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Another soundstage question

There are a couple of soundstage related threads running on the amp/preamp section and they reminded me of a question I’ve been meaning to ask without hijacking those threads. The speakers are Vandersteen 2Ci and the system along with their placement is giving me a real deep and relatively wide soundstage - but not much further to the sides, but I’d like the height of the soundstage be little higher. The speakers are on the sides of a bay window, about 10’ apart and with heavy drapes pulled on either side and about 2.5’ behind the speakers. Much lighter curtains cover the bay windows for privacy. In my seating position that is about 10’ away from each speaker the top of the soundstage is just about the top of the speakers, sort of like I’m sitting at the same level as the musicians. The depth is realistic but I think the height needs to higher to give a better feel for the height of the singer standing in the middle and the rest of the band scattered at different levels within the stage. So having said all this, is the soundstage height mostly a function of the electronics driving the speakers or its the size/shape of the speakers, e.g., speaker height, tilt, etc., the listening placement, or a combination of all of the above. Thanks.

128x128kalali
kalali's avatar
kalali OP
1,977 posts
 
Thanks geoff, I'll look for that track. I have a relatively deep bay window between the speakers with thick curtains pulled to the sides behind the speakers, helping to create a nice and relatively deep soundstage. What I'm striving for is to get "right" size height. I adjusted the front spikes and added a little tilt and that helped somewhat. I maybe expecting for too much given my moderate system but experimentation is free and I'd like to exhaust all my options before I consider it done. Thanks for all the guidance.
skanda
60 posts
 
completely agreed on the tube pre. every system needs tubes somewhere :)...i haven't heard some of the newer ss pre's like pass xp30 or esoteric c03x so maybe those are capable of a similar dimensionality.

i've had good luck widening my speakers a bit and pulling them about 1.5 feet away from the back wall. i am space challenged but found a way to pull this off. i got more depth and width from this. the tube pre (arc ls17se) adds some midrange bloom which sticks the performers in my face
2channel8
758 posts
 
Thanks for the topic, @kalali. I have been working on the same thing. My soundstage is centered about ear/eye level. I don't know why that feels too low; but it does. My speakers are Canton Ergo 1002DCs,  with tweeters about 35" off the concrete floor and mids at 42". My ceiling is a drop type, unfortunately, only about 7' high in most places. Speakers are 7.5' apart, 2.5' from the wall, and I sit 9' back with no wall behind me for 15'. Side wall distances are 3' to left and 20' to right and all walls are broken up with furniture. Canton recommends no toe in; but I prefer 5 degrees.

Raking back made things worse. Removing carpet between me and the speakers actually helped. Recently I raised the speakers about 2.5" and it seems to have raised the vocals about a foot. I would really like to see what removing the drop ceiling would do; but I'll never get away with that, even in the basement. Any other suggestions? Beside tubes.
perfectpathtech
236 posts
 
line source - speakers
kalali's avatar
kalali OP
1,977 posts
 
I actually just bought a tube preamp from Aric Audio - the Unlimited model, about a month or so ago and I'm finally enjoying the so called mid-range bloom that everyone talks about. It makes the soundstage seem noticeably more layered with more air around the vocals and instruments, particularly horns in smaller ensembles. The vocals just sound more live. The height element is very deceptive though since it is very content dependent and could very well be absent to begin with especially since the majority of the music is recorded in a studio setting. I don't know if it's even possible for the recording engineers to "add" height to the recording.  They can add depth pretty good  not so sure about relative height. Maybe someone can give some insight if that is indeed possible. 
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