Please Read and express your feelings and opinions....
I tried that (I have an HFT 2.0 at 18" from the floor, a pair of HFTs at 5’ mid-way between speakers, a HFT-X at 5’ between speakers and an HFT at 7’ high between speakers). When I added the Blackbox and Atmosphere XL4 is when I apparently lost height but gained so much more in width and tonal warmth. When I added HFTs on at 7’ above the 5’ HFTs, the balance was thrown off, too much highs relative to mids and bass. I also have mid-wall to the seating area 5’ high HFT 2.0 and 7’ high HFTs, and at the corners behind the speakers (they are literally corners with record shelving at an angle facing the room) I have 5’ high HFT 2.0s, 6’ and 7’ high HFTs. Also, an anomally from the suggested SR setup is that I cannot put any HFT types on the face of the speakers (top, sides and rear work great). They tend to alter the frequency balance, especially bad is placing either an HFT or HFT-X below the dome tweeter or below the ribbon supertweeter. I also tried at 8 and 4 o’clock positioning. I just leave them off and voices, violins and guitars retain a beautiful balance of body and head. It’s only in Jazz Party opening cut and Abraxis that I lack the placement of the highs above my head which annoys my friend who has it all. He has ZERO room treatment, a congested room with speakers nearly flush against the wall and a 80s 27" tube TV smack in the middle between the speakers. Those little speakers (his own folded bass design) are remarkable, with fabulous soundstage (height and width) and all the other requirements put forth as well as high volume level without distortion. What they lack is body type dynamic punch (his room mitigates against that as well) like my system or a good horn system. |
I'm all for science when it applies....the earth is round,rotates and revolves around the sun,dinosaurs once roamed the earth as evidenced by their fossil remains etc. et al ......but I listen to music with my ears and do not rely upon test results to determine what I like to listen to. Otherwise I'd get an app that could listen with me,and let me know whether I liked the music or not. But then again,I always thought I had a cool enough voice until I hear it on a home video and cringe at the sound of it,so now what do I do ? What a world,what a world. |
Just one thing. Soundstage height should not be taken all by itself, but as one dimension of the 3 dimensional space of the recording venue. What we should be striving for is a more and more accurate portrayal of that 3 dimensional space, as the system is improved - an “expanding sphere” of the soundstage, as it were. A sphere with dimensions of width, depth and height. Dealing with the 4th dimension is beyond scope. It wasn’t that long ago that audiophiles were exclaiming, “Whoa! The sound is coming from outside the speakers!” |
geoffkai"Just one thing. Soundstage height should not be taken all by itself, but as one dimension of the 3 dimensional space of the recording venue." This is a completely incomplete response but it is what would be expected from someone not practicing the pursuit of Tru-Fi in they're Music Reproduction System which is the only proven way of actually obtaining in the specific listening room the actual realistic characteristics of music this is obtained by working with properties and understanding the properties of each component within the Music Reproduction System and how those properties interact to form the whole that is the sound that we perceive. Understanding Tru-Fi and the more recently discovered ICSS factor are what is necessary for anyone assembling, adjusting or optimizing a Music Reproduction System if they hope to achieve any success other than that which can be obtained by random trial and error. |
