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Sound stage height??

I notice that with most recordings I get a full height sound stage, as though I'm sitting right in front of the band. With other music it's more like I'm sitting above the band...........vocals seem to come from lower than my listening height............It's an odd phenomenon. I can only attribute it to how the music was recorded. It can even vary with different songs on the same disc......................My sound stage is typically wall to wall and realistically deep behind the speakers.............but sometimes it's almost like the vocalist is sitting on the floor in front of the band...........Anybody else experience this??................Marantz SA14s1 CDP...........Bryston amps...........Vandersteen 3A speakers...........room is well treated acoustically.
shadowcat2016
shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
Thanks folks...............Yes, I have found that as I took more care with speaker setup and addressed the worst of the room demons, that it's become quite easy to tell differences in recordings...................that's not always a GOOD thing..............Some music that I used to enjoy listening to, now doesn't get played as much.......cuz it don't sound so good. LOL.........On the + side is that when it's good, it's REALLY good. .........Life in audiophile land I guess..........I do plan to add some additional room treatment and perhaps adjusting the tilt of the speakers and toe in a bit might improve things..............Not really complaining about my "sound", quite happy with that overall, but as you say, the better the setup gets, the more I "hear" things that weren't obvious before.
tomcarr
1,468 posts
 
OP, look up the Vandersteen setup instructions online. Very detailed. Vandies live or die from setups. You must adhere to Richard's instructions or you will not get the best sound from your 3As.

Tom
shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
Thanks Tom. I do have them set up pretty much according to The Man. Firing length wise down the room. One third of the way into the room, one fifth from side walls. Maybe some minor adjustments in positioning might snap things in a bit better...a few inches one way or another might be worth the time.
slaw's avatar
slaw
20,403 posts
 
I'll just be another that says speaker set-up is extremely important and room acoustics. I cannot remember how many times I thought I had my speakers just right and then a slight adjustment locked everything in. What made me feel I needed to adjust? Every time I improve my room acoustics.
shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
Thanks Slaw, and agreed. .......Theoretically, I have them about where they're supposed to be for optimum bass response, but theory is theory and each room is unique, so the math only gives you a starting point............I'll be playing with things some more in a week or so. Wrapping up some non-related remodeling right now............I tried both RV's recommendations as well as the Cardas setup....both of which are actually similar mathematically...........I'm sure I can optimize things further as soon as I have a couple days to "play".

Enjoy talking to you folks. I have a lot of music loving friends, but they're not audiophiles and have very basic systems, poorly set up, so they get lost pretty fast with this stuff.........They just hit play and get on with the day.
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