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Soundstage........

in audio, what in the system gives us the soundstage ?        I ask this as when I had the system in the living room I had one system that was :

anthony gallo 3.1's
edge amp
Belles 21a preamp
Technics 1200 mk2 w / AT 150 cart
bellari preamp
Synergistic Research sp cables, various low end IC's

and that system had everything ....soundstage , separation, detail.....and was enjoyable to listen to.       got out of the hobby for a bit and when I got back into it, I went with this system :

Magnepan 2.6 qr's
w4s mono blocks ( 250 each )
Lector Zoe preamp
PS audio phono preamp
Technics 1200 mk 2 w/ AT 150
Morrow Audio sp cables and various low end IC's

sold that system and had the chance to move the next system from the living room which had the cathedral ceilings,into  what used to be the master bedroom.....and now have a room that is good size 17 w x 21 l  8 ft ceilings and went with this the first time :

Magnepan 3.6r
Krell amp
Audio Research Ref. 2 mk 2 preamp 
Sim audio lp 5.3 phono preamp
Acoustic Zen sp and IC's
VPI HW-18 MK 2 w/ Moerch arm / Ortofon 2m Black

the Magnepans were way to big for the room and didnt like the AR preamp as it just didnt sound good....sounded cold due to the 6h30 tubes ( others may like it, but I didnt ).......sold the speakers, amp and preamp  and  ic cables and went with 

Tyler Acoustic Halo 2 speaker
Maker Audio G-9
Belles Aria
Sim Audio 5.3 phono
vpi  hw 18 mk 2 w/ Moerch arm / Denon 103 cart
Acoustic Zen Satori sp cables, KCI silkwork IC

this system is very  clean sounding and you can listen to it for hours and never get tired of it......but I just dont have the soundstage like  I did when the system was in the living room.        Room is treated with panels, have moved speakers in / out  / up / back, etc....and same thing.....       

So is it the room that ( cant think of the word, ) controls the soundstage or is it the preamp, the turntable / cart ?




addyson815

Showing 6 responses by addyson815

addyson815 OP
240 posts
 
@yogiboy 

done with magnepans as I had to send the last pair in for a complete rebuild and the communication and time to complete was not good.

a friend of mine in another state basically has the same set up as I do ( he does cd’s ) and he says the soundstage and separation of instruments is very good.   
addyson815 OP
240 posts
 
After I posted this, I have moved the speakers 3” closer together and 6” forward.        
 I had ordered a brand new passive preamp and it arrived the other day and was hoping to have music again , but it’s doa.       Just going to cut my losses and move on. The other day a member on here posted a Pass Labs xp 2.5 for sale......so I bought that and should have it in a week or so.

Once I get things up and running again will see if those moves helped with the sound-stage at all
addyson815 OP
240 posts
 
@ soundsrealaudio


this passive pre didnt have tubes.....it was like a Tortuga Preamp( it WAS NOT theirs ).





addyson815 OP
240 posts
 
@soundsrealaudio                 

I would like to know the same.....

 I connected the cables to it, put the power cord to it, turned the turntable on and was ready to hear some music....and kept turning the volume till it was maxed out and could barely hear the music.       contacted the builder and he had me check things, which I had already done before contacting him.......then I tried using a dvd player as I thought maybe the phono preamp finally died...but had the same issue when using the dvd player.    he tried to say that it was something in my system that was causing this so  I bought a cheap preamp off of ebay, hooked it up and everything in the system works like it should....so the issue is the passive preamp.         this is the second time I have had an issue with his preamp and have decided to move on.
addyson815 OP
240 posts
 
@slaw 

speakers have been moved forward , backward, in / out and there was no change.   

In the thread I mention that the room is treated .

i recently bought a pass labs preamp and that did give me some soundstage, but only on certain albums.    

As as much as I like the speakers, I think they are the reason why I don’t get it like I did with the other set ups.....
addyson815 OP
240 posts
 
@slaw 

"  Hard to keep up with all of your changes.."

I have tried to update the thread as I go and just recently picked up the Pass Labs preamp.     
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