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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
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
1,457 posts
 

When your system starts to tell you how the engineer positioned the mikes and what kind of mix he applied to the feed, you know you're getting there with refining your system.

Listening to classical piano music a lot, I notice this constantly.  What perspective did the engineer choose.  To the side, to the front or the back.  Are the treble and bass ends of the keyboard panned to left and right speakers, or blended.  How distant is the piano.  Etc. etc.

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
530 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
5,785 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.
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