The Problem with Stereo
On Thursday, July 7, 2016 at 7:10:33 AM UTC-4, Scott wrote:
Pretty sure AR did this with a string quartet, always in an overly reverb=
erant room with a lot of people witnessing the comaprison and...musicians t=
hat did a great job of keeping up the visual cues of musicians playing when=
they would switch to playback. One deos not hear much if any seperation of=
instruments with a string quartet from any substantial distance particular=
ly in an overly reverberant room. So it would not be the least bit surprisi=
ng that a single speaker would image quite in a similar fashion, especially=
with the visual cues in place of actual musicians playing.
Gary & Scott:
I think that at this point, we may be at cross-purposes. Stereo (however it=
is defined after the word alone is written) is a compromise of many facets=
, much as an elephant is a mouse to Government Specifications (both grey, l=
arge-eared, bare-tailed mammals) or a camel is a horse designed by a commit=
tee (Camels are mean beasts, spit further and harder than Llamas, are moody=
, and not very cooperative. Racing, riding and war camels are mostly female=
- males are bred for size, fighting (each other) and meat). Facets include=
recording technique, engineering, mixing, number and placement of micropho=
nes, analog or digital, the venue (an orchestra recorded in an empty hall w=
ith infinite repeats if a mistake is made will not be the same as a so-call=
ed "live" recording), the playback system(s), how many mechanical steps (ju=
st microphone and speaker, or microphone, cutting lathe, stamped vinyl, sty=
lus, cartridge and speaker), and much more. And a lot has been learned sinc=
e the early days. Keep in mind that early receivers and pre-amps and integ=
rated amplifiers from some of the more thoughtful manufacturers had center-=
channel outputs as early recordings often so 'enhanced' stereo effects as t=
o make the "dual mono" almost a reality. It was almost the case where the p=
roverbial left-hand had no knowledge or interaction with the right.
The average listener has neither the time, treasure or even the inclination=
to invest heroic amounts in their listening venue, and often enough, their=
entire budget for a playback system is less than the cost (new) of one pai=
r of my better speakers - and they are 'cheap' relative to what can be spen=
t. To expect that the average listener/hobbyist, even one quite serious abo=
ut it, to do so is not realistic.=20
Further, should the industry actually attempt to address the issues raised =
here head-on using a solution such as Gary describer, they would, effective=
ly, be putting sound reproduction out of the reach of all but the most well=
-heeled.=20
There are problems with stereo that may be discernible to a few under speci=
al conditions and if a direct comparison to a live performance is available=
.. Otherwise, if the sound heard is pleasing - that should be enough, as no =
amount of brute force or subtle nudging will make electronic playback the a=
udible equivalent to unreinforced live performance - especially if the play=
back venue is not the exact funcional equivalent of the performance venue.=
=20
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA=20
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