.
cleaneduphippy
323 posts
 
Flyin2jz,

My set-up is similar to yours as I have a Cathedral ceiling in my living room, and my equipment is set-up on high wall (no other options for set-up), and for awhile I had issues in getting a decent soundstage. I was fortunate enought that merely re-arranging the furniture in the room and adding a couple of large plants and a bookcase filled with books at the reflecting points, seem to solve the problem. And I was able to to get decent soundstaging. Like Proton46 says, you got to be able to control the reflections that are happening in your room, especially if you have a lively room. Also, has Celtic66 says you might want to try another source and/or amp and see if that helps. Good luck in getting your "soundstage issue" solved.
cleaneduphippy
323 posts
 
Flyin2jz.

In responds to your question "How far out in front of the tv do the speakers need to be?" you're going to have to experiment with your own speakers, and find how far forward to go. With my speakers (Madisound AR.coms), I moved them 15" forward of the front of my entertainment cabinet, and that seem to get me the best mix of soundstage and bass responds. Truth is, speaker placement is often a trial and error type of thing simply because of the different variations of people's rooms, furnishing, listening wants and needs, ect.
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