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"Soundstage Versus Just Listening"

BankShot

BankShot

A Work In Progress
I was just curious as to how many of us have spent time trying to create a soundstage in our listening rooms that comes close to duplicating a live performance? Most of my listening is done with the hope of having the performance played for me as close to as how it sounded when it was recorded and with most sources I have managed to achieve that. For example I really enjoy listening to a piece of classical music being performed by a truly great orchestra and being able to sit there and visualize each instrument and/or instrument section playing in the position it is supposed to be within the overall orchestra. Also when I listen to a small club type group, say a piano, guitar, sax, string bass and drums, they all come from the positions they were playing in as they were recording. Not only from a width of soundstage but also from one of depth. And to have "air" around each one of them to where it seems as tho they are each standing there in the room with me. To me that is about as good as it gets and I for one am very happy that I have been able to achieve this phenomenon..................

Any others out there that also have this with their systems................?

Good Listening to Everyone..........Terry:thmbsp::music:
 
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With my limited listening spaces, I fall short of completely achieving what you mention- but I still make adjustments. In my next house perhaps.

Tyler
 
IMO, once you have heard a good soundstage on your own system anything else is really not acceptable. It's not something that requires adjusting and tweaking. Once you've got one it's there for good.

IMO, if you don't have depth you don't have a soundstage. Having a great lateral spread that sounds like cardboard cut outs arrayed left to right isn't a soundstage.

Yes, I have it. With the right recordings the wall behind my speakers disappears. The side walls disappear also. When I close my eyes it sounds like there is a much larger space (over there) than I see.
 
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Klipsch Fortes are 3-ways, throw a mean sounstage, and create the image of a group of people on a stage, especially if it's a live album. Powered by a Sansui (one of the most popular vintage receivers of the 70's and all time, with many thousands in circulation), they really do create the impression that people are performing or recording in a finite, audibly defineable space that can be anything from a basement/garage jam to a jazz club to a concert hall to a hockey or basketball arena. The impression of this image can be readily felt, imagined very realistically, and experienced almost everytime I turn on my gear.
 
Hmm. I "just listen" but I believe my Chorus II's do a fine job of creating "depth" even in my small space. Direct center is unbelievably realistic.



Matt
 
JesusChrysler said:
Hmm. I "just listen" but I believe my Chorus II's do a fine job of creating "depth" even in my small space. Direct center is unbelievably realistic.



Matt
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Me too, for the most part. I find tonal balance by far the most important when listening to music.
 
I consider myself an interactive artist manipulating any given recording to suit my preferences. Heck I'll play recordings at the wrong speed if it sounds cool. Playing multiple recordings at the same time is fun too. I used to do that on my radio show. Spin some of Xenakis's computer music and play spoken word records at the same time. I command the soundstage. :smoke:
 
IMO, the only speaker layout that properly models a real time (live) sound source is dipole. That is why electrostats sound so...open and airy. Soundstage are the environmental cues, the reflection of soundwaves off the physical stage that allow your ears to place the instruments, to tell you what direction they are coming from. Some monopoles come close.
 
Totally agree, once you've heard a system with a good soundstage it's hard to go back to anything else. I got my Polk SDA 1Bs about two years ago, these things create a soundstage with width, depth and height when set up correctly. They may not be the most tonally accurate speakers, but that is a small sacrifice.
 
A lot of the time when these kind of discussions pop up I revel in "ignorance is bliss" as I only have my own stereo that I've listened to and don't know what I'm missing....


:)


Matt
 
SoCal Sam said:
IMO, the only speaker layout that properly models a real time (live) sound source is dipole. That is why electrostats sound so...open and airy. Soundstage are the environmental cues, the reflection of soundwaves off the physical stage that allow your ears to place the instruments, to tell you what direction they are coming from. Some monopoles come close.
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I like dipoles, as well, but I primarily like them because they do a nice job of reducing room interactions that are destructive types (early reflections from the same side of the room). If you get a chance to hear some good constant directivity speakers, they'll do the same disappearing act and promote very natural soundstages.
 
Out of the gate, and with only a relatively few responses so far, it appears the majority of us prefer our music in a soundstage presentation. Some of us have achieved a soundstage that is to our personal liking, and a few are working towards one. I didn't know if I was in a small minority or what, that's the reason I posted this question. Will be interesting to see how the stats hold up once a few more post their responses, etc.............

Continued Good Listening.............Terry:thmbsp::music:
 
It isn't always the system that creates the stage..I'd say most times it's created by the recording... I've got some recordings that are huge in sound stage.. .I'e got a lot of others that sound like the sound is coming directly from the speakers...
 
You are right about the recording Semi, but if the gear and the room aren't capable, even the good recordings won't produce the sound stage that is possible.
 
Yes, I have the soundstage thing here. Many times I thought I had it, but didn't. Then one day I really heard it and was all "oh, that is what they were talking about". And its very much about the gear and not just the recording (though that matters, too, of course). And its not just the speakers- its the whole chain from beginning to end, and I've found it very easy to destroy the whole affect with one wrong gear choice, especially with preamps.
 
There's always mushrooms.

This takes me back to my college days of listening to Santana Lotus through the Carver Cube and the roommates EPIs.
 
similost said:
It isn't always the system that creates the stage..I'd say most times it's created by the recording... I've got some recordings that are huge in sound stage.. .I'e got a lot of others that sound like the sound is coming directly from the speakers...
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Mmaxed said:
You are right about the recording Semi, but if the gear and the room aren't capable, even the good recordings won't produce the sound stage that is possible.
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If it isn't in the recording, it isn't happening at all.

If the gear and setup aren't right, it either isn't happening at all, or is happening to a much lesser extent regardless of the recording. As pointed out, whatever soundstage effect that is extant in the source is usually due to manipulations of recordings made in different spaces.

Headphones can be helpful if you desire that effect. Especially if your room isn't set up to achieve it.

I won't say that I am unaffected by the effect, but it isn't of paramount importance. Timbral accuracy is far more important to me. If the trumpet player is playing something that doesn't sound like a trumpet, I don't much care where he is sitting.
 
Soundstage is the essential starting point for me. Every other aspect/quality follows.

It was a huge pill for me to swallow to realize that not only do many people here at AK not have it, but they don't even care about it. I'm trying to accept this, but I'm still left wondering why even have stereo then? It's the whole point of stereo to provide soundstage isn't it?

Anyway, I've gotten better at accepting that many could care less. But it's been the single hardest workout of acceptance I've had to bear in this hobby. Still, when I see pics of speakers on the floor with tweeters at knee level, I have to just keep walking....
 
Maybe some of us understand we like music served up better than earbuds n ipods but even when we have good equipment we don't know how to properly utilize it. I personally between working full time and cleaning my 6 bedroom house and dealing with a nine month old a ten year old and an eleven year old much less my 3 teenagers who live with their mother have time to ponder Soundstage. I like to turn my **** on and hear music I like that doesn't sound like ass.

My 2 cents.


Matt
 
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