SH Spotlight Play the Kinks "Waterloo Sunset" in stereo, check and fix or improve your stereo playback with it!

Am I wrong to prefer this track in mono?

 

Just gave this a spin with my PRT CD (thanks to @lschwart). The background "ooohs" are consistently behind me at about 5 and 7 o'clock from my listening position, sounding just like they're coming from the surrounds. And the "Waterloo Sunset's fine" chorale at the end sounds like it's in the chair where I'm sitting. Hard to describe. It's almost as if the singers have come forward from the speakers to lean over next to me and sing the last parts, softly and clearly, right next to my ears. Unsettling, and wonderfully hallucinatory.

 

Hey Steve can you explain what you mean by "just be able to just see the inside walls of your speaker? From the sweet spot you can always see the inside. It's the outside walls you won't see unless you toe them in too far. Or am I missing something? Thanks

 

What a great song! Always enjoyed showing the kids the stereophonic effects in Talking Heads "Television Man" where the song appears to swin around you during the breakdown

 

It works!! One of the most simple pieces of advice about something that can seem complicated. Using this wonderful recording also made it fun to tinker. Thanks.

 

Oh I see what you're saying... So that would be a fairly dramatic toe in and would, of course, depend how far away you sit to create the "golden triangle". For me, my only option is about a 5x5x5 ratio because of my room configuration. This keeps me closer to my speakers than I would like and there's also a wall about 2 feet or so behind me. I keep my speakers only very slightly toed in so see pretty much only inside wall. I'll see what kind of adjustments I can make. Thanks

 

Just made a tiny adjustment to one speaker and all of a sudden everything Steve said would happen did happen. There's people singing everywhere now. Really cool

 

It's not just Rasa (who did sing on many of the greatest Kinks songs), Pete Quaife and Dave Davies are there as well.

No - the mono mix is far more powerful and the one that was OK'd when the track was done. It's a similar situation to the Beatles stuff of the era, the band approved mix is the mono. At least up to 'VGPS', which has an excellent stereo mix.

 

I took the Waterloo bucket challenge. The stereo recording sounds out of phase to me. This is a good way to adjust your speakers- IME. Anyway, out of curiosity- I reversed the leads on my speakers, and Waterloo Sunset in stereo sounds better this way to me. I always wanted to own a piece of gear with a polarity reverse switch, but never have.

 

So, I was close to the mark. The backing vocals are out of phase- good to know my one good ear still works.

My system(s) are already locked in, using this "method". That is, until I inadvertently knock into a speaker -which happens all too often. However, as noted above- all it takes is a quick spin of the disc to relocate the speaker back to its optimum position.

 

I've got the backing vocals pretty wide to the sides, but I'm still not getting that "from behind effect".

 

Hmmm, re the Kinks. I would suggest a listen to Do You Remember Walter from Village Green, you might hear a keyboard sound behind you soon into the song. And on Picture Book from the same album, I'm hearing a 3D effect when the lead vocal is doubled.

 

Doing it right now.... WOW!!!!!

Had nice effects on Yes's Owner of A Lonely Heart. At some points, Jon Anderson's vocal echoes to behind me.

 

Just heard the swirling effect on LZ's Whole Lotta Love... wonderful.

 

Just humor me for a sec. When some of you refer to "toeing in" your speakers in a stereo setup, and assuming you are regarding the face of your speakers as the front, you don't actually mean you are turning the front of the speakers away from each other, right?

 

That would be toeing out.

 

This thread made me think that I barely have Kinks music in my collection, so a good compilation would be in order. What are your recommendations? Thank you in advance!

 

Track down a copy of the 'ugly pink' CD from the '80s. They pop up fairly often on the classifieds here.

 

Right but there's lots of talk in this thread of seeing the inside of one's speakers after "toeing in" which is a bit confusing.

 

Thanks Steve. This is perhaps one of my favorite Kinks songs, I'll try it when I buy it. It's on Something Else, I believe? Btw, saw them live in 1983... amazing concert.

 

This is what I believe Steve is recommending re: toe-in: