Center image WAS driving me crazy!

So luca…how are you liking your new music room?

Must be pretty amazing…

Best wishes

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Thanks David.

I completed speakers and subs set up, finding out by ears their best position. I managed with center diffusor, moving it a little bit forward and obtaining the right well focused image and really realistic voice on the soundstage. Now the speakers have completely disappeared and the soundstage dimensions are close to perfection.
Still waiting for:
1 rug (ordered customized 3 month ago, ah the italian craftsmanship!),
2 sliding panels for the library on the rear wall, hand made to reproduce diffusors line
2 acoustic curtains, custom sized too, on the corners between sides and front wall.

Until those things are installed, I was thinking it’s impossible to settle the room. It means that I was still struggling an unnatural reinforcement of bass area behind the speakers and a subtle lack of presence in lower mids.
I also had some trouble rolling the tubes in my BHK pre, in fact replacing a pair of Gold Lions with a new matched pair, I got two of them faulty or noisy. Blah!

Once I added the MSB DAC it suddenly fixed those issues, like the ice on the cake, it brought the right tonal balance and a wonderful liquid smoothness to the sound.

All the electrical wires and receptacles are brand new and cold, it takes time you know but at that point I finally started enjoying the music with a big smile on my face. Playing CDs and streaming both became really engaging and the sound so vivid, embodied and full of life. Still haven’t tried to spin a record (this is the pinnacle proof and I promised to myself to keep this emotion for the great final).

Fine tuning is still not complete but I think that 80% of the job is done. And I couldn’t be happier! It was a 9 month project, a challenge for a newbie like me, a big effort (an act of faith sometimes) investing time and money hard working and long reading to learn, understand, design.

More than ever I can attest without any doubts: the room is the most important component of a system and the biggest variable able to affect the sound.

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Your input is appreciated. In line with the discussion on this thread…

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Ready for some more pictures of your set up, when you are…

If you don’t mind.

Ciao

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I think it could be a problem with the source of the material. You mentioned that the issue seems to happen more with electric guitars - is it possible that some recordings are mixed in a way that creates this effect?

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Thanks @JessieJim1, I suppose you started reading this thread from the very beginning. It was November, a lot of things happened meanwhile…

Guess what? I still haven’t played that John Cougar album in my new room. It’s on my list, of course.

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I’m going back through the thread and will try that Mellencamp.

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The act of faith. Maybe you hope for perfection but expect something less. Hopefully the finished project (even though you’re never finished) is closer to perfection than minimum expectations. At the very least you’ll be able to say, “it’s the recording” if that distracting speaker ever reappears.

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Luca,

what kind of diffuser did you go with? Quadratic, hemispherical, …?

On an unrelated note, bad decision to run an update to my projector last night. The thing is bricked… Going back to OEM for correction.

Center front wall

Front wall left/right

Side walls

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Grazie Luca (grandma was 100% Italian blood borne in what became part of the US).

I have abfussers on the sides (Seven Audio https://sevenaudio.eu/?post_type=product )

My plan is to make stands that I can easily remove for movies.

I like the GIK diffuser but it might be too heavy for my application. Looking a PI Audio

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Here you are.

Rock

Jazz (Blue)

Live

Right wall

Left wall

From front to rear wall

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My God. Awesome!

What lighting are you using?

Beautiful luca…

Patience rewarded!!! For sure!!! :clap:t5: :clap:t5: :clap:t5: :clap:t5: :musical_score: :notes: :musical_note: :musical_keyboard: :violin: :trumpet: :saxophone: :accordion: ::speaker: :sound: :loud_sound:

Best wishes

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Thanks.

Philips hue

After a few years I learnt that lights may be fundamental both keeping in touch with different genres of listening music (according to your mood) and making speakers better disappear.
Zillion of combinations available with a finger on my iPad. Very fun!

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Thanks David, still a few things to do to consider the job done, if ever possible.

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You have been planning this so well and the result is stunning! I cannot imagine how much better the room sounds! Congratulations!

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Thanks Donald. It sounds totally different than before, all the effort (and money) spent is paying a great divided, couldn’t be happier. Just recalling the thread I started… center image isn’t driving me crazy anymore and my soul is fully satisfied from the SYMMETRY I finally got.

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A sincere thank to all of you guys from this forum and Paul and PS staff, all I learnt about my audiophile journey comes from you!

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It is well worth the effort, and I’m happy for you! :+1:

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