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Why don't more recordings have soundstage outside of speakers

I always enjoy it when the recording has mixing that the instruments are well outside of the speakers.  I think it's really cool and what justifying spending extra dollars for the sound.  I just wish more recordings would do that.  Most of them would just have the sound from in between the speakers.

What are some of your favorite recordings that have an enveloping soundstage well outside of the speakers?
andy2
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,961 posts
 
in my experience it doesn’t require hotrod recordings or esoteric speakers. using a pair of magnapans in the midfield [6-7 feet from plane of speakers] i routinely heard a hemispheric stereo sound field ["ear to ear"] like a distant pair of headphones but with solid center fill, using equilateral positioning, on a wide variety of stereo recordings including a 1958 recording [on CD] of organist korla pandit [born john roland redd], his greatest hits [still in print IIRC], got the same result playing this CD through a pair of mirage omnipolar speakers listened to in the near field [3-4 feet, again equilateral positioning but positioned in the dead center of the room both horizontally and vertically] plus the latter speakers were far more holographic in their stereo presentation with gobs and GOBS of depth, the sound went behind my ears [beyond ear to ear] even. the mirage [aptly named jewel of a speaker] did this trick with just about any standard stereo recording. they were somewhat hot in the trebles, however.
It is possible to do that with box 2 way speakers like mine but with acoustic control of the room, if not, my speakers will not deliver it...

But i lived exactly what you describe in my 2 listening position....nearfield and regular....Without"being hot in the treble" tough... 😊

This hemispheric soundstage and imaging with depth is easier to win with other types of speakers than mine, like omnidirectional one, but it is possible with any good speakers if you control the room response to the speakers with mechanical equalization modulo Helmholtz resonators....( it is not the samething that the speakers response to the room with electronical equalization) It is necessary also to control reverberation time and timing thresholds of the side and back reflected waves coming from EACH speaker for EACH ear....


by the way this Korla Pandit is well recorded even coming from youtube....Even from youtube i get this hemispheric soundfield... I get it with too many other recordings also to mention...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh4edPUBfg4

And for example this POP piece will do the same:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8yix8PZKlw



But this opera of Kurt Weill is a better test for listening voices all around you and half of the time from your back also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR33bL5aNTk&list=PLnQJF3Qi_4_CvjtOvZypmfmC4ygxSxOgm&index=52&t=392s


orgillian197
119 posts
 
I used a pair of Spica TC-50s on stands for years and thought they imaged well. Replaced them with a pair of Magneplanar MG-1.5QRs and the imaging is other worldly - perhaps too much at times but quite entertaining (and revealing) .
sgreg1
612 posts
 
IMO almost everything done by Pink Floyd was engineered with soundstage that is the benchmark. The Wall is a great example of the best drum sound production. They are followed up by the Doors on vinyl they not only achieved side to side sound but forward to back depth. There are times you can hear the guitar like he stepped closer to you for the solo. Another album that is top notch engineering is Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick. I have used this for years to calibrate the bass in my system. It is punchy, force full and tight, I hate the muddy bass that much new production give you. Getting bass right takes time and in the studio time is money. They cut corners and try to push out as fast as they can.
chorus
976 posts
 

I sent this thread to someone who has a sound stage we dream about

and asked for his take.  'Do these guys have a clue'?


"Sadly no. However, the reference to Roger Water Amused to Death is relevant. The soundstage effects are in the recording, as they normally are. You do have to set up your speakers so you get the full effect, and the room plays a part, but overall it’s how the recording is engineered the makes it happen". 

 

All the best,

 

Anthony

 


mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,961 posts
 

I sent this thread to someone who has a sound stage we dream about

and asked for his take. ’Do these guys have a clue’?


"Sadly no. However, the reference to Roger Water Amused to Death is relevant. The soundstage effects are in the recording, as they normally are. You do have to set up your speakers so you get the full effect, and the room plays a part, but overall it’s how the recording is engineered the makes it happen".

All the best,

Anthony

I send your post to a friend of mine , an acoustician, and ask him: is this posters have a clue?

He laugh and said

"EVERYBODY KNOWS that all acoustical cues necessary to recreate soundstage, detph imaging, timbre, listener envelopmemt, source width etc MUST BE CAPTURED FIRST by the sound recording engineer...It is common sense...

And they are plenty of good recordings with all acoustic qualities but if we suppose you already own a relatively good gear able to work correctly together, you will not enjoy great S.Q. in a BAD ROOM, in a room totally uncontrolled acoustically....Then the room play the greatest part because it is not difficult to look for good recording in great numbers...But what could you do with these numerous good recording in a bad room? By the way positioning the speakers is only one variable in this complex acoustic equation including many more other variables like timing reflections, reverberation time, correlating the frontwave for each ear etc and importantly correlating mechanically with Helmholtz resonators the large bandwidth of the tweeters and bass drivers to the room response by ears...

All the best,

Your acoustician friend...."
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