What am I hearing??

Artemis · « **on:** 23 Jan 2010, 03:45 am »

In audio terms what am I hearing when the sound from my loudspeakers sounds like I have headphones on.It's almost like sound trickery.My system is not out of phase and I do not have surround sound but ever since my latest addition(Audio Research cd 7 hybrid)alot of my recording's give me this super crystal clear window into the music.More times then ever does this happen .I had some freind's over and they all say the same thing "that it sounds like you have headphones on" or "the music is in you head"!Theres time's when you think you can reach out your hand and touch it.Whould this be under the terms"Imaging"or something else??..

*Scotty* · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 04:28 am »

You have encountered the audiophiles FINAL FRONTIER! SPACE!.
You are hearing the spacial information that is present on the recording properly reproduced in your listening room. If you have a High Fidelity system you will hear this happen on a lot of recordings especially ones done in a studio where the recording engineer creates an artificial acoustic space for the performance to exist in. The better your system is at preserving and delivering this type of information to your ears the higher its fidelity to the recorded source material is. You are very fortunate to have this level of accuracy in the reproduction of your recordings. Many people live with the equivalent of musical wallpaper and are unaware that you can have imaging that places instruments and performers at the front of the soundstage between you and the loudspeakers as well as behind them. I will wager you also hear instruments coming from behind you as well as above you depending on the recording.
Welcome to the club of the 3 dimensional sound-stage.
Could you please list the rest of the components in your system as they are also a critical part of your systems current performance level.
Scotty

satfrat · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 04:43 am »

Sounds exactly like what I was hearing & seeing after I took a 4 way hit of Purple Haze that I took my mistake back in 1971.

I've never been able to recapture that moment (it was actually a 2 day moment) in 39 years!

Congratulation for your "moment".

Cheers,
Robin

JerryM · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 04:49 am »

Quote from: satfrat on 23 Jan 2010, 04:43 am

Sounds exactly like what I was hearing & seeing after I took a 4 way hit of Purple Haze that I took my mistake back in 1971.

That explains sooo much...

satfrat · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 04:55 am »

Quote from: JerryM on 23 Jan 2010, 04:49 am

That explains sooo much...

Awwwe Jerry,,,, could you explain it to me???

Audiophiliac · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 05:06 am »

SOunds like fun to me!

I cheat and use a Hughes AK-100 SRS processor to create this effect....although the results vary greatly with the source material.

satfrat · « **Reply #6 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 05:16 am »

Quote from: Audiophiliac on 23 Jan 2010, 05:06 am

SOunds like fun to me!

I cheat and use a Hughes AK-100 SRS processor to create this effect....although the results vary greatly with the source material.

I actually use a Sunfire TG4 processor that has Bob Carver's Holography imaging, works great on both stereo and multichannel.

Cheers,
Robin

JackD201 · « **Reply #7 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 05:23 am »

Looks to me like your new player unlocked what your system was really capable of

Hey Robin, if you took the Haze by mistake, may I know what you MEANT to take?

satfrat · « **Reply #8 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 05:27 am »

Quote from: JackD201 on 23 Jan 2010, 05:23 am

Looks to me like your new player unlocked what your system was really capable of

Hey Robin, if you took the Haze by mistake, may I know what you MEANT to take?

A 1 way hit you silly goose you.

JerryM · « **Reply #9 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 05:32 am »

Quote from: satfrat on 23 Jan 2010, 04:55 am

Awwwe Jerry,,,, could you explain it to me???

In Technicolor, with vivid detail.

To stay way more on topic, though; try moving your listening position a bit forward or backward, Artemis. You may find that you can change from "a lot" of your recordings sounding this way to "nearly all".

Have fun,
Jerry

max190 · « **Reply #10 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 12:51 pm »

As Scotty put it "Welcome to the club of the 3 dimensional sound-stage"

If you are a fan of PF and you do not own this

you should give it a listen...

mfsoa · « **Reply #11 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 01:11 pm »

I love that moment when someone sits in the sweet spot and points at my absorber directly in the middle of the speakers and swears that sound is coming from there, and that they don't hear any sound coming from the speakers themselves. Then they have to get up and check for themselves in disbeleif.

"That's what this all about" says me, pointing to all the panels/diffusers.

-Mike

JackD201 · « **Reply #12 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 01:47 pm »

Quote from: satfrat on 23 Jan 2010, 05:27 am

A 1 way hit you silly goose you.

Then you would have had just a 12 hour moment. Not as memorable and one less story for the grandkids around the campfire. Looks like it worked out for the best!

gerald porzio · « **Reply #13 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 02:07 pm »

I wouldn't be overly concerned w/ imaging/soundstage. Live music venues bear little if any relationship to stereo & MC. Both are artifices & poor ones @ that.

dangerbird · « **Reply #14 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 02:28 pm »

Quote from: satfrat on 23 Jan 2010, 04:43 am

Sounds exactly like what I was hearing & seeing after I took a 4 way hit of Purple Haze that I took my mistake back in 1971.

I've never been able to recapture that moment (it was actually a 2 day moment) in 39 years! Congratulation for your "moment".

Cheers,
Robin

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--gold Jerry,,, gold.

DaveC113 · « **Reply #15 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 04:10 pm »

Quote from: gerald porzio on 23 Jan 2010, 02:07 pm

I wouldn't be overly concerned w/ imaging/soundstage. Live music venues bear little if any relationship to stereo & MC. Both are artifices & poor ones @ that.

Really?

You could save some cash and just go mono

I completely disagree that live music has no soundstage, but it does vary...

For me, my system has FAILED if there isn't a broad, 3D soundstage and precise imaging.

gerald porzio · « **Reply #16 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 05:36 pm »

Agreed that all music soundstages to a certaain degree depending on instrument placement, the acoustics of the venue & skillful, quality sound reinforcement, if used. However, this is nigh impossible to replicate in stereo or MC.

Mag · « **Reply #17 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 06:44 pm »

Quote from: gerald porzio on 23 Jan 2010, 02:07 pm

I wouldn't be overly concerned w/ imaging/soundstage. Live music venues bear little if any relationship to stereo & MC. Both are artifices & poor ones @ that.

I disagree my MC stereo simulates amplified music from a bar stage quite well, particullarly rock, with a wall of sound. Drums aren't realistic due to compression but the bass is very convincing. In fact the soundstage is better than some bars I've been to, that depends where you are sitting though in relation to the stage.

gerald porzio · « **Reply #18 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 07:31 pm »

Bar bands are an easier target to reproduce. The venue acoustics are often horrible along w/ the sound reinforcement (Peavy, et. al.) used. Now add in the harmonic distortion that so many bands rely on & Voila! Good acoustic venues & mostly acoustic instruments w/ no reliance on harmonic distortion become much more problematical goal in home imaging/soundstage. IMO, MC is the wave of the future, once & if hi res can be universally formatted. However, I'm not holding my breath

DaveC113 · « **Reply #19 on:** 23 Jan 2010, 07:51 pm »

Quote from: gerald porzio on 23 Jan 2010, 05:36 pm

Agreed that all music soundstages to a certaain degree depending on instrument placement, the acoustics of the venue & skillful, quality sound reinforcement, if used. However, this is nigh impossible to replicate in stereo or MC.

Also, when you're listening to music made in a recording studio, the recording engineer is producing that piece of music for stereo playback, and unless you have a stereo capable of re-creating the sounstage that the engineer intended, you're not hearing what the engineer intended. Techniques are available to throw a soundstage wider than the speakers are apart, and there are A LOT of recordings that have really nice and sometimes very complicated stereo effects that you can't appreciate on many systems.