Placement findings for music transducers and resonators.
First off, thanks to Todd for also testing a lot of different resonator positions. I was glad to see Todd’s results were comparable to my results. I feel the commonality of our results is a good thing because we have much different speaker types. Todd has box style speakers in his system while I use Magnepans in my main system. I also tested a lesser developed system I have in the main living area. If Todd & I have similar results, I think many of your experiences could be the same as ours. I guess I should issue the disclaimer that while we have heard some common traits in these three systems YMMV. Also, thanks to Ozzy for all his starting tips and suggestions.
Just one quick heads up here. I’m 67 but I like to listen to music at, what I consider to be, a full bodied volume level. Not loud, but loud enough that the Magnepans sing. At my listening level the upper mid-range is still sweet, but it is close to becoming a little harsh. If you play music at a volume level less than full bodied, your results may vary.
Whether you use transducers or any of the resonators we have been talking about, my placement results were similar enough for me to generalize about placements.
I did start off with the published placement guides for HFTs, and then started modifying them with Ozzy’s suggested placement tips. I started off placing one on my front wall two feet up from the floor and a half foot inside the speakers. After listening a bit I added two more about 6 foot high, inside the speakers. I tried many of the other recommended positions as well. I also tried side walls, the back wall, the ceiling, down low in the corners – next to my bass traps, and finally placed directly on my speakers and components. I also tried only using HFTs and then only using resonators as well as a mix of both.
The first thing I noticed is any of these little helpers move the music (the soundstage) and also they tend to highlight certain frequency ranges. The two frequency ranges that were affected in both my systems were the mid-bass range (when I place some low and in the corners) and the upper mid-range area, especially impacting vocals.
For me any transducers or resonators placed near the lower corners of my room caused the bass to become boomy and muddy - not a good trait with Magnepans. I utilize corner bass traps and a pair of subwoofers in my system but make sure my bass remains very tight. If you can stand a little loss of detail in the bass department you might try placing one or two down low, in your corners. I started off with two in each of the four corners (which was very exciting for the first half hour) and gradually backed off until I just had one each, in the front two corners. Even that was too much for my tastes.
Now for the upper mid-range. All of these transducers and resonators embellished my upper mid-range, increasing mid-range definition but overdoing it to the point of slightly diminishing my listening pleasure. The more transducers or resonators I installed, the more I noticed vocals becoming more shrill whenever a vocalist would be singing powerfully, violins became more edgy than sweet, and listening fatigue started to set in. This wasn’t a knock-you-over-the-head change, but enough of a change to be a definite negative. My first step to lessen this was to move my transducers and resonators down lower on the walls & off the ceilings. Taking Ozzy’s advice I moved everything down until no transducers or resonators were higher than my standing chest height. This went a long way toward taming the beast, but in the long run, it still was not enough for me. More about this later…
As far as soundstage goes these transducers and resonators all have a positive effect on the depth of the soundstage. They also have a pronounced effect on the position of the soundstage. In a few days I hope to have a post describing the differences I hear between all the different resonators I have tested and also between different resonator sizes. There are some very noticeable differences in the depth and warmth of the soundstages and frequency responses.
What I want to address here is the position of the sound stage. What both Todd and I have found is the soundstage tends to move toward the direction the transducers/resonators are pointed in.
In my systems, when the resonators are pointed in toward the listener the soundstage moves closer – or the listener’s seat seems closer to the stage - not unlike turning up the volume will move you closer to the stage. If you place a resonator or two on the inner side of both your speakers the soundstage will move in, further constricting what engineers place in the center and bringing centralize sounds such as vocals into a more focused position between the speakers. Likewise, resonators placed on the outside of your speakers will widen the stage and some of the instruments that are panned wide, left or right will sound even further left or right. Pointing my transducers and resonators backward from the back of my speakers did not have as much of an effect but it did have some effect. However, placing a resonator on the back of a couple of objects about a foot or two from my back wall - so that the resonator is facing the back wall - pushed my back wall away from my listening position and helped surround me with more ambiance than I had before.
The more transducers and resonators you place in any one direction the more pronounced the stage movement becomes. (I had a large number or resonators on my front wall and then tried a bunch more, pointing in from my back wall and ended up moving and concentrating my listening area sweet spot so tight, in the middle of the room, that I was no longer sitting in the sweet spot. - Abort Abort!)
I also came to the realization that one can quickly experience “Too much of a good thing”, with these. After experimenting with just a few or having many, many of these I have scaled back my own usage to the point that I only use 8 -10 of these in my system (still haven’t made a final decision). In the end I now have: 2 facing backwards from my speakers - directly toward the front wall but angled slightly upward so they bounce sound off the front walls & up & over the speakers, 2 facing in towards the middle of the soundstage positioned just behind my front speakers, 2 facing in outwards from just behind my front speakers, and 2 on either side of me - facing the rear wall of my listening room from about 15 inches away. I’m experimenting with 2 additional resonators, also facing the front wall, but from outside of my front speakers.
With NO resonators facing in toward me or the room, and using a smaller number of resonators; IMHO my mid-range is more tame and listenable, my soundstage is moved back a bit – where I like it, and my ambiance is a little more enjoyable.
So while some people may have all their transducers or resonators pointed at them and like it (can’t argue with that), and some may have a huge number of resonators in their listening room and like it (can’t argue with that either), I thought I would add an alternative.
Happy listening,
Toolbox
