Question about sound stage


In every recording, the soundstage sounds skewed to the right in my room.  I can hear musical instruments to the left, but the singer is ALWAYS on the right.  Is that normal or is there something likely going on with my speaker placement or room setup?  FYI, I am audio newbie.  My setup is as follows: Franco Serblin Accordo Essence speakers; Luxman 590axii integrated amp; Antipodes K40 music server; Weiss DAC 502.  Silversmith ribbon cables.  

My audio environment is less than ideal to say the least.  My speakers face my rather large office desk and only one speaker is optimally spaced from the wall.  There is no other way to arrange my office, so it is what it is.  I can always include a picture of those who are curious or think it would be helpful.  Also, I haven't gotten around to learning how to use the Weiss's DSP room correction function yet, so perhaps that would help.

Thanks.


Bill

wtb

Although this sounds too simple...chose a recording that you know well that is a particular offender. Turn the balance knob completely to the left (or disconnect the right speaker) give it a good listen. Then do the opposite. Results?

Regards,
barts

Hello,

Maybe the tweeter is out in the left speaker. I agree with the cable swap or even an interconnect swap. Maybe your hearing in one ear is going out. Or try toeing in the left speaker more towards you. It could be something with your speaker crossover, but the speaker cable or maybe just swap the two speakers first. Try only one thing at a time and then put it back and try the next variable. This includes the balance control on the Luxman. Also, Do you have another pair of speakers you can try even if they are different model. 

It's kind of unnecessary to add anything here, but I will anyway. For one thing, hearing loss in one ear doesn't much affect perception of stereo balance, since so much of the sound is mixed with reflections by the time it arrives at your head. Try closing off one ear and listening to speakers; then disconnect one channel of a set of headphones and see what happens! Needless to say, two functioning ears for stereo listening, like two functioning eyes for stereoscopic vision, is necessary for the illusion of soundstage, depth, and so on, but it's not as if your left ear hears the left speaker and your right ear hears the right speaker—as is the case, of course, with headphones. 

Second, IMO a balance control is an essential thing; in fact, a powered balance control you can adjust from the sweet spot on the fly is highly desirable. Getting the balance just right at the sweet spot is crucial for a realistic soundstage, and must be fine-tuned with each recording. This is because listening to the illusion of 3D produced by two stereo speakers is not the same as sitting in a concert hall; being off-center in a concert hall is no where near as destructive of that illusion as being off-center to speakers. This is a matter of physics; as Jim Smith puts it (tip #83, re: the impossibility of a wide sweet spot): "this is an incontrovertible law of physics that is part of the good—and the bad—of stereophany. It has no bearing whatsoever upon sitting off-center in the concert hall, because the sound is not being reproduced from a pair of widely spaced loudspeakers which are subject to severe comb filtering due to varying time arrivals at your head."

I like your system. Must sound very good. I have the Silversmith ribbons too. Excellent! 
And I have the exact same problem. Also on the right.

Now that I think of it relative to your right leaning issue, I think I have the answer.

About 20-30% of my LPs the soundstage leans to the right and also seems to be right focused on everything. My left speaker is in a corner and the right speaker is open to the room. I too have no choice in my room.

All I can say is that I have learned to live with it. I have tried to turn down the gain on the right but that was problematic. Believe you have a balance control. Try it but you may have the same problems with the imbalance of volume,