2. misc-audio
  3. 181951-171531

A free tweak revisited

I am absolutely positive that this subject has been discussed before, but last night as I was listening I was reflecting on how big a difference (for me) turning the lights off and (probably redundantly) closing my eyes makes.  My listening room is a quite near field environment, but with the lights off/eyes shut I hear the illusion of a sound stage wider than the boundaries of the room with height and some depth.  (However, the sound stage I get is not as deep as it is wide.)  Opening my eyes and looking at the speakers so close to me is kind of like sticking a pin in the balloon. 

immatthewj
spatialking's avatar
spatialking
610 posts
 

Yep, that is a psychoacoustic phenomena.  You know where the sound is coming from and your eyes are far more objective than emotional whereas your ears are far more emotional than objective.  Without your eyes confusing your mind about the sound field, your brain is left to use the cues from your hearing.  

I never tried this at home but I did see this once at a CES show years ago.  The manufacturer put two 5 x7 foot acoustically transparent screen in front of a pair of quality bookshelf speaker and the impression was the sound field was much, much larger than it was without the screen.  The screen was simple, a thin wooden frame with grill cloth covering it.  

Actually, now that I think about it, this might be a good idea to improve the WAF in some cases!  :-)

tomcarr
1,522 posts
 

My system is in a dedicated room.

I never listen to it without eyes closed and seated in the sweet spot.

It's never used for background listening, the other two systems are for that.

Yes, it definitely makes a difference.

immatthewj OP
2,043 posts
 

My system is in a dedicated room.

I never listen to it without eyes closed and seated in the sweet spot.

It's never used for background listening, the other two systems are for that.

I've only got one system up & running and that system has been in an evolving  listening room since the end of '17.  It doesn't get near as much use in this location as it did when it was in the living room, and although the sound stage is now more detailed & revealing than it ever was before, I don't think that I have near as much fun with my gear as I did when it was in my living room.  But there are other reasons for that; I don't find life, in general, near as much fun as I used to.

Technically I have enough unused components to set up a second functioning system somewhere else, but a couple of years ago we adopted three dogs & besides the listening room, I pretty much give them free run of the house, and I don't trust two of the three as far as I can throw them, and that means I don't trust those two at all. 

Oh well. . . .

More to discover