Pioneer mcacc calibration: my sweet spot is too small for stereo listening

[JCole]

I have the pioneer vsx919ahk receiver. I let it do the full auto calibration. It worked great for surround sound, however when listening to a cd, and purporting in 2.1, if I move left or right of where I placed the calibration mic, I lose the soundstage and it sounds like the audio is only coming from the side I'm closer to.

How do I tell the pioneer receiver to make a larger sweet spot (I've read it can do this) also, is there a better mode to listen to than "stereo"

For cd playback ? Maybe something that pumps music out of the surround speakers also ?

[Guest David H]

For music listening I prefer 2 channel, however you certainly fill the room using multi channel. Use whatever sounds best to you.

For 2 channel try sitting in the sweet spot, and press the phase button on your remote, sometimes that will seem to broaden the sound stage.

Enjoy the music.

Dave

[jjennings2510]

I'm not sure how to make the sweet spot bigger. Have you checked the Pioneer support site? Also if possible I would play around with the positioning of the front speakers. Their distance and toe in position. That will probably affect the sweet spot the most. Also to me I find that music sounds better in 2 channel mode but just like GotHover said just use whatever sounds best to you. I'm sure that receiver has some music surround modes like Prologic or DTS. The one that sounds best to me is Unplugged but thats on an Onkyo......its probably called something different on the Pioneer. Some people use All Ch St so be sure to check that out as well.

[dghome]

On your remote there is a button for stereo/f.s. surround that should toggle through stereo, wide,and focus. the remote has to be on the component you are using for this to work

[JCole]

I re-calibrated using "multipoint" calibration. You stick the measuring mic in 3 different spots on the couches. It improved things a bunch. Also the "EXT. Stereo" function on the receiver pumps it out of the surround speakers etc which helps fill the room a bunch.

Also I found that just listening at a higher volume (currently -30db) and above seems to fill the room better.

FYI I was testing using the song "Prison Sex" by tool (

). Seems to have a great range of sound, and some really good high hat work on the drums and nice cymbal crashes.

[BluBitRates]

Thanks downloaded "prison sex" besides the weird name it seems like a good song to turn up. Will give it a listen on my system this weekend. Might even see what the lyrics are since i have no idea what he is saying. By the way i listen to music in "Direct" mode on my pioneer elite

[JCole]

Tool's lyrics are usually pretty deep, often with some dark humour thrown in. The lyrics are usually in metaphor and it's up to the listener to draw their own conclusions as to the meaning. Prison Sex, is basically about child abuse, and how, ironically the abused often grows up to be an abuser.

Musically, the singer has probably the best voice of any rock band today, check out the song "3 libras" by A Perfect Circle which is his other band. The drummer for tool, Danny carey is considered one of the best drummers in the world also. The band oozes talent but they're pretty dark and experimental. Think pink flloyd mixed with king crimson.

[Islander]

I suspect that your receiver would widen the sweet spot by slightly blending the channels. Try it and see how it sounds. You can also experiment with speaker positioning and aiming. It usually takes a few tries to get them placed to sound their best.

While listening in 2-channel stereo, the width of the sweet spot will necessarily be limited, but you can adjust it a bit by how much or how little you toe-in your speakers. The more you toe them in, the narrower the sweet spot.

You can get to a point where it's barely the width of your head, so you lose the stereo soundstage effect if you move your head at all. This typically occurs when the speakers are close to the listening position and are not very far apart.

If you're sitting further away and the speakers are fairly far apart, you'll have a wider sweet spot right from the start. Reducing the toe-in will make it wider still, but the music may start to lose impact, so, as is typical in audio, there's a compromise involved.

Recommended toe-in ranges from facing straight ahead (no toe-in) to pointing directly at you. How have you got your speakers aimed at the moment?

[JCole]

Right now the fronts are about 7' apart and facing straight ahead. Can't move them farther apart, but perhaps I could toe them out ? The calibration I ran today improved it, but I think the answer is just to listen in prologic II Music mode. It ads a bit to the center, but still allows for accurate staging, but from a much wider listening position.