More on the Subject of Vague Imaging
The first thing I noticed about this system is that the Hallographs are in the wrong place, or at least they are in the wrong place if you are only using one pair. The first pair should be to the outside and just behind the speakers.
What this system screams out to those of us who have heard a lot of stereos, in my case having spent about fifty years in high-end audio, is “Soundstage Freak.”
The speakers are too far apart to create a proper center image.
The sound will be exceptionally spacious this way, but it is also very likely to be washed out and vague.
If you listen exclusively to orchestral music, and you like to sit toward the back of the hall when you go to live performances, then yes, you can almost justify having the speakers this far apart.
For most other music this is not a good approach.
A good vocal recording is all you would need to demonstrate the serious shortcomings of placing your speakers this wide apart.
If this were your setup, But I Might Die Tonight could show you the error of your ways, the way it showed me some of mine (albeit different ones) when I had initially finished the speaker setup at our new studio.
I worked on my speaker placement and room treatments for weeks and months after that, but I knew something was wrong well before that two minute song was over.
Stardust would also be a good choice. Most of Julie London‘s records would work. Some of the more intimate Ella records would be ideal of course, but we rarely have much stock. Blue would work, as would any early Joni Mitchell album.
The recordings of singer songwriters rarely place them anywhere but in the center of the stage, the best of them as prominently as possible. Many of our Hot Stamper pressings would make excellent test discs for getting this aspect of speaker placement dialed in better.
Two Other Obvious Faults
One: Notice the wires on the floor, never a good idea. Check out the wires in the picture at the very bottom of this commentary. That guy doesn’t care what his stereo looks like, he only cares what it sounds like. Try it, you might be surprised what a difference it can make to suspend your wiring.
Two: I have never liked the sound of absorptive materials directly behind the speakers. They tend to deaden the ambience and the space of the stage that we audiophiles should be trying to recreate in the recordings we play, especially live recordings or those made using few mics.
Orchestral spectaculars are especially good for testing size and space in a recording.
Here is a link to some of our favorite recordings that are good for testing orchestral depth, size and space
Further Reading
Robert Brook has been experimenting with different aspects of audio for years now. His Broken Record blog has lots to say about these issues.
The analog set up section on his blog is probably a good place to start to see what he has learned by ignoring conventional wisdom and testing every aspect of audio with an open mind.
More on Robert’s system here. You may notice that it has a lot in common with the one we use. This is not an accident.
And it is also no accident that these two systems just happen to be very good at showing their owners the manifold shortcomings of the modern remastered LP, as well as the benefits to be gained by doing shootouts in order to find dramatically better sounding pressings to play.
