Speakers "Disappearing"

@edstrelow,


That's one reason why I generally dislike exposed speaker drivers in speakers.  When I see precisely what is generating the sound, my mind struggles to not "see" the sound coming from them.  E.g. I hear drum cymbals and think "well, that's a nice tweeter."   Speakers with grills on always do a much better job of seeming independent of the music happening around them. 

I have also very often listened with a light over my listening sofa, but lights off over the speakers, which also helps the magic of musicians appearing in front of me, without distraction.

For similar reasons I covered my home theater speakers with black velvet so they completely disappear from view with the lights out.  Only seeing the projected image and not the speakers helps the mind map the sound on to the image better in my experience.

Interestingly enough, I've also found a similar effect at my local drive in movie theater (yes we still have one!).    The soundtrack is piped through the car stereo system.  But I don't see any speakers, and in the dark we are just sitting in the car, hearing sound and seeing the giant picture.  And yet our minds effortlessly map the sound in the car as coming from the giant screen hundreds of feet away! 

I remember also playing with the subjective aspect of imaging when I was listening to my small Thiel 02 speakers.  Those old speakers came with a pair of low-rise wire stands, which simply raised them a few inches off the floor, but angled them up towards the seated listener.
When looking at the speakers the soundstage tended to seem low, hovering above the ground in the plain of the speakers.  But I closed my eyes and simply imagined I was now listening to a pair of tall floor standing speakers.  Amazingly enough I could "hear" the images of the singer and musicians slowly rise up until it seemed to be projected from a floor standing speaker.  

So with all these different experiences I've always paid lots of attention to how seemingly peripheral elements affect the listening experience.

Achieving the disappearing act is a combination of all 3 things: speaker design, your room, and placement.  If you have a speaker with an identifiable coloration, like a hot tweeter or a cabinet resonance, then the speakers will never disappear.  Your brain will identify that coloration as part of the speaker and not the music.  Same thing with early reflections.  If you have a reflective surface on one side, and books on the other side, your room will be unbalanced, and good imaging will be difficult.  

I've found that any and all speakers will image, and create a soundstage, from the most expensive high end you can afford, to the cheapest junk taken out of an old 1950's radio.   what will be lacking is the frequency range response, the better speakers will go higher and lower in frequency, than the cheap ones.  as far as the imaging and disappearing act, it still occurs if the amp has that capability.

Most speakers will disappear better if you:
1. Pull them well out from the rear wall 1- 2mts. and at least 1mt from the side walls
2. Reduce toe in, so you can just see the inner side of the speakers from your listening position.
3: The biggie: get rid of all the image and depth sapping racks, equipment, and anything else from in between your speakers, put them on the side or behind you, this will open up a whole new world of image and depth for you, more than anything else.
Neville Thiel rip (from Thiel an Small speaker design fame) told me this ages ago and he was so correct.
That’s when you go to HiFi Shows the demo’s that have the best image and depth are the ones with nothing between the speakers, because they know.

Cheers George