[Arny Krueger]

"Mr.T" MrT@home wrote in message
u
"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
. ..

No the outputs of a stereo mic are *never* perfectly
aligned because a stereo mic must have two mic elements
and they can't occupy the same space.

That's the whole point.

No, what we call stereo mics are only approximations of
ideal stereo microphones.

If two identical mics *did* occupy the same space, you
would simply get mono. Surely not what is wanted.
OTOH, a M/S pair occupying the same space may be an
improvement.

Later on in your post talk your way out of this conundrum, so there's no
need for me to correct you.

Stereo mics are composed of two elements, and of course the elements may be
different kinds of mics or mics oriented at different angles. As a practical
matter they cannot occupy the same space either totally or partially. The
fact that they are always displaced from each other in one or more planes
means that they are never perfectly time-aligned in all planes. Since sound
is picked up in a wide variety of planes, the mics response is never
perfectly time-aligned.

It would seem you haven't with *analog* tape recordings
though.

Wrong again. Ironically, the tracks of analog tape recordings are never
*exactly* time aligned due to the fact that analog tape azimuth is rarely if
ever perfect, or perfectly stable.