Broken speakers or an effect of sound staging?

[LudinK]

Hi, so i got a used pair of PSB The Amazing Alpha's bookshelf speakers and i have noticed that in some songs i hear a certain instrument only from one speaker. For instance, in "J Cole - Apparently" the piano only comes from the right speaker and having only used computer speakers, i don't know whether this is due to a speaker malfunction or is this the quality of the speaker allowing me to be able to picture the sound stage.

 

[getochkn]

How are you powering them and/or what are they hooked up to?

 

[Natsukage]

Hello.

This should be perfectly normal. In some songs, the recording is done only in that side, for giving you a sense of being in the middle of the concert. The "sound stage" as you call it.

If you replay the music and it repeats at the same exact moment when you play it back again, it's certainly meant to be. ^^ If it's random though, there's maybe an issue with your wiring. But like I said, it's normal. It's what you should hear.

If you never heard it before...something was clearly wrong with your previous setup.

 

[americanaudiophile]

If you want to be sure about the recording open it with Audacity and you can see the output of both channels. The piano should be the balanced left-right the same through PC speakers but hopefully the PSBs are placed correctly and would let you hear that more clearly.

 

[jsmithepa]

Unlikely speaker malfunction, but you can verify this very easily by playing the same song, then swap the speakers and play again, even use a pair of earphones.

One thing you want to make sure though, is, the speakers must be wired IN-PHASE, positive-to-positive, negative-to-negative.

 

[LudinK]

Hello.

This should be perfectly normal. In some songs, the recording is done only in that side, for giving you a sense of being in the middle of the concert. The "sound stage" as you call it.

If you replay the music and it repeats at the same exact moment when you play it back again, it's certainly meant to be. ^^ If it's random though, there's maybe an issue with your wiring. But like I said, it's normal. It's what you should hear.

If you never heard it before...something was clearly wrong with your previous setup.

Yea, i replayed it this time from my laptop to make sure it wasn't the device either and its the same parts always.

 

[LudinK]

Just played the song on my brothers Klipsch promedia 2.1's and realized that it is the same on his speakers however i never really payed attention to it back then i guess.

 

[jsmithepa]

Well congratulations, when one can hear the separate instruments, it means your system can deliver "clarity." U been living in "muddy land" before this.