Activated charcoal bass filtering? Exactly how are you implementing this?
@kota1 ,
I think my definition of imaging is different than Mr Clearmountain's. With what he is trying to achieve he is correct. A center channel will improve the results. It will provide the best two dimensional image for the largest number of people (locations), a wide "sweet Spot." I am looking (listening) for something different. A center channel interferes with the formation of the third dimension. People talk about the third dimension even though systems that will produce it are rare, very rare. In my own experience since the early 60's only four systems have achieved this level of performance. The first one was the system of a high school music teacher in an apartment in Coral Gables just South of Miami, FL in 1978. It was based on Sequerra Metronome 2+2W loudspeakers and Threshold electronics in an irregularly shaped room with blankets and bean bag chairs tossed haphazardly throughout. To say I was in awe is an understatement. The second was an HQD system at Sound Components in Miami shortly thereafter. Peter McGrath ended the listening session by frying a Quad with an organ piece trying to impress a customer with the bass performance. Not me! I was not qualified for such a system. I was in awe nonetheless. It took me another 15 years to get my own system to perform at that level and another 10 years to fully understand what I was doing. #4 is the system of a friend that is relatively modest it relies 75% on DSP to achieve these results. I am working with another friend on a 5th system based on Magico S7 loudspeakers.
I have said this in other posts, experience is king. You have to hear this to understand it. It is one thing to get a system to sound good. It is another issue to get it to image properly. You can get a fine two dimensional image out of a poor sounding system but you can not get a good three dimensional image out of a poor sounding system. You can get a wide sweet spot with a two dimensional system, but there is only one sweet spot for the third dimension and you can hear this by simply shifting your head side to side. Certain issues like a bad crossover design will permanently preclude a system from getting that third dimension. Variances in frequency response between the two channels is another common factor that prevents a system from achieving that third dimension. This is why measuring a systems amplitude response is so important, but you also have to have the ability to alter amplitude response without adding distortion, DSP again. Group delay is another issue. Then there is room acoustics. That third dimension is the most fragile of all audio characteristics. All this is a great argument for active loudspeakers and we have had the capability to make any loudspeaker "active" since around 1995 with the foundation of TacT Audio. TacT is now Lyngdorf and other companies have entered the market such as Trinnov, Anthem, Legacy and my personal favorite, DEQX.