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Speaker Help Required

I have a 12'x14' living room with a cathedral ceiling.

My 2-channel audio system is along the 12' back wall. I have a 6.5' audio / video rack which houses all my audio gear (mostly Linn) with a bookshelf speaker (Linn Katan) at each side of this rack (roughly 7.5' apart) sitting on stands (Linn Katan stands). The left speaker is about 3' from the side wall and 2' from the back wall with a powered subwoofer (Linn Sizmik 10.25) between the left speaker and the side wall in the corner. The right speaker is also 2' from the back wall but no side wall since it is an opening to my hallway.

Because of this setup, I’m hearing more of the left speaker than the right speaker. I tried different amounts of toe-in, which seems to help a little but I’m still not 100% satisfied. Some people have suggested that since the Katan are very small speakers, the subwoofer is not only providing the added bass but may be participating in some midrange too which is why I’m hearing more of the left channel.

Since I cannot move things around in my living room nor add a door to the hallway opening, I’m looking for a pair of “full range” floorstanding speakers to replace my bookshelves / subwoofer combo in hopes of rectifying this problem. Also, my wife is totally opposed to any “room insulation / sound proofing” idea since we use this room for entertaining friends and family and the décor is her territory.

What floorstanding speakers would you recommend for a $2000-$2500 budget that will help with my issue?
agiaccio
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,976 posts
 
Fostex fe138esr in Trasmission line cabinet. Isnt as affected by back wall as most conventional loudspeakers. Drivers are near $1000 pair, a pair of complete TLS is up on audiogon for $2000. Best deal in this range on the gon.
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,379 posts
 
A good way to understand what's happening is play test tones from a test CD, and record the values measured on an spl meter(located where you ears normally are), change the sub settings and/or move the sub & repeat. If you need more details on how to do this, ask.
agiaccio OP
147 posts
 
I finally got around to doing some more tests with my "left" imaging issue.

It turns out that my subwoofer's Internal Low Pass Frequency was set to 120Hz. The three possible settings are: 50Hz, 80Hz and 120Hz. I've changed the value to 80Hz since my bookshelves are rated at 60Hz-20kHz +/- 3dB (Aktiv configuration). After this change the imaging was more centered but still not perfect. Next I moved the subwoofer from the left corner (facing forward) to the left side wall at about 4' from the back wall (facing right). This has resulted in a perfectly centered image (using a Test CD from Stereophile) however the subwoofer placement has resulted in reconfiguring my sofas in a non-ideal setup.

Therefore, I'm still interested in upgrading my bookshelves / sub combo to a pair of floorstanding speakers.
newbee
4,775 posts
 
Before you buy floorstanders try moving the low pass to 50hz and move the sub woofer out of the corner as much as you can, towards the left speaker, if possible until it is nearly behind your left speaker, and see what happens. With a sub XO at 50hz and speakers rolling off at 60hz it might be more seamless that the numbers suggest. I assume your sub also has a volume control - using the tet disc you might try reducing the sub output until you get a match.

FWIW.
blindjim
3,092 posts
 
Does your sub have a phase control?

I've been painting and moving around furniture as the result. leaving it displaced until I've findished up for a little while now. The offset arrangement of my furniture affects my sound stage. Albeit, not so much the imaging.

If you have a phase control on your sub, you've lots more freedom in where you can set it, aside from openings, and furniture constraints. I currently have my sub set in front of my left speaker facing across both speakers firing from one side wall to the other, left to right, about 3 feet and six inches off the side wall. I've done this same thing with a sub sans phase sw, but it had to be much closer to the plane of the speakers. Also placement in my room of the sub sans phase sw would change the depth of the sound stage as well... further behind the speakers, got me more depth, closer to their plane of operation eventually being forward of them, decreased it.

If you run the sub in L+R (stereo).. you've at least a 180 phase conttrol... just reverse the inputs to see if that helps any. Ya never know sometimes until you try things for yourself. G
Good luck.
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