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I was reading a special issue of Scientific American that is out on the stands now called "Secret of the Senses". They have an interesting article on hearing that talks about barn owls and how they have one ear above eye level that points down, and the other ear is below eye level that points up. This allows them to hear up or down sounds which in turn allows them to hone in on where the sound is coming from very accurately. I was thinking it would be worth checking out propping one speaker up on a cd case at the front, then propping the other up 2 cd's at the back and one cd at the front. This puts them facing slighty up/down with a little difference in the level as well. I'm not sure if it's helping imaging, but I'm going to play with it a bit more. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has played with this before. Grant.
That's an interesting concept. You'll need to have speakers that are highly directional, so you'll have to try it with narrow flare horns. You may need to build something for your experiment, because most speakers have wider directivity. Some prosound gear has narrow directivity, particularly speakers designed to be used in line arrays. But even those tend to lose directional control at low frequencies, depending on array geometry to provide control down low.
I actually have tried playing with this once but I figure that if I just put all the speakers in each corner of the room, I may find that comfort zone in some way. Do you think that may work?
Hi Randle. I think the place that works depends on the speaker and the room, and then you get different types of music and different tastes in sound. I have corner horns that work great in the corners. I also have open baffle that wouldn't work well in corners. I've learned that there is an amazing difference in sound based on speaker positioning in the room. Try moving them back and forth towards the wall which tends to affect bass/ upper balance. Try changing the angle they tow in at for width of soundstage. For centering the stage try left/right balance or shifting the listening seat. Putting the speaker in the corner is likely to raise bass, but depending on the width the speakers are apart may put a "hole" in the middle where the left and right speakers become easy to pick out instead of getting a center sound stage. Your comfort zone will depend on what you like. The beauty of playing with placement is it just takes the time to try it. If you don't like it, change it back. Happy experimenting. Grant.
I figure hey if it's called a surround sound, it's called that for a reason. I surround my room with the speakers so that way I can hear the sounds surround me. lol