Odd spacial sound effect

Posted by: stephenjohn on 12 January 2002

As I said on an earlier posting I'm new to this Name gaim. My system is CD5 112/150, now with FC2, and Credos. I paricularly like to listen to 20th century chamber music. My room is approximately 5m square and I sit 4m from the speakers.

I've noticed that when a particur instrument plays different notes or at different loudness the sound of that instrument appears to be moving around the sound stage, usualy shifting around between left and right speakers. The quality of the sound is fine [beautiful even] but this apparant moving around is irritatiing.

Does anyone else recognise this experience? If so does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Steve

Posted on: 12 January 2002 by Rana Ali
This may be silly but worth covering the basics. Just ensure that the speaker to amp connections are consistent for each side. I got odd but interesting sensations when I connected the amp incorrectly (easily done in my situation where the amp is diificult to get to).

Rana

Posted on: 12 January 2002 by herm
out of phase?

I agree with Rana: the thing you're describing sounds like you got one of the speaker cables wrong. Why don't you try switching the + and the - (i.e. the red and the black).

You could also check the polarity of the current.

And, by the way, could you, at some leisure moment, tell us a little more about this 20th C chamber music you're enjoying. What kind, which composers. I for one am interested.

Herm

Posted on: 12 January 2002 by Thomas K
quote:
the sound of that instrument appears to be moving around the sound stage

Perhaps it's Nigel Kennedy on speed, wandering round the recording studio? Ha ha ha, I'm so funny! I kill me!

OK, sorry for that. Out-of-phase speakers will sound spatially awkward, but I don't think the effect would be one of apparent movement. Do check the phase, though, and let us know the result.

Thomas

[This message was edited by Thomas K on SATURDAY 12 January 2002 at 19:05.]

Posted on: 12 January 2002 by Mark Dunn
Hi stephenjohn:

I have Credos and notice a similar effect but not nearly as pronounced as you, by the sounds of it.

One contributing factor is room positioning but the main one is how far you have the Credos toed in. Too little or too much and you'll get the effect along with a percebtibly skewed frequency response.

Naturally, you should check the phasing as well.

Best Regards,
Mark Dunn

Posted on: 12 January 2002 by Phil Barry
In addition to speaker polarity, I'd look into the siting of the speakers. If it's symmetrical, I would think standing waves could be the issue.

Supposedly it is bad for speakers to be equidistantto 2 or more walls and/or the listener(i.e. the same distance from side wall as from back wall and/or from listener).

You don't need a battery to determine of polarity is off. Just reverse the connections to one speaker and play a mono source (use the mono button on the preamp, if available) - one way will have more bass and a clearer image, and that's the in-phase wiring.

Once you've got the soundinphase, you can check for absolute polarity, which is easily discernible by many people. To do this, reverse both sets of speaker wires - choose the way that sounds best.

I guess if you likeout of phase sound (less bass, phase-y sound) youmight as well stay withtaht....

Posted on: 13 January 2002 by stephenjohn
Hi

thanks for the replies

I'll check out the polarity and let you know. I might have standing waves too as there is a lot of symetry [spelling?] in the room and where I sit. Should I just move my seat or do I move the speakers instead or as well. I don't have my speakers toed in, I sit c4.5m from them, should I toe in?

The C20th Chamber music is nothing unusual: Shostakovich string quartets, piano trio, piano qiuntet, sonatas, preludes and fugues; Bartok, VW, Janacek, Britten, Nielsen string quartets. Sometimes Bridge. Recently bought and enjoyed Enescu [it was nominated for a Gramaphone award, and] Bax, and Arvo Part's Fratres on Naxos. New additions that I haven't had time to get to know yet are: Rawsthorne, Carter, and Schnittke.

Steve

Posted on: 13 January 2002 by stephenjohn
I forgot to mention that my speakers are 2m apart

Steve

Posted on: 13 January 2002 by kan man
... But you're sitting an awful long way away from your speakers. Conventional wisdom would suggest a seating distance similar or slightly more than the speaker separation. Not always the case but you certainly need to experiment to get the best results.

Regards
Steve

Posted on: 14 January 2002 by stephenjohn
Hi
I tried all possible combinations of the leads to the speakers none of which cured the problem. However the sound got a little more bassey when I reversed the leads on both spekers. I'm going to leave it like that for a while to see how I like it.

As it sit so far away I'm going to increase the distance between the speakers to 2.5m [my wife wont agree to the couch going into the middle of the room]

Steve

Posted on: 14 January 2002 by Todd A
quote:
New additions that I haven't had time to get to know yet are: Rawsthorne, Carter, and Schnittke.


Get to know Rawsthorne and Carter as quickly as possible.