Thread: Sound

Hello folks
New poster and member but frequent visitor.
This may seem an odd question, and difficult for me to state:
When listening to music, sitting at the apex of the
equilateral triangle, so that the music is as if I am wearing
huge headphones, I wonder if that is what I should be
experiencing.
I'm not saying all music is 'in' my head, vocals and
certain sounds will often be so, while other sounds will be centre front, left and right at and around the speakers and left and right of my ears.
Why do I ask?
How does this generate a soundstage?
At a concert it's all out front (outdoor concert).
It isn't like headphones. How can an orchestra be laid out across my lounge room if some of it is floating in my head?
The headphone effect is really cool and what I aim for
when tweaking my floorstanders.
So what should I be hearing?
Kind regards
David (cleverly disguised as Dav1d)

Suggestion: Buy Jim Smith's book "Get Better Sound."

Hello mxk116 and Mr Peabody
Thanks for your replies. You've confirmed what I suspected.
Every speaker setup diagram I've seen has the speakers at 60 deg with the listener inside the apex, which is how I currently have my speakers. I did have them pointing straight after doubts about the headphone effect but a friend who built his own horn speakers, preamp and amp advised I should have them toed in and, thinking that such is the sound I should be hearing, I went back to the equilateral setup.
I will now, with joy, mess about with widening the toe in.
With regard to acoustics in my living room, it is L shaped, with the R speaker at the open side and the L with a wall to it's L.
Our walls are thickly curtained, have bookshelves and cabinets and so forth, so not much in the way of clear wall for straightforward deflections, including the rear wall. Floor is carpeted over a concrete slab.
Our equpment is a 2xperience dc t/t with 9" project carbon fibre evolution arm and atm a 2m bronze cart. Amp is a Classé CA-2100. Phono pre is a Consonance Ref 40. Pre is a Schitt Saga S run in passive mode. The Schiit was bought while my Hafler DH 110 is in for a new pot and loss of R channel for two of the inputs.
My speakers are Ascension Artisans with 12" woofers 200 rms @6 ohms and 90dB efficiency. These were one-offs built by Edward at Adelaide Speaker Company. No need for a sub! Beautiful sound.
DVD/CD is a NAD T 550.
I have a Ortofon Cadenza Bronze but am awaiting a counterweight for it. Martini at Klapp Audio has spent a month trying to track one down (Project seems to not have users of older arms and t/ts in mind). Fortunately, he assures me, one has been located and I'll hopefully have it within the next fortnight.
This is why I have asked my question. I want to know that I have my speakers feeding my aural senses correctly so I will better appreciate the benefit of the Cadenza.
And I replaced the rs power supply for the t/t with the 'High Power It' power supply. What an astonishing difference that has made! The original was noisy and caused a rumble that has now vanished.
I think our equipment is reasonable. The amp is 21.5kg of wonder. Stable and clean. The reviews on it are worth a read.
Thx again for taking the time to reply.
And thanks for the book suggestion Paul

And GSOphile. I missed your message.

Hi Mr Peabody
Yes no doubt re R speaker although I have a partial wall of lps about 800 mm high which has an impact. The speakers disappear and the image is centred so it doesn't seem to be an issue.
I shall continue on my quest for speaker placement. I can't utilise the thirds rule due to not being allowed to move the couch back from 3200 mm from the wall behind the speakers. The speakers at 1700 mm from the couch is way too close.
Anyway, cheers and haveagoodweekend.

Hi Brad,

I will when I've made some changes, i e. moving the equipment from between the speakers so long as it passes you know who.

cheers and thx for taking an interest.
David

Hello all and sundry
Brad I'll post pics tomorrow.
WAF was positive regarding moving the eqipment.
Hear here I described my equipment in the 10 March @ 1132 post:
Our equpment is a 2xperience dc t/t with 9" project carbon fibre evolution arm and atm a 2m bronze cart. Amp is a Classé CA-2100. Phono pre is a Consonance Ref 40. Pre is a Schitt Saga S run in passive mode. The Schiit was bought while my Hafler DH 110 is in for a new pot and loss of R channel for two of the inputs.
My speakers are Ascension Artisans with 12" woofers 200 rms @6 ohms and 90dB efficiency. These were one-offs built by Edward at Adelaide Speaker Company. No need for a sub! Beautiful sound.
DVD/CD is a NAD T 550.
I have a Ortofon Cadenza Bronze but am awaiting a counterweight for it.
I also hace an LP12 (Valhalla vintage) but that is in need of some work. The power supply is shot for starters. That project will have to wait.
After having moved the equipment from between the speakers I had hoped to do some listening experiments today but I have the worst case of tinnitus I've ever had. I put it down to poor sleep following the flu vac I had in the afternoon.
As the pics Brad asked for will show, I am stymied by an L shaped lounge room.
Thx re advice on concert sound v recording studio sound.
I have no doubts about the quality of my speakers.
My music taste is essentially 'rock' music from the 70s (the majority of my records were bought then). From Alan Parsons to Yes, from the Beatles to Carole King, from Deep Purple (early) to Chuck Berry. I love the opening to Hot August Night etc and so on. I have a dozen or so 'classical music' albums that I hope the Cadenza Bronze will illuminate better han the 2m Bronze. My taste is essentially 'if it's good I'll listen to it'. I hate sceaming singing and don't own Hammond a-go-go. And not a big fan of US rock.
Also enjoy Jars of Clay , Third Day and Mercy Me.
I am thinking I'll end up with a speaker position for listening and one for the all important WAF 😁.
Hopefully my tinnitus will dim significantly with a good rest and no loud dog barks witin a metre.
I appreciate all the input.

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Hello folks
Attached are 3 shots of our L shaped room Brad.
Cluttered? Yep.
Speaker position has not yet been decided.
The main 'room' is about 3440 x 5960 discounting the entry which is 1m deep and 1150mm wide (at the left in the top image).
The opening into the short leg is 2.9m and that 'room' is 2.9m deep
Tinnitus has vanished so I'll get on with some listening. Probably Steely Dan.
Cheers

Hear here, maybe the reason for small woofers is the sub sales.

We bought these speakers last year and played records every night till midnight for weeks. Every record was 'heard' for the first time. They replaced Acoustic Research's AR12s and they're no slouch.
Back then I had a Cambridge Topaz SR 10 amp.
Sadly😀😃😄 it kept dropping a channel so we had to find another amp.

hello folks
Can probably bring this to a close.
My question regarding sound, essentially should I be hearing as if wearing huge headphones, which I can easily achieve with toe in, has been answered. With no toe in of my speakers I don't have the headphone effect. I'll keep them that way.
cheers and thanks for taking the time to discuss
I think that I can now put in a link to the speakers I use?
Artisan Reference Series
David