Where should the B&W soundstage be?

[tboooe]

Hi, I have read that in "properly" set up systems, the sound should appear to come from 1-2 feet in front the speakers and give a sense of radiating back a few feet. I have tried a lot of different configurations and I cannot recreate this in my setup. The best I can do is create a soundstage where the sound seems to come from along the same plane as the speaker fronts.

What are people's thoughts on this? Any able to create this kind of stage with their B&W setup?

[RobP]

Hey Tboooe,

In a properly setup system you should actually never be able to tell where the speakers are, they should actually disappear, The soundstage should be wide, almost wrapping around you, the soundstage should be deep and detailed, when your system is setup properly, depending on the recording, you should be able to "see" where the performers are playing.
That is how my setup sounds, but it took crtical placement of acoustical treatment to pull that detail out.

[caleb]

A good telling test fo me is the track on the Roger Waters CD "amused to death" where the logs are being chopped and the cart and horse appear from behind your left shoulder and go right the way across the front and dissapear behind your right shoulder, and this is in two channel stereo.

This is a wide soundstage indeed.

[Pieter]

Q-Sound.

[stewfoo]

Anybody have any other suggestions for CDs that have a great STEREO effect?
I remember hearing a robbie or aaron Neville cd when buying my equipment that was amazing. If I closed my eyes, I would swear to it that he was moving around in front of me as I listened from the front row of a concert

STew

[tboooe]

i am not sure if this is right but on some songs i hear the vocals off center (either to the right or left of center). I dont know if this was how the cd was meant to sound but I find it a little unsettling. Is the main vocal supposed to always come from the center? There is one song in particular on a Diana Krall CD (When I Look Into Your Eyes) that her voice is definitely coming from the right of center. To me is sounds weird. Am I nuts?

By the way, what is Q-sound?

[rick c]

When i sit in front of my system(sweetspot) in 2 channel it is like i had a phatom center.I dont get the localization of the speakers.It's great its very enveloping.

[stewfoo]

Well, when I play 50 cent I don't hear a phantom. lol

[Pieter]

i am not sure if this is right but on some songs i hear the vocals off center (either to the right or left of center). I dont know if this was how the cd was meant to sound but I find it a little unsettling. Is the main vocal supposed to always come from the center? There is one song in particular on a Diana Krall CD (When I Look Into Your Eyes) that her voice is definitely coming from the right of center. To me is sounds weird. Am I nuts?

May depend on how the music was recorded and mixed. Also on your room's acoustics and your speaker setup.

By the way, what is Q-sound?

A recording/mixing method in which they play around with phase to enhance the stereo effect. Roger Waters' "Amused to Death" is a good example of this done very well.

[Andorian]

Hi,

To test position I sometimes use Bjork's last CD ""Medulla"" (Yes , studio but so weird!)
.
She tried everything in track 5, its a acapella song with at least five men and (estimated) seven bjorks agains each other, (try to hear the slowly ""strangled"" bjork in the lower left corner by one of the men).


Furthermore Soudtracks from films are often funny to hear, e.g. ""Spygame"", ""the Fith Element"".
Track 2 of ""the fith Element"", has an bass effect that will shock you.

Also Bjork records ""homogenic"", ""Vespertine"".
Andor.

[Jonesy]

I am just beginning to mess around with the placement of my relatively new speakers (604's) but I can say that Corrosion of Conformity has a track on their Deliverance CD that puts forth a pretty cool effect. #4, "Without Wings", has presented varied effects on different systems that I've heard.

It's an acoustic guitar instrumental that incorporates some synth halfway through the piece, which tends to either swirl around or undulate from front to back, like all your surrounds are active. Meanwhile the guitar remains anchored in the front stage.

This track is on my audition CD so I've been able to hear it on several setups; various B&W's, Paradigm, Thiel, Soliloquy, Duynaudio, Vandersteen, and others. The result is varied, but always impressive. Guitar well imaged in front and synth filling the back (and sometimes back to front, or side to side) of the room. Very cool :T