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Speakers sound best facing wall????

Should I complain? - After months of tweaking and testing various components, I found my perfect sound. It really sounds beautiful and genuine (I listen only to classical; and authenticity is paramount), and the stereo image is there, when speakers are turned away from me, facing the wall at 135 degrees. I am looking at their backs when listening,

So, I am really happy. Or should I? With that very odd speaker position, something must be very wrong somewhere???

Ever since I took on my old hobby again (it had been in neglect for 30 years), bought 2 different solid state amplifiers (a powerful and very well balanced Sony TA-FA3ES, and a lower quality Technics), 2 different cd players (Arcam and Cyrus), 2 different sets of loudspeakers (Heybrook Heylo and Tannoy Revolution), a Velodyne subwoofer, a power conditioner (Belkin) and 2 sets of shielded IEC power cables and interconnects, I have been battling a problem:

*****an ear-piercing treble*****

No matter how low I would adjust the treble on my amplifier, and no matter the combination of amps, cd players, speakers etc., their position, my armchair's position, that problem was still there... until I turned the speakers away from me.

Room acoustics? - Well, all my equipment is in my living room, which has a normal height, and an odd, asymetrical shape. See plan. The house is made of timber, and the walls are painted plaster panels, with 2 dozens glass covered pictures in wooden frames. The room is carpeted, and slightly emptier than an average living room (3 armchairs, 2 wooden cabinets and audio rack). The wall which the speakers are facing has a curtain. The speakers are 130cm / 4ft away from the wall.

If not the room acoustics, what may be causing the ear-piercing treble when speakers are turned towards me? - Dirty power that the power conditioner cannot cope with? Faulty tweeters (on 2 different sets of speakers???)? Should I worry, since I have my perfect sound with the speakers facing the wall? - Any advice appreciated!
waryn

Showing 2 responses by plato

plato
1,543 posts
 
Hard to say... I'm not there to hear what you hear so I can only speculate. Since the speakers are not designed to be used that way, I'd say there is something wrong.

My first reaction would be to blame the room. It may not be practical in your situation (I don't know), but I'd try putting the speakers on the left-hand wall instead. Have your listening seat along the fireplace wall.

I don't know where all those 2-dozen pictures are placed, but if they're concentrated on a particular wall then that could be a big problem too. All that glass is highly reflective.

On top of that, it looks like you're selecting gear with extended treble... Maybe a nice tube amp or preamp would help; or maybe an EQ, or speakers with a treble attenuator.

You've got to be missing some part of the audible frequency range by firing your speakers backwards into a curtain. It's probably akin to listening from a different room, where the highs get tamed down a bit.

I thought I'd take the counterpoint to Mimberman's answer just to offer another angle on it.
plato
1,543 posts
 
Waryn,

From what you say, I'd say that your hearing is unusual. I have a friend who has the same kind of ultra-sonic hearing. He hears high-frequency sounds on certain of my CD's that drive him crazy. He asks me if I hear it too, and quite honestly I can't... not even a hint of what's bothering him. So I know this is possible.

I think trying a tube amp may help you a lot, and beyond that, either a good equalizer (preferably analogue) or maybe using a preamp (or speaker) with a treble level control could provide a further tapered treble reduction that you could dial in to your taste.

Good luck to you!
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