Sound stage

To me the common emphasis on soundstage highlights one of the conundrums we face in audio. Do we seek to improve our systems down a path where at each step we find ourselves enjoying the music more and more? Or do we choose a path that takes us closer to the real thing? At first glance it might be argued that these should be the same paths. In practise I fear they are not. The first path is highly subjective and can lead us down alley-ways that may seem musical at first listen, but irritating in the longer term. Yet musical enjoyment is something we must surely seek to maintain or improve on at each step. The second path is less subjective, but unless we were present at the original recording, is difficult to judge. The second path also suffers from being unattainable (being a realist). It seems to me that soundstage fits the second path rather better than the first. If the reproduced soundstage is more like the original venue then we can more easily imagine ourselves at the original event (not to mention we must be getting closer to the absolute sound). But improvements in soundstage do not, from my experience, automatically or even very often spell more musical enjoyment. The answer falls somewhere between the extremes (as always). But I believe there is too much hype about soundstage and I do not focus much on soundstage when evaluating new equipment.

Using room treatments correctly, you should be able to hear information from EVERY direction, if it's in the recording. With most pop recordings, (that have little depth, and are "panned" mono music from a 128 channel console, with digitally synthesized 3 dimensional ambience, if you're lucky), IT GENERALLY STARTS FROM THE FRONT OF THE SPEAKERS, AND WIDTH GOES A LITTLE OUTSIDE THEIR LATERAL SPACING. Height should present instruments/singers with the proper "size" and height dimension. Sometimes their head can be several feet in diameter, with ultra-close miking and dynamic compression/limiting. THE BEST AUDIOPHILE RECORDINGS SHOULD IDEALLY TAKE YOU TO THE PERFORMANCE (at the microphones' position, period..."like being there".

First the soundstage and imageing on most recordings is totally artificial. It is added during the mixdown. The correct size of the soundstage is very difficult to determine. You would have to start by knowing what's on the recording. In my old listening room, on some recordings it went in width from about 1-1/2 feet out side of each speaker (About 10 feet between speakers), in depth from about 2 feet in front of the speakers to about 5 feet behind, in height from ceilling to floor (Dunlavy's all give a high soundstage). The room has a LOT to do with the soundstage and imageing. From my experience, good soundstage and images are found in equipment with high accuracy and excellent detail.