I’m not sure if it’s an attribute of my speakers or the positioning or what, but should vocals normally (mainly, but a lot of the frequency band) move in the horizontal plane along the position of my head?
I’m getting a head-in-a-vice feeling, I know my speakers (Audio Physic Tempo IV) are relatively directional, and yes the soundstage is quite holographic when I’m in the center, it’s just broken fairly easily.
Should I continue tweaking and tweaking the positioning further or is this quite an unavoidable situation? (Unless with some Magico speakers or something…)
Probably only way to answer this is to keep trying until further experimentation stops improving.
I believe some speakers are much more “head in a vice” than others, so you may be stuck with it…
Luckily, I don’t dance very often so it’s not a crippling issue…
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One of the tests my MartinLogan installer does is make sure nothing changes as you move your head. ML speakers are also very directional. Hope that is useful.
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To clarify, the image stays between the speakers all the time, no matter if you turn your head.
It’s possible you have too much toe-in. Mine are fairly straight out with a slight toe-in. Obviously all speakers are different so I may be misleading you for your case
I agree with Chris. Play around with toe-in. Use some tape to mark the floor.
Something doesn’t sound right… with next to no toe in, AP Virgo II’s disappear completely and gives you a wide center. You can move around quite a bit without any change. I’m kind of thinking room acoustics may be a challenge and maybe setup with with toe in?
When I have them wide apart, both around 1.5m from side walls (front wall 7m), toed in or not, a significant part of the frequencies does move about horizontally when my head moves horizontally, as in not turning my head, but moving side to side.
I’d think I have near perfect room acoustics in an old log house, with plenty of canvas, textile, leather, thick carpets, wall carpets, books, what have you…
This is preference. With laser pinpoint center imaging then, yes, you’ll experience this. As you expand the center image a bit then this “head in vice” becomes less. But, at some point, you’ll lose center imaging completely. Different speakers have different adjustment points between laser vs. diffused. Some speakers go from laser to diffused by millimeters which can be frustrating if you’re looking for something in-between. This can be adjusted by toe but may also be influenced by room reflections.
Yes, preference… A singer whose mouth is 2 meters in diameter or a human singing right there?
I’d personally prefer the latter. I know it’s very possible with my current system, now that I finally have ICONOCLAST cables! I’m hearing music already, not hifi, but I’m missing a certain presence.
I’ll reach it.
I never listen to the voices in my head 
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Don’t dare to encourage my nightmares, you know me, I’m schizo af.
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I have to add: Listening to modern Madonna records unavoidably avoid any hint of a vocal center image.
You know from your own experience what the answer is. A stationary vocalist doesn’t change position relative to his/her band or surroundings as you move about the venue. You sense the voice is coming from a changing direction relative to your ears, that’s what the processing of your brain does to deduce from the timing of sounds to your ears where the sound is localized. But that isn’t the same as the position of the vocalist shifting.
Owl, you are right but your answer is too long of a sentence to understand. I’m stupid.
Could you compress that into simple english?
(Yes I’m joking, but only half)
((I’m not stupid, just drunk a bottle of champagne to celebrate the ICONOCLAST arrival. Still, I doubt I’d understand your post sober.))
Another thing you can try is toeing the speakers in so much that the sound crosses in front of you.
I’m angling the speakers all the way right now, but I’m listening to Madonna so I still have no clue of a center image.
I have to say, seriously, the addition of ICONOCLAST speaker cables to my system made speaker positioning much easier - the effect of angling is much more apparent.
I’m getting it right.
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