My vintage 3 way speakers have 18" woofers. I have tried listening to different types of music and honestly if I set my speakers to mono or stereo, I really can't tell the difference. Does it make a difference that they are so low to the ground or is it me? Maybe, if I had a nice pair of tower speakers with more than one woofer and they were up a little higher? It doesn't bother me, I was just wondering if anyone has noticed this with their speakers.
Is it me?
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Then essentially you have no/poor imaging, or probably soundstage and are missing out on the intent of stereo.
If you could hear what you were missing..., it may bother you more than you can imagine.
BTW, I also use vintage 18" woofers and my soundstage and imaging are among the best I've heard.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
Some recordings can have more of a mono sound to them. Try picking something from early stereo. Jimmy Hendrix liked to pan his guitar from one side to the other, or have the drums coming from one side and the guitar from the other. Earlier stereo was all about " listen, it's in stereo!"
Speaker placement can have a lot to do with it also. But there could be something wrong with your amp or receiver as already mentioned. Maybe one speaker wired out of phase?
Speaker placement can have a lot to do with it also. But there could be something wrong with your amp or receiver as already mentioned. Maybe one speaker wired out of phase?
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Doug G.
Lunatic Member
Well, I just listened to a variety of music and when I put a "Rush" cd on, I noticed that it starts off on the left speaker then moves over to the center. So, obviously, it was me. I can "mute" the tweeters and mid-range and that helps. Now, I remember how it always bothered me that the old "Beatle" music had the vocals on one side. Thanks for all your help!
mrehorst
Super Member
I've seen pictures of people's systems in which they put the speakers next to each other on the floor and use the tops of the cabinets as a shelf on which to set a receiver or other equipment. If you're set up like that you're not likely to hear much stereo unless you're listening a foot or so away from the speakers.
If you have one of the speakers connected in reverse polarity relative to the other you may not notice much difference between mono and stereo.
If you have one of the speakers connected in reverse polarity relative to the other you may not notice much difference between mono and stereo.
Just about every time I do some kind of work on my system I check the wiring. I have to, I have two bi-amps for the tweeters and mid-range, two mono amps for my woofers, two turntables, a CD player and a active crossover. I have cables and interconnects every where. I've been listening to my stereo all day and it sounds good. I had to go this route because my tweeters were way too loud and I had no reasonable way to turn them down. Now, I can adjust each and every piece of equipment I have not that I really want to spend my time doing that, I would rather set it up and listen to music.
That is exactly what I was going to say...you beat me to it!
I'm curious to see what happens!
I doubt that it is your speakers, but something with your amplifier (or source equipment)... possibly the music recording itself. I have an Arthur Brown (Crazy World Of) CD, that contains both mono and stereo material. With the speakers, especially with woofers that large, it is all about control and dynamics.
I have a feeling it might be the music I listen to. Since I have put this question to this forum, I have muted my mid-range and tweeters and listened only to my woofers. I also have been experimenting with different programs on my active crossover and some of them are actually set up with mono woofers instead of stereo. It is possible that I lost track of which set up I was listening to. Again, it was me. From what I have been listening to through the woofers only, I haven't found a problem with the speakers and when I have them set up for stereo, they preform well. My crossover has a button for changing the "phase" and maybe I need to sit down for a while and see if there is a difference I can hear. The problem is, I have been afraid this might damage part of my equipment in doing so.I doubt that it is your speakers, but something with your amplifier (or source equipment)... possibly the music recording itself. I have an Arthur Brown (Crazy World Of) CD, that contains both mono and stereo material. With the speakers, especially with woofers that large, it is all about control and dynamics.