TOPIC:

Hello,
I have purchased the DDRC88BM a few months ago. While the improvements to the sound and impulse response are outstanding, I have noticed that the sound stage shifted to the left. I first thought my aging ears may be the culprit. I hadn’t really listened much to my system lately. I rearranged my speakers slightly, a bit forward, more toe in. I modified the room a little, and of course re-measured and tried several different options, 2-way stereo, 5.1, lots of experimentation. No matter what, the sound stage was shifted to the left. Then I listened for it, and when I disable the Dirac, the sound is perfectly centered, I guess my ears are okay after all.
Now I only use the Dirac for frequencies up to 210 Hz, and the sound stage is centered.
I would like to use the Dirac for the entire audio spectrum however, because the sound benefits from it.
Has anyone else encountered this problem?

@Hasenpfeffer

Let's see how we can help.
- Such symptom would typically come from the measurements done. Is it possible that maybe your first measurement wasn't fully centered?
- Also, did you make sure to follow the order of measurements correct for the averaging? Maybe one of these measurements is off or throwing off Dirac.
- I could be wrong but most likely the center stage will happen mainly with the L&R. Have you tried to look at your measurements on for these 2 tracks under Dirac Live target curve editor? i.e. see all measurements.

DevTeam

The delay difference for the left and right is 0.14 ms, so I must have been 1.8" out of center. My main speakers are 10' apart, the listening position is 11' away from the speakers. The soundstage shifts by more than a foot to the left. I have tried several times, I am pretty sure that I followed the right order. Before each measurement, I check that I am in the correct position, symmetrical on both sides, and I look at both frontal and top view to check that I have it right. I am only using a stereo configuration with subwoofer. I cannot detect anything out of the ordinary, looking at both frequency response, and impulse response.
The soundstage shifts to the left, and according to the Dirac tab in the DDRC program, the left speaker actually gets attenuated by 1.4 dB, so that is definitely not making it worse.
I guess I keep trying.....

Hello,
I struggled during many many months with the similar problem (shifting to the right in my case) I accused my age and my tinitus me too. I tried to time align and balanced crossover sub fr to be the best and smoothest response possible etc. 200 hours later (and more) 2 things happens. First, Rotel custom service (excellent service by the way) advise about gain matching spl level for each channel. To get 75db everywhere, they strongly recommanded not to add gain but to lower gain to avoid distortion. For ex. if at reference level I have 75dB in the FL and need to add 2dB in the receiver for the surround left to get 75dB, it is better to lower all others channels by 2 instead to raise the surround by 2.
Second, I decided to lower the FR channel by 1 dB AFTER Dirac calibration because Dirac adjust each channel level to be the same. Finally I have my soundstage at the center. When I listen music it is with Dirac off and in stereo only. When I watch a movie it is with my 5.1 setup where the shift occured.