Soudstage Height?

Paul brings up some interesting points. Depending on the type of microphone used and the placement of each mic, i DO think that a sense of "height" is possible in recordings. This has to do with the polar pick-up pattern that the individual mic displays. Outside of the frequency response, output level and maximum spl capability, this is one aspect of a mic that most recording engineers have to familiarize themselves with.

Since each mic design has different "capture angles" or polar patterns, the amount of "height", "width", "depth" and level of "ambience" courtesy of "direct vs reflected" sound can be drastically altered by the type of mic used and where it is located when recording. Combine this with the acoustics of the individual hall or studio used to make the recording, and you have a pretty drastic variation of why / how some recordings sound SO different from each other. How much of that information makes it through all of the mixing, equilization, compression, mastering, etc... is another story. Sean
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Is the huge room filling "bloom" that some gear creates the same as "height"? I've gotten this huge "bloom effect" with an amp, 2 power cords, and two different sets of tubes in my pre-amp. But I don't like this-- un-natural to me-- effect, and always go back to the more conventional strong centered stereo image with good width and depth, but a pretty constant height. I gather that some audiophiles actually seek the huge diffuse bloomy character? Just an observation and thought. Cheers. Craig

Recently a friend and I were comparing speaker cables in a high resolving tube system with electrostats, with both CD and vinyl sources. Several advantages we had: a very high ceiling height in his dedicated listening room and pretty sophisticated room treatments . Here is a rather simple test we use in comparing soundstage height: the listener in the "sweet spot" closes his eyes during a certain repeated passage, then points with a straight arm toward the particular instrument or vocals, usually in the centerstage. (We found several well-recorded percussion pieces were best to use for this experiment). After holding your arm/pointing for 10 to 20 seconds, open your eyes and visually mark ON THE REAR WAll the height/location of the image you ARE STILL pointing towards. Then, make the equipment or cable switch,replay the same passage with eyes closed, and point your arm at the same image/ instrument. The resulting change in your direction/height of pointing can be dramatic and unexpected. This is a weird,subjective experience because with your eyes closed while pointing, it seems more difficult to perceive a difference in image height in the A/B comparison. When you actually verify the comparison by visually marking the diffences on the rear wall, you may be in for a surprise. One caveat, I've never done this experiment in a room with ceiling less than 10 feet high. Damn, we do some weird stuff with this hobby...I hope my wife never walks in on me doing these experiments.

i'm not sure whether the posts so far are based on a common definition of "soundstage height." when i hear this term, i think of the perceived height of the "stage" on which the performers stand or sit. thus, if the image requires you to look "up" to "see" where the performers are perceived to be, you have a "high" soundstage. if you look "down," as from a balcony, you have a "low" soundstage. this phenomenon is, in my experience, affected foremost by speaker design, tho it may also be affected by other components, including wire. and, yes, i agree with sean that at least some recordings themselves vary soundstage height. i had always thought this had more to do with mic placement than design, tho i do think sean is onto something with capture angles. -cfb

Sounds like a phase shift to me. My guess is your jolida used as a preamp or your ss power amp inverts phase. Height info in stereo ordinarily derives from stacking an array of drivers... While we're here, what's that stereo cd with the dog barking just behind the listener on his/her right?