Center image help.

So I have a strong left and strong right, very focused too. My center stays put and even male/female vocals hang out in the same space. But it's not as focused as I'd like. My center is always just to the left of and under my rear view but the parts of the stage in between, left center and right center, tend to get lost. I think it's because my center image is too big. I thought maybe its because my t/a wasn't dialed in tight enough. I set t/a by ear using pink noise (Doppler method) and music (looking for center) and come to roughly the same settings. But someone recently suggested to me that it may be an issue with level matching. My driver side full range does seem to stick out a bit at times but could that cause my center image to be diffused?

What should I try?


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Would swapping the phase of one or more drivers help?

I already swapped one of my full ranges. It helped a lot.


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I struggle with this as well, especially with my hearing trouble lately, but before that started, the best way to really get that tight "focus" for me was with l/r eq. The only problem is when you get this focus, and a real tight stage, it seems to vary from recording to recording. When you go to the next recording you may need more touch up to get it sounding the same. I get caught up in this conundrum even in casual listening.......its maddening. For me, this problem usually exists in the 2k to 8k range........don't know if its differnent engineers working their magic behind the board, or other factors, but it leaves me shooting for a more broad stage, kind averaging things out from track to track.,

Well right now I'm running tweeterless and my fr-89s start to drop around 4k and really lose output above 6k. Maybe that's problem?


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I wouldn't think that would bother your stages focus, as long as the aiming, or reflections aren't causing them to taper off differently from side to side.

Well I let REW calculate all my eq adjustments for me. It measures and calculates biquad filters on 6ch. of p-eq for each individual driver and then another 6 ch. per side.

The only eq I've done by ear is the adjustment of the 7 band on my HU, and that's just for tonality/listener preference.


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Well that just leads me to believe that your ears are better than your mike.

Possibly. But setting a graphic eq by ear is a lot easier than 36 bands of parametric eq with adjustable slopes and q factors. That's pretty intimidating.


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Word, but group them together as "bands"......ie; upper midrange or mid treble, select a fairly narrow q, and center them up as a 31 bander, then go to work. I agree that's a lot of eq power, but its essentially the same as a simple graphic if ya treat it as such. Once you get yourself happier with the sound, and more familiar with the tools at your disposal, then you can start into using the full power of such a complicated eq to fix the lil things.......I think you'll only be intimidated if you try to use all that power up front, without a basline tune.

Besides, you can always revert back to the rew settings ifn ya fuck up to bad! I couldn't posses such a powerful eq without playing, learning, and hopefully eventually using it to its full capabilities. Man, talk about many hours of tuning........that would be sweet!

Wouldn't that be kind've like using a power drill to install a screw, only you've unplugged the power and your turning the drill around by hand?


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by claydo

Besides, you can always revert back to the rew settings ifn ya fuck up to bad! I couldn't posses such a powerful eq without playing, learning, and hopefully eventually using it to its full capabilities. Man, talk about many hours of tuning........that would be sweet!

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Lol
Considering I tune with the air and the engine off sounds like many hours of sweating to me. But it's necessary I suppose.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fricasseekid

Wouldn't that be kind've like using a power drill to install a screw, only you've unplugged the power and your turning the drill around by hand?


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Hey, ifn ya don't like the results said power drill is giving ya, you should find a regular screwdriver....... sometimes the best results are achieved the hard way........now if the drill (rew) was nailing it and satisfying your needs (ears) then taking the longer and more complicated route wouldn't be necessary.

And, the" technically correct" settings aren't always what sounds the best. If they sounded awesome, then a rta would be the only tuning tool needed......ears are always the variable.

And I know what you mean by sweating........its unbelievable how much difference a lil bit of background noise will make. My stage also changes drastically windows up vs. windows down.

Try to play test tones from let's say 125Hz to 16kHz and take notes of where your sound is coming from - Slightly left of center (SLC), Left of center (LOC), Phase problem Right (PPR), etc...
Then you'll know which freq you need to focus on...

Kelvin

Be careful using tones for that as they can set up modes in the room during the process. I prefer to augment with bandlimited pink noise.
Does a tone sweep through the midrange stay in the same spot or does it wander? If you turn <off> your midbass, does the same swap sound tighter and more focused?
Are the output levels to both fullrange the same?