Flatscreen between speakers

@spenav 

Amazing how two people can interpret the written word so differently!  From your Wikipedia definition:

Because the multi-dimensional perspective is the crucial aspect, the term stereophonic also applies to systems with more than two channels or speakers such as quadraphonic and surround sound. Binaural sound systems are also stereophonic.

Then you quote a US patent filed some 40 years after the pioneering work by Alan Blumlein which was patented in the UK in the 1930s!  In Australia we have a clear distinction between Patents and Trademarks

The word "stereophonic" itself is not trademarked. It's a descriptive term referring to sound reproduction using two or more channels, and therefore cannot be trademarked

The Wikipedia article discusses the use of close microphones and subsequent artificial mixing for pop/rock and then notes:

Classical music recordings are a notable exception. They are more likely to be recorded without having tracks dubbed in later as in pop recordings, so that the actual physical and spatial relationship of the musicians at the time of the original performance can be preserved on the recording

I absolutely agree that two-channel recordings can be stunning - I currently buy anything Decca (London to you?) puts out on CD with Klaus Makela conducting (unlike most European classical record companies, Decca does not seem to do SACD).  My main speakers emulate point sources of sound and throw a huge soundstage with a sweet spot you can walk around in.

Many years ago I auditioned Duntech Sovereign speakers which each contain 7 drivers in a vertical d'Appolito configuration.  They weigh 190-kgs each and are precision time-aligned.  I found that moving my head vertically by just a couple of inches suddenly produced the huge soundstage, then just as suddenly it disappeared.  John Dunleavy used the apparent point source Quad ESL-63 as his reference, which were many times cheaper and had a huge sweet spot but could not play as loud!

Most centre-channel speakers use d'Appolito configurations, but sideways.  Enough said?

What do you do with your centre channel when you are playing two-channel?

@richardbrand.

I am not sure I get your point. Which part of the definition you disagree with? (“Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective”). I listen to my stereo every day and that's exactly what it does (multidirectional and 3-dimensional). The better the recording, the stronger the effect, it was designed by the inventor of the format to do exactly that. By the way, the number of drivers in the speaker has nothing to do with the effect. The single driver Audience 1+1 does it as well as any speaker system.

By the way, when I listen to stereo, my center channel (single Audience 1+1) speaker does nothing.

@spenav 

Ah, but you used the term to strongly imply two-channel and you also imply there is only one format and that it was designed by "the inventor" rather than evolved over time.

My personal opinion is that stereophonic was designed to be sufficient for the reproduction of live music. ...  When done correctly, two speakers can put you right in the venue where the performance is recorded

Morten Lindberg, I think correctly, says audio is an illusion.  Somehow our ear / brain system builds up a ’picture’ and basically it can be fooled into ’seeing’ a soundstage just as the eye / brain system is fooled into seeing moving images.

I would encourage you to go online to 2l.no and buy a copy of Reflections.  You probably already have a Blu-ray player to feed your Dolby 9.4.4 setup.

I think single apparent source speakers improve the illusion because they don’t muddy the waters with interference effects from different pathlengths, and they don’t produce incoherent reflections from walls, floors, ceilings and maybe TVs.  The Duntech example I gave is the other extreme, where the multiple, separate drivers interfere quite severely between themselves.

I could only find the ClairAudient 1+1 V5 on the web and in its blurb was amused to discover that it is the most unique (there are no degrees of uniqueness, it either is or it isn’t) and that it eliminates the need for desperate drivers (plenty of those where I live)

The 1+1 V5 Personal Reference Monitors are the most unique small footprint loudspeaker in the world. They feature a highly refined proprietary wideband driver eliminating the need for desperate drivers

I see it actually has two full-range drivers in a bipole arrangement, and passive radiators.  You are worried that your plasma TV needs damping but passive radiators are OK?  By the way, if I did want a centre channel, the Audience might well be ideal!

@richardbrand.

Your first sentence is correct. When audiophiles talk about stereo, they are strictly referring to the two front channels. Yes, stereo has not evolved over time. The format was invented and patented by an inventor. My best stereo recordings are from the 50’s and 60’s. Stereo is not in your gear, it is in your recording. I am using two mono amplifiers to play stereo and if something is wrong with them, I use two channels of my multichannel home theater amplifier. The term has been used loosely for the most part. 
Stereo is an illusion just like seeing your image in a mirror is an illusion. There is not two you in the room but the image is real. It is however happening in the optical domain just like a phantom stereo center image happens in the acoustical domain. It’s not a mind trick per se, it’s real but in the acoustical domain. 
I intuitively feel that the big glass surface of my plasma TV is affecting the sound of my stereo system. I should be able to assess this objectively in a couple of days. It’s in the acoustic domain and I don’t have the tools to measure it accurately. Stay tuned. 
 

@spenav 

The image we see in a mirror is virtual not real.

Surely, hearing a central image in stereo is a trick of the mind. The ears detect two equal signals in phase coming from the loudspeakers, but we interpret them as a single sound coming from a point midway between the speakers.