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Question about sound stage

In every recording, the soundstage sounds skewed to the right in my room.  I can hear musical instruments to the left, but the singer is ALWAYS on the right.  Is that normal or is there something likely going on with my speaker placement or room setup?  FYI, I am audio newbie.  My setup is as follows: Franco Serblin Accordo Essence speakers; Luxman 590axii integrated amp; Antipodes K40 music server; Weiss DAC 502.  Silversmith ribbon cables.  

My audio environment is less than ideal to say the least.  My speakers face my rather large office desk and only one speaker is optimally spaced from the wall.  There is no other way to arrange my office, so it is what it is.  I can always include a picture of those who are curious or think it would be helpful.  Also, I haven't gotten around to learning how to use the Weiss's DSP room correction function yet, so perhaps that would help.

Thanks.


Bill

wtb
oldhvymec
5,101 posts
 

Turn off ALL room correction and set your tone controls flat and center the balance.

Take your phone and check the SPL of the speakers first. Be as accurate as you can. IF the SPL is correct with tone burst, not music, turn around and see if the same thing happens. If it swaps sides it's your ears, if it stays on the same side it's usually an acoustic anomaly of the room. Don't put it past an actual gear/cabling or speaker issue. I would just make sure it wasn't me or the gear/cabling. 

Gear swap cables.
Ears, that one is up to you.
Acoustic goofs.. Good Luck!! 50% of the actual sound quality IS room acoustics, start there first.

Regards

Post removed 
sgordon1
428 posts
 

What happened when you plugged in headphones?

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

It is not normal. Most singers are center stage. Sit in the central listening position and play a complex piece like a symphony orchestra or a NIN tune. Close your eyes. There should be an equal amount of energy coming from both sides. If one side is always heavy handed then you do have a balance issue. It can and most likely is a room issue especially if it does so with all sources. Use your balance control to center the energy. If your problem is frequency related such, as an example your high frequencies are skewered to one side then you need a room control preamp or an expert at room treatment which will require measuring the room. Other things can go wrong. A bad speaker or cartridge can do this.

Having said all this, recordings can vary and I find the very best systems in well designed rooms require a little tweaking from one to another. We are talking around 0.5 dB. Most systems in the rooms they are in do not have this kind of resolution. There is too much noise coming from reflections.

wtb OP
35 posts
 

Thanks for the great suggestion everyone.  I really appreciate it. 

 

Bill

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