[usp1]

I recently acquired a pair of 1.6QR. The crossovers on these have been modified. They have a very nicely done outboard box with Mundorf M-Cap supremes (midrange), ClarityCap SA (tweeter) and Goertz Alpha-core inductors. Everything seems very nicely done and very professional looking.

I am really pleased with how they sound except for the soundstage. For some reason the soundstage just does not seem wide enough. I tried them with the tweeters inside as well as the tweeters outside and that did not help. They are placed about 50 inches from the back wall, 3 feet from the side walls, 7 feet apart on the inside edge and listening position is about 8 feet from the speakers. I have tried different toe in angles without much success.

I used the Imaging Test from the Chesky Sampler and AUdiophile Test CD and it does something strange. The sound seems to come from where it is supposed to except when the speaker is supposed to be at far left or far right. At those points the voice seems to jump right back to center. This does not happen with my other speakers. I tried changing polarity on the speakers but to no avail. Wondering what the problem might be.

Would appreciate any help!

[berni]

How long is your room? Try them further out into the room(at least 3 feet!) almost no toe in to no toe in  and maybe also go wider to the side walls. Try this with tweeters in and maybe with them outside.

[max190]

Sounds like you need to add absorption on the 1st & 2nd reflection points on your sidewalls.

[JackD201]

How long is your room? Try them further out into the room(at least 3 feet!) almost no toe in to no toe in  and maybe also go wider to the side walls. Try this with tweeters in and maybe with them outside.

What Berni said.  You might also try sitting closer to the speaker plane.

[usp1]

The room is 25 feet long. I have absorption panels on the back wall. On the left side wall I have n absorption panel at the first reflection and there is a doorway opening on the right wall.

I tried tweeters both in and out and played with toe in as well but the image does not seem to want to move outside beyond the boundary of the speakers. I would understand if the image stayed put at the speaker inside of extending beyond the speaker, but it, surprisingly, seems to snap back to center when it is supposed to be beyond the speaker! (None of the other speakers I have/had do this)

[JackD201]

What have you got behind the speakers on the front wall?

[berni]

If your room is 25 feet long, then go 5 or more feet from the front  wall. I dont understand why you try with 50".
The side walls will not do much harm to dipoles..

[usp1]

Berni,

The rest of the room is used as my home office. The 50" is because of the doorway in the side wall. I could move it out further as a test but I would not be able to keep it there always.

[krikor]

Since you have outboard crossovers, I assume you have some sort of connections/jumpers between the box and the individual panels.  Is it possible one of the tweeter or bass panels are connected out of phase?  I accidentally did this when tweaking my crossovers and it does some weird things like you describe with the sound.

[Berndt]

What is your front end? Amp, pre, source? Some amps, in my experience, don't image very well.

[usp1]

Krikor - The external crossovers are hardwired so I am not sure if they have been wired incorrectly.

Berndt - Since I do not have the same problem with my other speakers I am not entirely sure that the electronics have anything to do with it. In any case, I tried two amps - an emotiva mps-1 (SS with 200wpc) and a rogue 88 (tube with 40 wpc). I am using a Dodd battery buffer instead of a preamp.

[S Clark]

This thread was brought to my attn by one of our members.  My experience is that absorption at first reflection points adds detail, but doesn't expand soundstage much.  However, I've just added diffusers that have made a large difference in soundstage width, and a smaller but noticeable difference in depth. This could be your solution,and the price is right.  See this thread...
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=100858.0

Scott

[usp1]

SClark,

Thanks for the tip. I may try diffusers to see how that helps. What is surprising to me is that other speakers do not suffer from this problem in the same room with the treatments I have. I am wondering if, as someone suggested,  the crossover is miswired. The person I bought it from seemed very knowledgeable and had it done with help from a reputed audiophile but one never knows. Not sure how I m going to check that. I could always do it the hard way by cutting the wires and trying trial and error.

[max190]

usp1, if the crossover was wired wrong wouldn't that effect other areas as well?
Hows the bass response?

When you say that other speakers do not do what your Maggie's are doing, are you doing the exact same test with them?

[usp1]

max,

I have tried the same Chesky test with my other speakers and did not notice the problem. As for the bass, there is  a decent amount of bass but I am not sure if there can be more.

[Rclark]

How new are the crossovers?

[Rclark]

I just noticed something. You have a long narrow room. Set them up along the long wall using the cardas calculator for planars as a start point and your soundstage should become as broad as the grand canyon. Short wall, short soundstage.

Your room is a narrow long cave. Not good for soundstage at the far short wall.

[usp1]

Thanks RClark. That will take some serious redoing of the room. A longer term project.

[Rclark]

Yeah it took some adjustment to the layout for me too but it's all mental. The good news is that it truly creates a huge stage, it's less compressed and clearer, better all around.

[Rclark]

Oh also, I now run tweeters outboard as nature intended. How you have it now, stick with inboard.