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Stereo Imaging

I think I've written about this before, but I wonder how many of us who use the same system for HT and music get fooled into suspecting the center channel must be generating the center image. I was playing the Abkco disc of "Let It Bleed" and found myself compelled once again to put my ear to the center channel to assure it was not generating the strong centered image I was hearing. Intellectually I knew it wasn't because I've tested it before, but the image is so strong it creates a cognitive dissonance. In a world of 7.1, I'm afraid I forget just how effective stereo can be in generating a soundstage.

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Showing 1 response by bondmanp

bondmanp
1,790 posts
 
My rig is a 2-channel/HT combo, but the 2-channel sources run a detour around the multi-channel gear. When I had a large SD RPTV with my center atop it, that illusion happened constantly when listening to stereo sources. Now, with a plasma, and center mounted beneath the TV on a stand, the illusion is rarer. I think this is due to the height of the center image provided by my Ohm Walsh 2000s. Most vocalists appear to be about 5'6" tall, about where my center used to be, but about 3 to 4 feet higher than where it is now. A visual disconnect.

FWIW, I did try my system with a phantom center setting, but on film soundtracks, the center just lacked some oomph that it has when I installed the center channel speaker.
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