Severe Imaging Problem

Carl,My Dynaco never threw a wide stage,rarely anything outside the speakers plane.I assumed one needed a super big buck system to get consistant imaging in "the outer limits" Anyway,I was floored when the Pass really started to purr and was throwing 2-3 feet images outside my (R) speaker.As I was only getting a hint of (L) sided imaging and only occasional 1 footers thats when I decided to mess with my speaker placement,but failed to improve the (L) side.I tried all types of remedies today.BELIEVE me,without going into all the detail,I spent 4 hours messing around.It appears the best sound is from the original placement and absortion locations.OHHHH, what a bummer!! NEXT??

Like I said, a lot of trial and error. I can't see or hear the system, so I can only be so specific. I too have spent many long hours, and even fractions of an inch make a difference for the midrange and low treble, with regards to how they image in a stable manner.

The more resolution you hear, the more you want to hear. At some point, you do have to tweak in other ways, besides placement. Beleive me, you have not done everything you can do with treatment.

David - Where od your sit in relation to the loudspeakers and the room. One thing you could try to help you determine if you have an equipment problem is so set yourself and speakers up for very close nearfield listening, which is another way of getting rid of room effects. I did this for a while while I familiarized myself w/ a new room and system (though I've sinced followed Carl's advice and gone for sound treatment at the first reflection points, etc). In nearfield, you should still get correct imaging if there is nothin wrong w/ your speakers. The actual set up is simple - the proverbial equilateral triangle, but a fairly small one (4-6 feet on each "leg") and basically in the center of your room. If you e-mail me (cedeno.a.1@pg.com) you room dimensions, listening seat height, distance from floor to woofer and number of woofers per speaker etc. I can run them thru the RPG Room Optimizer software and give you a rough set up to try. will also calculate all the first refeflection points

David, it sounds like you've tried this already but it sounds to me like a phase problem. I have an inverting preamp so I swap the leads at the speakers. I have experimented both ways with the speaker cables and on some recordings it makes a huge difference, images way outside and in front of the speaks, and on others it makes no difference. Be careful with the source material you are using, some recordings are not in absolute phase. The phase is often changed many times during recording, mixing, pressing, etc. That's one reason some recordings sound unbelievable in regard to imaging and some sound like crap. That's when most audiophiles like myself get out of the chair and start moving speakers around. Big mistake. Make sure your speakers are connected to your amp in correct phase with each other. Lastly, side wall reflections aren't causing the severe problems you've mentioned although they are the most important to dampen in my opinion. Your image may pull to one side or the other but not like you've mentioned. Hey, you are no doubt in audio hell but rest assured there is a way out. Good luck.