Speakers positioned either side of chimney

[petrichor]

I have my speakers either side of chimney breast which has opening with log burner. I'm not sure if it is a sound reflection issue or just psychological but vocals seem to coming from within from the chimney opening. I have noticed from seeing pictures of other peoples systems that many use this positioning. If it is psychological I wondered about getting a fire screen. Does anyone else hear this effect and anyone done anything to alleviate?
p.s. I don't have any other way of positioning the speakers.

 

[MF 1000]

I’d say purely mind driven ….I have my setup like this with the tv on the chimney breast too…..great soundstage for films too

 

[Speedracer]

Surely you are just experiencing the correct imaging of the singer in the centre, with the opening being a red herring?

 

[garn63]

I thought that. I have my spkrs either side of a wide chimney breast. They dont want to be back in any kind of recess so pull them out as much as you can bear to live with. Good luck.
* Posting a photo would help folks give advice ?

 

[MartinC]

Listening with your eyes shut for a while might be a way to help reduce any psychological influence, and would also be cheaper as a long term solution than a screen (which might actually be a bad idea acoustically if it ended up being further forward than the front of the speakers).

Trying to understand your actual issue, is it that vocals seem to be coming from too low down?

A photo might be informative as @garn63 suggested.

 

[petrichor]

 

[petrichor]

Couldn't find how to add any text after uploading pictures. Don't know why the duplicate bits at top of pictures.

 

[petrichor]

Listening with your eyes shut for a while might be a way to help reduce any psychological influence, and would also be cheaper as a long term solution that a screen (which might actually be a bad idea acoustically if it ended up being further forward than the front of the speakers).

Trying to understand your actual issue, is it that vocals seem to be coming from too low down?

A photo might be informative as @garn63 suggested.

They don't really seem to be low down, just from inside the opening. I wondered if sound was reflecting back from opposite wall and then "bouncing around" the opening.

 

[petrichor]

Grainy pictures due to taking in fading light without artificial light or flash.

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

The only thing in your pix that I can think might be "wrong" are that the speakers are somewhat close to the wall behind them, but AFAIK that matters mainly if they have rear-firing ports.

If the speakers also reproduce audio to go with what's on telly you might want to re position them so that the speaker on the left is to the left of the telly

 

[MartinC]

They don't really seem to be low down, just from inside the opening. I wondered if sound was reflecting back from opposite wall and then "bouncing around" the opening.

If the sound isn't too low then honestly that sounds like where most vocals probably should sound like they are in the soundstage. You just happen to have a fireplace there.

Your setup doesn't look unusually compromised by domestic standards to me.

 

[garn63]

That's ok. Squeeze the spkrs a couple of inches wider apart and out another 6 inches. After testing you will want to bring them further out still.
The improvement in sound quality imo should be enough to make you maybe consider a diff mind set.
* If you think it looks odd put some plants in your room to soften the look ?

 

[Linear]

The fireplace is in between the speakers, so where else do you expect the vocals to come from?

 

[Rockchild]

Generally nothing majorly wrong here other than a speaker, to image, the front baffle must have a clear line of sight to the other speaker for the best imagery. I would also suggest bringing them out a bit to ensure this is the case and also to give them room to breathe a bit.
Hearing as if the vocals are coming from the fireplace is your ears playing tricks but it appears you have it. Focals can be slightly off to one side due to where they might be on stage from a live recording as such but the art is hearing them move slightly.
I wouldn’t get too hung up about it. But as I said, move them out about 6 inches or so.

 

[StingRay]

Try pulling them out into the room a few feet, see if that makes any difference.

 

[MartinC]

Try pulling them out into the room a few feet, see if that makes any difference.

I think you're wildly overestimating the gap between the speaker and armchair there .

 

[StingRay]

I think you're wildly overestimating the gap between the speaker and armchair there .

Move that out of the way, it is only a trial.

 

[petrichor]

That's ok. Squeeze the spkrs a couple of inches wider apart and out another 6 inches. After testing you will want to bring them further out still.
The improvement in sound quality imo should be enough to make you maybe consider a diff mind set.
* If you think it looks odd put some plants in your room to soften the look ?

May be able to move an inch but my wife wouldn't be happy with any more than that. I recently upgraded from Proac D20 to D30 and had to convince her they were not that much bigger but (luckily for me) Proac's specs are wrong, had worked out they were about 2" taller but they turned out to be double that!
Plants are a mute point at the moment we are getting rid of them all due to fly infestation. We think it was due to repotting in the summer with outdoor compost instead of indoor type. Think possibly some eggs in the compost which is probably why they make special indoor compost. Lesson learned.

 

[MartinC]

Do ProAc specify having the tweeters towards the centre? I'd be inclined to swap left and right speakers over so the tweeters are on the outside, to modestly widen the soundstage with the speakers in the same positions.

 

[garn63]

May be able to move an inch but my wife wouldn't be happy with any more than that. I recently upgraded from Proac D20 to D30 and had to convince her they were not that much bigger but (luckily for me) Proac's specs are wrong, had worked out they were about 2" taller but they turned out to be double that!
Plants are a mute point at the moment we are getting rid of them all due to fly infestation. We think it was due to repotting in the summer with outdoor compost instead of indoor type. Think possibly some eggs in the compost which is probably why they make special indoor compost. Lesson learned.

I know. It's working within our constraints. Sometimes you have to make do..and listen to the music instead of fretting. Good luck.