My speakers don't "dissapear"

22 posts in one day! wow.

I read thru all the posts and a few of them stood out:

1. Yes I have the speakers on either side of a plasta TV, but the speakers are about a foot in front of the TV stand.

2. Yes, I have a coffee table. A big one too. Rug under it, tile floor everywhere else. No wall treatments (we rent).

3. PS Audio P500 regenerator for DVD Standard. Balanced power transformer for KAV-400xi (1000VA).

4. Nordost Shiva PC's. Quattro fil balanced IC's. Red Dawn speaker cables.

5. 9 foot ceilings, stereo and tv is diagonally set up. Speakers are firing into an open space. Non parallel walls.

6. Speaker phase is correct. System sounds fantastic, but the speakers don't quite dissapear.

7. Speakers toed in at the moment. Will listen to them aimed straight and with slight toe in.

I'll start with speaker placement and more burn in time. The speakers sounded great in the showroom (Sound by Singer, NYC), but in my house (I live in Cyprus, 3rd largest island in the Mediterranean) it seems a little off. The living room is rather "live" so I should probably look into room treatments as well.

Hello:
I have all Pass Labs Monoblocks and a Pass X-1 Pre as well as a pair of JM Lab Diva Utopia BE's with a couple different digital sources but the main player is a Meridian G08. for amp, pre amp, cd player connections I use XLO Balanced. I am using the Harmonic Tech for my speakers and they sound great. I just swaped out the Harmonic Tech for the Kubala-Sosna Emotion and I will tell you the Kubala speaker cable destroyed any and all focus and imaging I had.I could toe them in 30 degrees or more and still nothing! At 3800.00 for the Kubala, I was upset. The JM Utopia Be's, all of them, can vanish in a room and image beyond the boundries of the walls. I have had Utopias(old style), as well as Mini Utopia's and all, especially the new BE's image as well or better than anything I have heard as far as box speakers go. The Be's imaging is one thing that sets that speaker apart from most anyway. The problem isn't your gear or your speakers, it is probably your cable. The Kubala is 3 times the price of my Harmonic Tech and the Harmonic Tech destroy the Kubala. I have a friend who has the Nova Utopia BE's and experienced the same issue with these cable. I would try replacing the speaker cable before anything else. I couldn't believe the difference when I took out the Kubala, everything came back and the speakers vanished in the room with precision imaging with the speakers not even toed in. trust me, give it a try. Those speakers you have are Reference Monitors and the reviews on them speak for themselves. I would try XLO, Harmonic Tech Magic 2, or Synergistic Research Tesla series. My friend with the Nova Utopias swears by the Synergistic Research. I would borrow a couple pairs of speaker cables just to see if that is were te issue is. I a ton of experience with JM Lab and they can be cable sensitive speakers!

If you're not already doing it I'd recommend putting a blanket or quilt over the plasma when you're listening to music.

My experience with this had pointed almost always to the speakers themselves and also how they interact with a particular room (probably why they disappeared better at Sound by Singer). If you go through different positions, toe-in, etc. and it's not working, might be time to borrow another pair of speakers that are known to disappear well (i.e. Joseph Audio, Totem, Vandersteen, Usher, etc.) just to see what happens. That's what I'd do because otherwise you might end up spending gobs of time and money trying to achieve something these speakers just don't want to do in your room and/or with your equipment.

Best of luck.

"stereo and tv is diagonally set up"

From your description, short of a defect in speaker wiring or such (doubtful) this may be working against you the most compared to the norm.

Also, what's the distance between the speakers and the walls?

Burn in time may also be an issue with this equipment according to others here more knledgeable on this than I.

Thanks for your further information. Here's my suggestion:
1. move the spkrs another foot (towards you) away from the screen.
2. experimentally, GET RID of the coffee table or at least get it out of the field between the speakers and you.
3. take the rug that's under the coffee table and put it in front of the space between the speakers. OR get a larger rug, covering most of the space between the speakers and the listening position.
Happy Listening!
ATB,

Joe