Stereo is an ingenious innovation in sound technology. With stereo, comes soundstage, a proprietary of two channel system never found in others. Sworn by soundstage, there're a group of audio enthusiasts live and die by it, for the immersive and surreal experience. That said, people have different perspective on sound, with a varying emphasis on sonic priorities. In turn, tonality takes a backseat because you can't have both at the top. Outrightly appealing when soundstage get to be holographic.
My maiden encounter with soundstage was through the diminutive shoebox size Pro Ac Tablette 2. Driven by tube amp, these little boxes were magical. They threw a palpable and enormous soundstage that big speakers can only drool at the articulation. Spica TC-50 and Acoustic Research HI took an aim at holographic imaging along with Dahlquist, Magnepan, Apogee, Martin Logan and Quad in planar speaker form factor and the current makes, King Sound and AlsyVox were all amazing in their own right. Alas, planar speakers have obvious output limitation, they're comfortable at a certain volume, beyond that, haywire.
Soundstage is greatly influenced by room boundaries, the shape, size and construction material, not to mention your furniture and racks and even your equipment arrangement if you have ears for them. Building on this, speaker placement has a direct impact on soundstage, zero toe in and toe in particular. Sketch your in-room direct and indirect sound pathway, you will get a clearer picture.
Zero toe in offers a rectangular soundstage, conversely, toe in, drastically alters the course of direct and indirect sound. Notably, the shortest reflected sound of first reflected sound moves closer to you. Hence, explains the concave soundstage. And the longest reflected sound got even longer that depict greater depth. This is not tall tales. Moreover, with the speaker further away from the front wall that many do, the center image will recess into the wall. The sound loses its meatiness, leading to a less than fuller sound. This relates only to box speakers. I don't have horn speakers, Horn, Avantgarde, Cessaro, Acapella and alike, to say about their behavior relating to toe in, don't stick a gun at my head. I say what I know. Audio simply has too many branches that require a life-long to master. On the contrary, Naim DBL specifically wanted to be leaned on the front wall to produce the visceral punch to die for. Serving rock music with aplomb, like a duck to water. Conversely, Audio Note's preferential extreme toe in, where both axes meet one meter in front of the listener makes the sound bewildered. The best I could describe is sound in a lounge.
In my case, fifteen-degree toe in resulted an apparent lackluster sound and concaved soundstage. I preferred a convex soundstage that sounds more natural to my ears. The risen problems require solution. Apart from the welcomed risen upper midrange energy and lesser harmonic intermodulation, I worked on the reflection points. My sound harnesses room gain to great effect. First thing is to reposition my AGS to nurses the somewhat astringent and lifelessness. To address the recessed center imaging, I have innovated a tweak to bring the center image to the fore. This is my IP, I have not seen anything similar. Besides, the center images breathe more effortlessly. Last but not least, the lackluster is resolved by turning up the volume, at about 3-4% increase. At last, my sound, a gain in clarity and articulation in an old sonic mold.
What's next? I have a single settee coming in that will place my listening height 3cm lower. Lower to the ground will get perceive more bass. Tweeter above listening level introduce better ambiance, but not too much to lose the upper midrange intensity. My three months old settee's lumber support is not good even after an aftermarket lumber support. Better ergonomic, better music enjoyment. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my fruit of labor.
