Singer sounds lower than ear level, help raise it


My speakers are currently on stands and the tweeters are at ear level. But still i find that the sound of the singer comes from the center of the speakers but it is lower than my ears. Her mouth sound like its only 2 feet from the ground. Is there anyway to raise the focus of the singer higher? thanks
raybanma
Probably wrong amplifier - speakers match. My power amps are mono 75watt class a.
Permissible input of the speakers - (Maximum) 450W/ch.
But right now i have no intention to change equipments. Need a cheap way to raise the focus point.
Maybe my room & set up kills a lot of the critical high frequency info leaving nothing but the mid-range, how to fix this?
I have found by listening to test tones that there is a range of frequencies in the mid to upper treble which is perceived as coming from a point considerably above the height of its actual source. I don't recall the numbers exactly, but I think it roughly encompasses the 6 to 10 kHz area, which would affect female voice significantly.

So if those frequencies are being reproduced too weakly at the listening position, it would have the effect you are describing.

Possible causes of weak reproduction of those frequencies:

1)Listening at particularly low volume levels, as a result of the Fletcher-Munson Effect. If that seems like a possibility, turn up the volume and see what happens!

2)Dead tweeters. Are you sure they're working?

3)Room acoustics, as you indicated. Hard to say how to fix without knowing a lot of detail about the room.

4)A mismatch between amplifier output impedance and the speaker's variation of impedance as a function of frequency. I doubt that is the problem here, but can you indicate the specific amplifier model, and whether it is tube or solid state?

5)Improper phono cartridge loading, if you are using a vinyl source. If you are using a moving magnet cartridge, load capacitance in particular.

6)Listening off axis or with improper toe-in, as was pointed out.

I doubt that the low power rating of your amp, relative to the rated permissible input of the speakers, is a factor, unless it is preventing you from using reasonable volume levels (which seems doubtful for female voice).

Regards,
-- Al
Don't mean to be a smartass, (sometimes it just comes by accident). But, yea, I'd move the speakers around. Like, as much as possible, and see what it does for you. Tilt them, move them, raise them, lower them. Experiment. You'll be surprised. Some things will sound much worse, others may well sound much better. And unless you have a magic, acoustically perfect room, designed from the ground up for exactly your speakers (which, of course, no one does) then each and every spot you try a speaker will involve a longer list of compromises than you would care to count. There is no "right" answer or perfect place. If you start applying acoustic treatments, then you have to start over because it will change the variables. But don't think there's a place or configuration that the speakers are "supposed" to be in (unless it's interior-decor-driven, which, by mathematically probability alone, will be virtually impossible to be where they sound best).

Apologies if this has shaded into the rant-ish. I just think it's valuable to be methodical and start with the fundamentals -- particularly when it's free. A $25k amp with enough current to light up a small town won’t move your speakers into a better spot. Positioning is make-or-break in terms of a soundfield, and changing it can change virtually everything. And if you DO go start changing electronics, or wires, or the room profile -- then you have to start over with positioning.

If you really want to go off the deep end, get ahold of some room measuring software and hardware (home theater shack's REW is free and great) and you can visually plot out exactly how your room is interacting with your speakers in any given position, across the entire frequency range and over time. Very enlightening (depressing as hell, but enlightening). An insidious can of worms, to be sure, so be careful when/if opening. I’ve more-or-less got the compromises weighed in my room along the current wall. Could get better center-fill and definition with more to-in, at the expense of width. Flip the woofers (mine can actually do a 180) and get better slam and coherency at the expense of pinpoint imaging within the soundfield. Raking the speakers a couple degrees forward raises the soundstage (plop a laser level on top of the speakers, and point it at the same spot on the wall by the listening position, which requires very different leveling of each speaker, because my 170-year-old floor is not even vaguely level itself). Move the whole bit back where they look like they belong – and where the wife insists they live most of the time – and it all goes to hell and sounds way, way worse. So the whole speaker assemblage – yea, actually have a stack of seven layers of isolation and other bits under each monitor; crazy indeed – lives on acoustically-treated “sliders” that let me move them about, no fuss, no muss. And I do. A lot. I also know if I scrapped the whole setup, rearranged everything to fire along the short wall instead of part of the long wall where they are now, I’d have to start over will a whole new trial and error set, and that the potential to sound better would be much greater. Ideally, that’s where it belongs. But, ‘cause I share the space with the No. 1 Special Lady Friend of the Legal Variety (i.e., aforementioned Wife), that’s not an option. Compromises, etc.

Again, apologies if I appear to be flogging the positioning thing with messianic and/or irrational zeal, but well worth it in my experience. So much so, in my humble opinion, that futzing with other stuff before you’ve got this fundamental dialed in can be a waste of time (and certainly money). Just my two cents.
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