HS 80 m stereo field problem

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punkrcker32

New member
Hey guys, i just upgraded from Bx5a to HS 80 m's. and im having a problem with my stereo field. When i used the bx5a everything was perfect center,right and left, but now i bought the 80's and my center now sounds like it is 30 percent to the right. I have both monitors set and the same level, and the eq and control room switches are all set the same to. Im not sure why this is happening, and if anyone can help me that would be great. i have some pictures to

http://s301.photobucket.com/albums/nn77/brownw89/
 
Just thinking outloud, and I'm sure you've thought of this but are you sitting with your head forming an equalateral triangle with the monitors?
 
In my "old" position in my room, the right channel monitor had a door behind it.
In this (old,I changed) position, measurements on this right monitor (compared to the left monitor, no door), was -4 dbs on the lows (probably due to the door "taming" this lows...)

I´m not seeing clearly (pics are a little zoom closed)where´s exactly the door in your room,but seems closer to the left channel, what could (speculation, ok...)explain this "30%plus" on right channel (and low frequencies of a 8" woofer are stronger...)

Anyway, my advice is to post on Studio Building forum (*too).You can have good advices there.

Good luck

Ciro
www.soundclick.com/openstation
 
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punkrcker32 said:
Hey guys, i just upgraded from Bx5a to HS 80 m's. and im having a problem with my stereo field. When i used the bx5a everything was perfect center,right and left, but now i bought the 80's and my center now sounds like it is 30 percent to the right. I have both monitors set and the same level, and the eq and control room switches are all set the same to. Im not sure why this is happening, and if anyone can help me that would be great. i have some pictures to

http://s301.photobucket.com/albums/nn77/brownw89/
Click to expand...

The first thing to do would be to switch the monitors and see if the problem follows the monitors. In other words, after switching them, does it sound like the sound is leaning 30 percent to the *left*? If so, then the monitors themselves might not be matched properly.

When switching them, don't change anything except the monitor themselves. Leave all the cables, settings, etc. exactly as is.

Also, check to make sure if all the cable jacks are fully inserted into the rear of the speakers.
 
punkrcker32 said:
Hey guys, i just upgraded from Bx5a to HS 80 m's. and im having a problem with my stereo field. When i used the bx5a everything was perfect center,right and left, but now i bought the 80's and my center now sounds like it is 30 percent to the right. I have both monitors set and the same level, and the eq and control room switches are all set the same to. Im not sure why this is happening, and if anyone can help me that would be great. i have some pictures to

http://s301.photobucket.com/albums/nn77/brownw89/
Click to expand...
The firstthing I'd do is to swap your monitors left and right. Leave the cables in place, but unplug them from your monitors and move just the monitors so that what was your left speaker is now your right speaker, and vice versa. If the problem moves with your monitors, then it is an issue with the monitors themselves. If it stays put, them it's either part of the monitoring chain beofre the monitors or is a problem with room position.

If the problem moves, the question is, how much different do you really need to set the gain controls on the amps themselves to get them even. If it's just a couple of degrees, it could just be dlight differences in component tolerances between the two monitors; I'd just set the respective volumes so that they even out. If it's a pretty big difference, I'd just return them for exchange while you still have a warranty on them.

If the problem does not move with the speakers, make sure your audio leads to the monitors are both in phase. If that doesn't help, re-positioning of monitors or room acoustic treatment, or both, may be in order.

EDIT: Oops, hey Al, I SWEAR, I did not peek over your shoulder and look at your paper! ;)

G.
 
to answer i think all the questions. First i did switch the speakers, i didn't change the power chords or speaker cables. It still does it. Second the left speaker is closer to the door. If you could imagine this in your head, the left speaker has more space behind it and like in the pictures the right speaker has a bookshelf wall behind it. Third i am forming an equilateral triangle between the speakers and my ears. Both speakers are at the same degree and same position on the table top. Fourth when changing the gain on the monitors left is at 12 o'clock, and to even out the monitors the right has to be at around 9.5 o'clock. I also forgot to include i don't have auralex pads underneath my monitors and my table top is like a fake granite type.
 
Ideally, both monitors are the same distance from whatever surface is behind them. But since they are nearfields there shouldn't be too much room interaction anyway.

However, if I read your post correctly, you swapped speakers and the balance was still leaning right by about 30 degrees (which is a lot). So you've eliminated the speakers as the cause of the problem.

Something else is causing the problem then. So the next thing to do is swap or replace the audio cables going to the speakers. Then backtrack again and swap or replace any cables before them in the signal chain.

Try moving the speakers so that they both have the same amount of space around them.

Check all the settings in your software and hardware.

You literally have to check every single step along the signal chain until you find the cause of the problem.

Have fun!
 
Having finally gotten around to looking at your pictures, I am struck by the asymmetry in the setup in a few different and perhaps important ways.

Your right speaker appears to be about 8" or so from the right wall, whereas the left speaker is out in the middle of the room, or so it appears to me from those pics. This can make a huge difference by introducing a lot of reflected sound and bass boundary conditions in the right speaker.

To possibly make that even more of an issue, it appears (correct me if I am seeing it wrong) that the right speaker is in, or at the entrance of - what is basically a bit of a box canyon along that right wall created by the bookshelves on eack dise of the desk. Just the reflections off of the side and corner caused by the side of that rear bookshelf and the right wall can easily boot the apparent right side amplitude.

Also, just to make sure, I notice your video monitor happens to also be offset to the right by a significant amount. That wouldn't happen to have built-in speakers that are also turned on, would it? If so, and you are basically monitoring through your Yammies *and *the computer speakers in the monitor at the same time,that would certainly shift the center of balance right along with the shit in the monitor position.

If your monitor speakers are not the issue, and all the stuff that Albert rightly suggested as far as double checking your whole monitoring chain signal path, I'd consider and recommend some absorbtion foam (the good stuff, not bed pad foam) panels on the side surfaces of your bookcases and on the right wall at even height as your monitors and a good foot or two above it just totry and even out the acoustic situation with the left speaker which is comparitvely sitting out in no-man's land.

G.
 
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