Home Room Acoustics Forum by Rives Audio

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RE: Sound coming from left of middle

It could be a speaker problem with one speaker having a higher level output from the mid and tweeter than the other, or it could be a room problem. A strong side wall reflection can pull the image to the side. It could also be an amplifier or source problem but if the image stayed left of centre when you swapped the speaker cables, then we can eliminate them as sources.

To check whether it's a speaker problem, try actually swapping the speakers rather than the speaker cables. Move the left speaker to the right side of the room and the right speaker to the left. Is the image still left of centre? If it is it would appear that both speakers are working identically and the problem is caused by the room.

Are both speakers the same distance from their closest side wall or is one further from it's nearest side wall than the other? Asymmetrical placement can cause this sort of problem.

Are your left and right walls identical? Bare windows or glass doors on one side and not the other could be a cause, or a hard stone or cement wall on one side and plasterboard on the other.

Is the room asymmetrical in shape? I've got an L-shaped room with one corner cut off at 45 degrees and a speaker and listening position placement which ensures that I get a left wall first reflection for my right speaker but no right wall first reflection for the left speaker and that pulls my image a little to the left. I suspect the shape of the room with much more area behind me on my left than on my right so nearly all reflections from behind me come from the left also contributes a bit.

Does the ceiling of the room slope from one side to the other? That might contribute.

Are you sitting the same distance from both speakers? Sitting closer to the left than the right could be the cause.

Symmetrical setup really does help to keep the centre image centred. Asymmetries can move it and it's hard to avoid asymmetries in many rooms, either because the room itself is asymmetrical, the left and right walls have different reflective properties, or because the system and listening position are placed asymmetrically in the room.



David Aiken


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