Depth Poll - Where is your image located?

[sqlsavior]

I'm curious about where the stereo image forms in all y'all's systems, and how much depth is presented. I know this can vary from recording to recording, but in general terms, where is your image?

Please share any insight you have gathered regarding depth and image location - what expanded it, what collapsed it, why you think it happens.

Thanks for participating!

 

[Hyfi]

Depends on what speakers are in play.

 

[sqlsavior]

Depends on what speakers are in play.

I imagine it would. Can you give some examples? Thx.

Edit: choice number four becomes meaningless if people use it to account for different speakers. I meant both in front of and behind the speakers at the same time.

 

[JoeESP9]

I selected number four to account for different recordings.
The images in the soundstage that I experience depend on the recording. With most classical and Jazz it's from the plane of my speakers and as far as beyond the front wall. Pop/rock rarely extends very deep. Some vocals and lead instruments sound as if they are in front of the speakers. The rest of it is very well defined from left to right with little to ne depth.

 

[kray]

I have my Harbeths out in the room and my image is nice and big but between and behind. I can hear depth behind as well. Like a drum or bass behind the vocals but all even with or behind the speakers themselves.

 

[mbz]

Agree, depends on the recording, also only talking about depth and not height where some recordings have instruments
"placed" at ceiling level, or width where placement 2-3 feet outside the speakers, certainly some recordings can
wrap around you, ie, come from behind/front/side... All this depends on source/amp/spkrs etc...

 

[avionic]

Right here..

 

[Mister Pig]

I chose behind and in front. But it also extends outside both speakers and has depth and projection in those areas.

Everything contributes, from components, cabling, power conditioning, speaker location, listening position, location of equipment rack, room treatments, and source material.

Cheers
Mister Pig

 

[Guest159]

I throw pretty much everything at my stereo, from movie scores to electronic to prog rock. Most stuff isn't so poorly recorded as to have no imaging. Maybe not great, but there's usually something. Imaging is something needs to be ironed out in post-production and mastering to be top notch. I definitely don't find a clique of genres own the imaging game.

 

[sqlsavior]

I have my Harbeths out in the room and my image is nice and big but between and behind. I can hear depth behind as well. Like a drum or bass behind the vocals but all even with or behind the speakers themselves.

This has been my experience with MMGs, 1.7s, and the Quads in my system. Once in a great while sound "effects" seem to come from the side, or over the shoulder, but these are very rare IME. I seem to remember my Klipschorn copies projecting front-wards, such as on Paul Desmond's sax on Take Five. Otherwise I can't remember any "forward" speakers, if that is how people use the term, or does that just mean bright? How about "laid back"? Does that refer to a rear-ward image, or something else? I should drag my father's Universities out to the living room and try them.

Separation and image size is somewhat reduced by my current (backup) power amp, a SS Marantz, compared to the PrimaLuna and Luxman tube amps.

I remember hearing audience noises to my side during a demo of Quad ESLs playing "Jazz at the Pawnshop" in NYC in the '80s, which really blew my young mind. I didn't get the same effect from a 96/24 version that I paid top dollar for. Not sure if that is due to my current orientation (very toed-in), my system upstream (doubt it), a "busy background", i.e. stuff behind the speakers, or the file mastering not including the same information.

 

[Grenadeslio]

Very recording and equipment dependent.

Here's my take on things

When I want to be transported to the venue I crank up the Infinitys. If wanting Mick and the boys playing at my house I crank up the Klipsch.

With one I'm there, with the other they are here.

That said, properly set up most recordings unless mono will image quite well with said image having real depth, height, and width well beyond the boundaries of the speaker enclosures.

As for soundstage as has been mentioned many times, to represent the venue there must first have been one not just a small recording studio.

I didn't select an option as they just seem too limiting.

 

[soundmig]

Imaging and Soundstage vary considerably (width, depth, location of voices and instruments) depending on the recording. Close mic'd studio recordings can sometimes project and sound like the vocal is out front while other instruments are between and behind the speakers depending on how they were mic'd and mixed with effects like delay and reverb. Minimalist mic'd recordings can have varying perspectives depending on technique (M-S, Blumlein, Spaced Omni's) used and mic positioning relative to the orchestra or ensemble and size of room (hall). But generally minimalist mic'd recordings tend to sound as if the instruments are coming from between, behind and side to side (even outside of) the speakers.

 

[rocketmotor]

I really enjoy good imaging and soundstaging. With my Magneplanars the soundstage extends beyond the edges of the speakers and with great depth. I don't get images in front of the speakers. IMO, if you are experiencing images in front of the speakers, it is from a reflection which should be ameliorated. QSound, some Jimi Hendrix, and other manipulations of the soundfield can bring images forward of the speakers.

 

[KarlK]

I mostly use high-en headphones so the image is pretty much the same regardless of my entourage. Open-back Focal Elear does not deliver as wide a soundsatge as one would think, it's more like rock concert than the symphony. Focal Clear on the other hand has very wide imaging, so wide it makes it feel unrealistic at times as if you were listening to a 200-person choir all standing side by side. Clear is by no means flawed, but it's for people who like music played in vast expanses, like Central Park, Radio City Music Hall or St. Patrick's Cathedral. I prefer the Elear's more focused image.

 

[bluesky]

My image is on my drivers license & passport.

 

[Hyfi]

Since this post started, I have also realized it depends on what recording is being played also.

 

[hendertuckie]

Like many, it really depends on the recording. I'm pretty lucky, my room allows me keep my speakers 5' from the front wall and 2.5' from the side wall. My chair is 5' into the room and centered. Good gear is a important and so are our rooms.

 

[gadget73]

yes, very much depends on the recording. I've been listening to assorted live jazz stuff in the last little bit and it has pretty good depth of imaging. Other things are just dead flat and between the speakers.

Right now the singer is slightly to the left of center and in the front. The trumpet with the muffle is behind her to the left. sax is to the right, and the drums are just right of center.

 

[twiiii]

That depends on the recording. Sometimes its in my lap which I don't like and some times its in the neighbors yard. If the sound is more consistent then your speakers are coloring the sound or your stuck with one type of POP music.

 

[sqlsavior]

Quads aren't known for their coloration. And I'm certainly not stuck on with one type of music, pop or otherwise.

Jon Dahlquist said that there are only two kinds of speakers, "they are here" speakers, with his example being Klipschorns, and "you are there" speakers, like his, and Quads. I am wondering if an image behind the speakers is a characteristic of a "you are there" speaker.

I agree that it depends on the recording. But all my depth is to the rear, with the rare exception of some 'effects'.