Sound stage height?

[yepimonfire]

anyone else notice a vertical placement of instruments as well as horizontal placement? i hear it whether i use headphones or speakers. i'm not sure what causes the perception of this but i do know it's definitely there. i'm pretty sure they weren't mixed to have vertical placement, as there is no up/down pan slider on the mixing console

 

[ski2xblack]

Hola, Yep, what's happnin'?

I believe that there are some frequencies (~8khz I think) which typically sound like they are above you. Maybe others will confirm that, as it is coming from my addled memory.

Also, at least for two-channel, the 'window to the music' is kind of ellipitical or football shaped, so the image should extend upward if your speaker placement and sweet spot are ideal. I notice the same thing you do, particularly in one system will fairly large floorstanders, the image definitely extends above the height of the speakers, kind of like being front-row, center at the show (which is the goal, after all).

If what you hear isn't artificial sounding or distracting, I'd say you're on the right track. If, on the other hand, it is a distraction, you can benefit from treating your room (perhaps a diffusor panel on the ceiling at the reflection area) or playing with speaker positioning to ameliorate the effect.

 

[ski2xblack]

That vid of the rockin ghouls in your sig line always cracks me up. Those look like some guys I wasted brain cells with back in high school.

 

[highfigh]

anyone else notice a vertical placement of instruments as well as horizontal placement? i hear it whether i use headphones or speakers. i'm not sure what causes the perception of this but i do know it's definitely there. i'm pretty sure they weren't mixed to have vertical placement, as there is no up/down pan slider on the mixing console

Yes, they were mixed to create the illusion of height. As mentioned, more info at 8KHz adds height through what's referred to as 'psycho-acoustics'. If you have a library near you or if you want to buy a copy, The Master Handbook of Acoustics by F.Alton Everest is a very good source of information on this, and other, topics.

 

[yepimonfire]

Hola, Yep, what's happnin'?

I believe that there are some frequencies (~8khz I think) which typically sound like they are above you. Maybe others will confirm that, as it is coming from my addled memory.

Also, at least for two-channel, the 'window to the music' is kind of ellipitical or football shaped, so the image should extend upward if your speaker placement and sweet spot are ideal. I notice the same thing you do, particularly in one system will fairly large floorstanders, the image definitely extends above the height of the speakers, kind of like being front-row, center at the show (which is the goal, after all).

If what you hear isn't artificial sounding or distracting, I'd say you're on the right track. If, on the other hand, it is a distraction, you can benefit from treating your room (perhaps a diffusor panel on the ceiling at the reflection area) or playing with speaker positioning to ameliorate the effect.

actually, i don't even own any speakers currently sold all my HT gear minus the TV and PS3 trying to get an apartment with someone (which failed, mainly because the guy copped out on me at the last minute) so i ended up using the money on a decent pair of headphones (two actually, settled on liking the etymotics vs the audio technicas due to their linearity) and other things ive been needing to take care of money wise. i got all but 80 bucks of what i paid for the new polk audio gear so that made me happy. the bookshelfs ended up selling (40s) for 80, i only paid 119 for them. CANNOT COMPLAIN!!! hours are going through the roof at work though, so im making some cash i get to keep and spend! so i'm in the market for some new stuff, gonna go a bit less overkill this time (back to bookshelves) the polk audio monitor 70s may have been a force to reckon with, but they were just too damned big for my room, making optimal placement difficult. got my eye on ascend acoustics, maybe will try out some klipsch, although im leaning toward the ascends due to their linearity. maybe even some behringers, who knows. all kinds of possibilities for me to go with.