Soundstage - Too much?

Ben. The sidewalls are what reflects the sound back to create a image beyond the wall. The image created will be as far past the wall as the speaker is as far from the wall. Ex. If your speaker is two feet from the wall then the image will be two feet past the wall.

perfectimage, perhaps i'm mistaken, but it's been my experience that sidewalls in close proximity to the speakers is what kills imaging, unless absorbent treatment is properly used, especially at the sounds' 1st-reflection point. i have found that most speakers image best when well-away from walls.

I agree Sedond, I have experienced stable images 6 feet outside the speakers when I placed my speakers on the long wall giving me side walls that were 9 feet away from the speakers.

Yes you are right. The further the speaker is from the wall the further it will image but it is the wall that creates that image. As you move that speaker in the soundstage widens in direct relationship of the distance betwen the wall and speaker. Room treatment just makes the sound wave react in a way that "tricks" the sound in working as if it was in a bigger or better room. If the speaker is two feet from the wall the image will be two feet beyond the wall. If the speaker is five feet from the wall then the image will be five feet beyond the wall. This is of course broken down to simple terms and there are numorous factors to also consider for overall soundstaging.

no, perfect image, i beg to differ - speakers would image *best*, if there's *no* sidewall - i.e.: if they were outside.

in my current set-up, my monitors are ~9' from the side-walls, & there is *no way* that i have imagining 9' beyond the outside walls! w/my ~25' wall, that would make the image ~43' wide!?! kinda rediculous, imho.

*sometimes*, on *some* recordings, i get images that make for a soundstage ~18'-20' wide. this is about the best i'm gonna get (or even want, for that matter). if i were to put my current set-up into a narrower room, extensive sound absorption would be necessary on the side walls to get similar soundstage width. very few (if any) speakers will image even outside their own cabinets, let alone outside the side walls, if placed w/in 2'-3' of an untreated side-wall.