Test CD : In Phase / Out of Phase test

Nothing is wrong with your system. There are different ways you can be out of phase. In the demo that you are talking about it sounds like the speakers are out of phase with each other. This is not something that you would normally need to worry about. You will never see music like this.

Try this: Turn your amp off and go to one of your speakers (doesn't matter which one). Reverse the speaker cables; if your speakers are biwired, switch both. Just to clarify, put the + (red) on the - (black) and the cable that is hooked up to the - (black) to the - (red). Play the recording that sounded messed up and it should sound normal. Remember, just reverse the cables for 1 speaker, not both.

That's funny because whenever my imaging is off, it's always to the right side. I've actually wondered at times if my right ear is just stronger than the left. Moving my equipment from in between my speakers to the back of the room fixed the problem for me. I Agree with Tom though. I think it's down to room treatment and perhaps speaker placement. Are your speakers set up identically?

It takes a lot of playing around with room treatment and speaker placement
to be able to get the out of phase track to sound like it is coming at you
from all around your room. But when the room has been treated properly,
I.e., primarily, but not limited to, with respect to echo and reflections, etc.
and you find the exact location for the speakers then you will hear the
sound all around you equally. But it is not something one can necessarily
obtain overnight. Tip: try placing the speakers closer together than you
normally would, say four feet apart with no toe in/toe out. Then play the out
of phase track to see if that improves the effect. Gradually move the
speakers farther apart and see if you can pinpoint the speaker location
where the out of phase track sounds best, when the sound appears to be
coming from all around the room equally, even from directly left and right of
your listening position and behind you.

Tom6897, zd542, B_limo and Geoffkait, thank you all for your comments.

My room is treated for early reflections (sidewall, floor and ceiling). Speakers are set up similarly. more details on my set up are here. See mid-page for photos.

I will try out your recommendation zd542.

Yes B_limo I too wondered about my hearing hence resorted to taking some basic signal level measurements to see if what I was hearing was measurable. At the listening chair the signal was definately higher (about 2dB). Overall, the out of phase signal does sound out of phase i.e. diffuse and non centred.

I will try that Goeff. As theory goes - the better the out of phase response you have - the better in phase response you should have, hence the effort here.

I was in a hurry when I typed out my response this morning. Also, with the posting delay, things can get confusing. The last post I see is Kiwi from today, the 3 paragraph states he will try my recommendation (zd542). Just to keep context, this response in response to everything up to the post I just mentioned.

Something I need to clarify. When you say test discs, I'm taking that literally. These are actual recordings that are to be used in the set up and evaluation of audio equipment. That's what I'm going on. If the recordings you are referring to are just a bunch of well recorded, audiophile pressings of music that are great for really testing a system, then my first post probably doesn't apply.

The reason I said that there is nothing wrong with your system is that the phase test that you describe, should sound messed up. Its typically used to show what a system will sound like if you made an error connecting your speaker cables. If that's the case, there really is nothing to fix. I had a look at the 2 systems you have listed. It looks like you really know what you are doing and take audio very seriously. Given that, I just don't see you messing up connecting speaker cables. That's why I say there is nothing wrong with your setup.