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My soundstage is terrible. i need help bad.

Ok i have the following pieces. Pioneer 39tx a/v reciever. I have Psb stratus silver i speakers, allantis biwire speaker cables. Tara labs vector 2 i/c. And a large subsonic 5 subwoofer. rarely used. I have little to no soundstage at all. almost sounds like a 5yrs old boom box. i dont understand which direction to go. I am going to be getting some psb stratus gold speakers here in the next 2 weeks from a buddy and im trying to get things straightened out before the new arrivals. do you think going to the better speakers will help or is it that i have everything setup wrong in the house. Cathedral ceiling home. Equipment set up on the highest wall. 26ft. and the seating postions at the lowest around 12ft about 4ft from the back wall. Im just confused on wehere to strart. My kitchen has to open doors to the right if ur sitting in my seating postion. I dont think the room is ever going to be able to give me what i want at any price. I just need some help on setup. lmk what you think i should do first. aprreciate all the info guys. this site rules. Kevin
flyin2jz
cleaneduphippy
323 posts
 
Flyin2jz,

Definely pull your speakers out in front of your wide-screen TV. I myself have a large entertainment cabinet housing my TV and components in between my speakers. And I know for a fact that if I position my speakers behind or even with the entertainment cabinet, then I lose my soundstaging. Pull forward some, soundstaging returns. Btw, I used to use a NAD C542 CDP, and I got good soundstaging from it, so I would suspect your NAD C541 would do the same.
flyin2jz OP
51 posts
 
How far out in front of the tv do the speakers need to be? I really dont have a ton of room to do that. I could shove the tv back a bit and the speakers out in front but then the wifes gonna think im a nut. I have some psb stratus golds coming so hopefully it helps also. I think the nad player will also help. I just want what i heard in the low 90s. If it makes my eyes water and my balance off im good. SOunds like some kinda drug. hehe I am slowly getting the equipment that i heard when i had no money to spend at all. thanx a ton for the info. Im still learnin guys. Kevin
jpaik
42 posts
 
I thought you were concerned about soundstage. Now you're concerned about the tv?
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Going from Stratus Silver to Stratus Gold will mostly make a difference in bass extension and ability to fill the space. If you put them where you have the Silvers, they'll pretty much image the same way. With this big a listening area, you need the speakers out more like 4' out from the wall behind them. And the Stratus Gold's extra bass extension will make proximity to walls more likely for the bass to overwhelm the tonal balance.

Is your Pioneer Elite a rear projection TV? Nothing kills a stereo image quite like filling the area between the speakers with a big flat surface.

Instead of getting Stratus Golds, maybe you should spend the money on a plasma or LCD display (I've even seen 65" 1080p LCD for as low as $2500) and hang it on the wall behind and between the speakers.
cleaneduphippy
323 posts
 
Flyin2jz.

In responds to your question "How far out in front of the tv do the speakers need to be?" you're going to have to experiment with your own speakers, and find how far forward to go. With my speakers (Madisound AR.coms), I moved them 15" forward of the front of my entertainment cabinet, and that seem to get me the best mix of soundstage and bass responds. Truth is, speaker placement is often a trial and error type of thing simply because of the different variations of people's rooms, furnishing, listening wants and needs, ect.
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