Shocking 3D sound in 2 channel

Rodman...having said that, if they do try the vinyl version of "Amused to Death" they are more likely to be seriously impressed than not. ;)

A friend lent me his $400 dollar acquisition and it was unbelievably good. (I was also flattered that he trusted me so much because I only found out about the price later(!)) :D

Rod,
He does indeed and I've discovered more than one or 2 newer bands/artists thanks to his generous nature. ;^)

All the best m8,

Michael,
They are right, of course. It is a combination of speaker behaviour, room acoustics and T/T+phonostage attributes. Try Martin Logan electrostats at varying degrees of tilt, or even alter the arrangement of the soft furnishings along with your listening position and you will see/hear what I mean.

Personally, I'm not a room acoustics purist so I fully enjoy wraparound sound featuring tall images which can even appear standing right next to the listener's chair at full height.

A good example of this was a well known female artist who was singing front and centre while her other "selves" were harmonising/rapping in the L+R channels. With a particular turntable (an LP12), rather than residing at the loudspeakers, her other selves appeared standing on either side of my listening chair - 6 feet tall and so real I could touch them. (Try this trick with a CD and you'll be out of luck... ;)

Some turntables accentuate the vividness and reality of these "phase effects", effectively causing sounds to appear from the rear corners of the room. :)
Again it is very much recording dependent.
It is a fun hobby :)
Enjoy.
All the best,

Dear JohnK,
Good points :)
The outlook for dipoles is not too bleak though. :)
I've found that dipoles "drive" my room more sympathetically than dynamic designs I've owned. The front wave has narrow dispersion and I beam much of this through a wide archway into an adjoining room. The rear wave is mostly absorbed (at most frequencies) by curtains positioned symmetrically behind the speakers.

There are 2 listening positions I use : nearfield - (8 feet away)which gives massive detail and a very intimate sound and farfield (18 feet away in a secondary "sweetspot") in which images tend to coalesce more coherently but are understandably not so "up close and personal", while remaining very detailed.
(Please note I use the term "nearfield" very loosely as true nearfield must be far closer than this :^)
Cheers!

"The other system that does this for me is at my grimy computer desk in my garage. The speakers are $40 Altec Lansing 2.1 computer speakers playing off my computer. The weak link in the chain is every link in the chain! There is nothing in the path that I would say is admirable. Also, the speakers are positioned almost at my sides (more like a 20 degree angle. I think this case is just me sitting conveniently in a good spot between the two channels, however marginal their quality."

Michael...now you're REALLY scaring us :D :D
In this situation it sounds like you might benefit from really good headphones and a Meridian "Prime" which is purported to "externalise" the soundstage in the manner of full blown loudspeakers response in-room :D
Best regards...

Here’s an interesting example of audio geometry, courtesy of the album “Moving waves” by the Dutch band “Focus”.
If you have a copy of this album, tune in to the long track called “Eruption” (Side B of the LP). If you are using the CD, at counter reading 9 mins 18 secs.
(The panels in question are Martin Logan Vantages BTW).

Jan Akkerman’s guitar –
- Starts in the R channel, approx. 3 ft above the floor, centred within the panel.
- It slowly pans horizontally to centre stage where it pauses briefly.
- It then continues at this steady height to the L channel where it pauses again.
- Then, surprisingly, it climbs upwards to the very top of the panel (5ft) and pauses again.
- The guitar then pans at this new height of 5 ft to centre stage.
- It continues onwards to the R channel and pauses.
- Once there it slowly descends until it reaches its original start point.
- This completes a perfect rectangle, in the vertical axis, at the speaker plane.

Generally we are aware of a room’s tendency to height presentation but I don’t often hear elements quite as mathematically specific as this.
Once the mastering engineer adds a bit of reverb to an electric instrument the game changes.
The instrument leaves the confines of the speaker altogether and behaves pretty much like an acoustic instrument occupying its own space.
It helps when one is as easily amused as I am… ;)