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Is the seated-centered solo listening to music a dated tech?

Is the seated-centered solo listening to music a dated tech? Is the design of modern loudspeakers that facilitates stereo wrong? Are we surfing a compromised tech please recall early 3 channel was superior they used stereo because it was a compromise? I have worked with a research group that used MRIs and sound to light up areas of catatonic people’s brains the research showed that higher quality playback lit up more areas but that stereo caused the brain to work harder is this a source of listening fatigue? After all, we are processing 2 unnatural sources that trick the mind into perceiving a sound field wouldn’t it be better to just have a sound field that actually existed? Stereo is a unnatrual way to listen to music its something that sound doesn’t do. Real music floods a space in all directions stereo design requires beaming and narrow dispersion to form an image is this just wrong? Mono had benefits over stereo modern loudspeaker design can make one speaker with a 360d radiation pattern that can form a soundstage for listeners almost anywhere in a room yet we still sit mostly alone seated dead center not wanting to move much because the image collapses just all seems wrong to me today. The more I experiment with non-traditional sound reproduction the more right it feels to me and those hearing it. Music should exist in a real space not a narrow sliver of it.

128x128johnk

Showing 3 responses by patrickdowns

patrickdowns's avatar
patrickdowns
497 posts
 

Sometimes I feel constrained by needing to be in the "sweet spot" in my listening chair. For that reason I have considered getting speakers that are more omnidirectional or which present a wall of sound with a much broader listening area (though for optimal results, there is still a sweet spot). These would be my short list:

  • Larsen 9 — review: Larsen 9 review / AbSound They excel at being placed right up against the wall, and aren’t really finicky for placement. Excellent bass response and quality.
  • Any MBL (this 120 is the "affordable one at ~$20k!) Review: MBL 120 review

I have heard the MBL and the Linkwitz (using similar design) at a show, and they are almost omnidirectional, with proper placement. They sound almost as good from the back as the front, and you can move around in the room a lot and still get a great soundstage and experience. The top-end MBL was just declared the best speaker at any price (in his opinion) by Jonathan Valin at Absolute Sound.

patrickdowns's avatar
patrickdowns
497 posts
 

"That's why I prefer it. I'm dated tech."

LOL ... me too! Thanks for the chuckle. 😅

patrickdowns's avatar
patrickdowns
497 posts
 
crustycoot re:

I always thought that stereo was an invention of Alan Blumlein

One of my favorite recordings is Ry Cooder’s "A Meeting by the River", with V.M. Bhatt. It was produced/recorded by Kavi Alexander of Water Lily Acoustics. He used two superb mics made by audio legend Tim de Paravicini, placed in a "Blumlein configuration". It is a gorgeous recording.

"A Meeting By The River is universally praised for the authenticity and realism of its recording and its 2008 vinyl release is often cited as audiophile-quality reference material. The session was captured using two customised valve mics in a Blumlein-array arrangement into a converted Studer two-track analogue tape recorder and the louder you play it, the more every rattle and scrape of slide on fingerboard and every microtonal flurry draws you into its rarefied, spontaneous atmosphere." https://guitar.com/review/album/the-genius-of-a-meeting-by-the-river-by-ry-cooder-and-vishwa-mohan-bhatt/

Here is a YouTube version, but one must hear it on vinyl, CD, or hi-res stream.
A Meeting by the River on YouTube
 

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