Soundstage/Imaging and The Room


I'm encountering an interesting phenomena.
I moved to Connecticut from California. When in California, I had a 10 x 13 x 27 room, dedicated outlets, the works. I had no problem with imaging,soundstage, etc. Now, here in Connecticut (I know! the geography counts for beans, but I wanted to give some background), I'm temporarily in a basement in the family home. The basement ceiling is 8' , with joists (planks that support the structure and hold up the floor) hanging down from the actual celing and spaced every two feet. So, in essence, with the 7" joists (planks of wood) hanging down, the height is about 7'5" and I notice that there's NO imaging whatsoever. I had even installed dedicated circuits (2) for the time being.
What's your take on minimum ceiling height for imaging? By the way, the basement is open, so it's 23' x 40' (give or take 5 feet). I can hear low level detail when music is playing, but the actual imaging is fascinatingly absent.
Equipment is a First Presence preamp, a Marsh A400s amp, Arcam FMJ23, Shunyata power cords, PS Audio line conditioner (and power cords) and Nordost interconnect with Synergistic speaker cable.
I've actually tried the setup two different ways: with the speakers set up so that they are aimed parallel to the joists, and setup so that they are aimed perpendicular to the joists --- no difference in imaging, but the sound is more "distant" when they're fired perpendicular to the joists. The music loses some "intimacy."
I'm finding this interesting. In a couple of months, I'll have a dedicated room added onto the house, but still, what are everyone's views on how the room's ceiling height affects imaging -- and soundstage boundaries? I'm wondering if all the ceiling joists hanging down interrupt and reflect the sound back onto the concrete floor and walls, and confuse the ear/brain into not "seeing" imaging. Especially since it makes it seem like a "low ceiling" effect. What do you think?
gbmcleod

Showing 3 responses by buscis2

Gbmcleod, First question, why the hell would you move from Cal. to Ct? I,m looking to make the opposite move soon as my whole immediate family lives in Del Mar. But anyway.

Second question, where in Ct. do you live, as some areas in Ct. have a much higher population density in regards to factories and shopping centers, ultimately inducing much more grunge into your AC, which could really do a number on your soundstage and imaging. In fact, try doing some listening late at night (after 11 or 12 pm). I find much a more defined soundstage at these later hours.

Now, just an idea to help you troubleshoot. Try tacking or nailing a medium density blanket or comforter flat to the ceiling joists. This will negate the effects of the direction of the joists. Hang the blanket starting at about 1 foot from behind the dispersion range of the speakers and from that point, allow the blanket protrude into your listening area. See if you notice a difference.

Also, I'm assuming the floor is carpeted? Is that correct?
BTW, I didn't mean to suggest that you do all of your listening after 11:00 pm. I was suggesting this as a part of the troubleshooting process. If you notice better results after that period, it would probably suggest that you may have an AC power issue.

Just wanted to clarify.
Gbmcleod, The blanket concept is simply a temporary "fix it".

I don't know exactly how long you will be using this temporary listening area. My suggestion would be, if you are going to be using this room for any extended period of time, buy a few sheets of 4x10 x 5/8" sheetrock and a couple of rolls of "fully encapsulated" (such as Owens-Corning "Miraflex") insulation, maybe R-19 or R-30. About 1-2 hours time and some sheetrock screws will yield much better "temporary" results. Insulate the "bays" between the floor joists over your listening area and screw the sheetrock to the floor joists to create the ceiling.

Hang a blanket from the ceiling down to the floor about 3-4 feet behind your listening position. A little more work but much better results.

The "lack of openess" is probably the fact that the majority of the high frequency and "bloom" is being absorbed by the blanket. Again, I'm not sure how much time, work or money you are willing to invest, but about $75.00 and my aforementioned procedure will bring much better results. My original suggestion, I would of hoped, would bring you max results for minimum effort.

Maybe a trip to Home Depot is in order?