Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Re: Trifield Width not working, the fix and ongoing saga

It was here you mentioned angle

err.....that'll be approximately 1.5

sorry I couldn't resist.

What is width.....I tend to think of this as affecting the relative balance of how much music is played via the centre and who much left to the L&R. Trifield creates the centre channel from L&R data so it's perhaps just a factor of how much it uses.

lwang is the chap to explain it usually

Maybe that explains the various opinions/resukts. If your l&r is creating a good center phantom image you may not hear the differrence as much as a setup with a weaker phatom image.

I've always felt that Trifield helps simulate a perfect 2 channel setup. When physically the l&r is not perfect.

It's very similar/related to the idea of having a dead room for movies and let 5 or 7 speakers recreate the image around you. With a live room (lots of reflections) that can prevent the discrete channels from doing their job. Like wise a live room (which I have) and I think a very good phantom image it's difficult to hear switch back and forth between a processed phatom and a natural phantom.

Some also believe a live room for 2 channel music is best. A good example is F80 in the bedroom thread.

I think that width which is offered in Trifield has to be the soundstage.

Ie: as you move the center speaker away from the screen it is often a term used that the soundstange becomes wider (greater less centered)

I have found since I did my last room correction and also adjusted the phase of each speaker that the phantom center is not there but its more across the front 3.

My question is: When setting the phase I was told by Meridian that I should choose the sound that was wider. So naturally when you add all those wider speaker settings you will have a wider result and lose the phantom center

Is there another way to select which way a speaker should sound with phase. Some are negative and some positive in my system with no sense to it. ?

The way I do phase check is when listening move your head position side to side quickly from your waist. If the image bounces around it's out of phase. If the image stays fixed it's in phase.

I bet that's funny to watch

Can you put it on youtube George ?

George

I didn't get that ?

Moving head side to side from the waist

Does that mean pivot you waist to turn you head

or

turn you head so that either one ear at a time is facing the speakers

also image bounces ?

Can you explain better

You need to move your head through space and time

Well you can't move your head sideways unless you have a rubber neck. How ever you do it you need to move your head SIDEWAYs while looking forward. It's been talked about before it's a very clear way to hear it.

See post 19 http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7596_102-0.html?forumID=60&threadID=292607&messageID=2760095

See tip 10 http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep98/articles/20tips.html?print=yes

See paragraph 5 http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:N488_WeMpOIJ:www.videomaker.com/article/12246/+checking+phase+by+moving+your+heAD+speakers&hl=en&ct=clnk&CD=4&gl=us

They all say the same thing. Once you've done it you'll know exactly what to listen for and how to know they are in phase or not.

George,

Thanks should be helpful

I won't be using a candle or a battery but putting the mono thru the system to see if it falls dead center or not is interesting.

When doing the phase check it is part of the calibration so you only have one speaker at a time. Meridian said listen and set to which sounds wider when running calibration.

How does one change polarity without being in calibration. I mean the checks mentioned in mono with all the speakers on, mean that it would be in Trifield and I wouldn't be able to adjust one speaker at a time that way.

I have a feeling I have a problem with phase not polarity as everything is xlr and colored cables so its on the positive and negative correctly, but changing the phase while running stereo or triefield Im confused

thanks as always for your hElp !

No, the Meridian phase tests use 2 or 3 speakers at a time. Make sure you're in the right place and understand how it works.

I think Meridian does lf/rf then lf/ct/rf then lr/rr. It used todo front to back too, but they dropped it.

There are multi channel test discs you can use and they will toggle the data back and forth so you can identify what's speakers are right and wrong.