A race to good sound

I regret that I've many times rerouted my audio path. Sigh! It was never a straight path from A to B but a branchy decision tree. The branches grow with audio activities. Rarely, an equipment upgrade doesn't involve a change in a system setup like speaker replacement or cable swapping. A perfect drop-in replacement is almost impossible I'm afraid. For you've disturbed the system equilibrium, it's hard to turn back or admit a wrong upgrade. The temptation of better sound is irresistible.

I'm shy to announce the number of years in this passion because the number couldn't reflect one's calibre. Instead, I ask what have I learned and done in those years? Knowledge is power, it empowers one to identify the cause of a problem, you get results faster paying less, that's rings my bell.

Listening to other systems and the popping of new ideas are the main course of my pivots. Inevitably, these exposures smashed my past audio ideology. No sonic revelations didn't involve spending, this's a part of the game. In this regard, smart learning is learning what others do best. For instance, you go find out why a system sounded incredibly well in a certain respect. What will I arrive if I do this, do that, how about this, how about that? These questions always bug me in my head. Money buys better equipment, no doubts about it. When money isn't enough, one can resort to other audio elements to up his game. The thing is this, I could discern the sonic difference tweakings bring about. Regardless of how unscientific it is, the phenomenon is solid evidence.

In the course of respective growing audio years, we quietly seed our audio values that shape our habitual sonic approach. Likewise, their in-depth knowledge in certain audio respect earns them a specialist nickname, they are nonetheless, a good guru to learn from.

With so much time to spare under the movement control order, I felt compelled to try different speaker positioning. When speaker positioning is concerned, firstly, positioning, secondly isolation feet and lastly soundstage presentation. A cold chill goes down to my spine just thinking about it.

Moving heavy objects gives me cold sweat, my back screamed even before I begin my work even though my speakers are not that heavy. Constantly bending forward can cause backache, backache is not something I can endure. The truth is I had made many placements since my speakers landed in my mancave. Even though it's an arduous task, you never subcontracting the task to others, you don't want to miss a learning opportunity.

Three positionings in three days, 8 hours per day with each positioning going back and forth. No joke. I confessed that my earlier speaker positionings carry an implicit objective to sweep the sonic problems under the carpet Amplifying the strengths and hiding the weaknesses, don't we always do?

Room is a sound barrier that isolates the external sound and facilitates room loading, it's an integral of the sound. The sonic presentation has a lot to do with the reflected sound. Soundstage could arrive at rectangular, triangular, V shape or U shape, mine is a crossover of a rectangular and a shallow V.  My soundstage depth isn't a problem, width is. I like to change up my arc shape soundstage.

Time to get my hands dirty. I ended up with slightly more than 68 inches speaker apart, slightly less than 15 inches to the sidewall, 26 inches to the front wall and 100 inches from the speaker plane. A negligible toe out. Off-axis listening produces a smoother sound, less beaming. The sonic density reaches the peak when the ear height levelled with the driver. For multiple driver speakers, your ear height could either be below the tweeter or in between the tweeter and mid/bass driver. The lower the ear height to the floor will get you to perceive more bass and thus changes the tonal balance. I need two or three days for reaffirmation going through before settling in the final positioning. We need a cool head and a good sleep definitely helps.

Listening to a concerto in this new configuration resembles a miniaturized real-life rectangular soundstage without sacrificing tonal density, very satisfying. A symphony is a perfect choice to test soundstage. The key is to space the first and second reflections for at least 4 milliseconds. My sound expands well beyond the outside of my speakers. Tonality before soundstaging. I didn't want a razor-sharp imaging but a slight knock off will yield a more organic presentation.

As with everything and anything, you weigh the pros and cons. Down to what you want and your willingness to trade, my bass volume has decreased. This is the beginning of my quest to boost my bass not through placement. Adios.