Wanna take it to the next level? Buy MORE speakers!

2 channel and surround are different

They are not different. The ultimate hope of a 2 channel rig (as you spend more and more and more) is that it hopes to provide the soundfield, spatial nuance and detail characteristic of a correctly setup multichannel rig.

For instance, as you spend more and more on a purist dac, there is code hidden away in fpga with the hope of creating the above mentioned, restricted by the challenges of achieving so with 2 speakers.

You will hear all kinds of detail in a multichannel rig (that you simply never heard in a 2 channel rig) by virtue of how some multichannel codecs uunpack your favorite stereo recordings....there are multiple speaekers assisting with this. Try an upmixer that comes with a multichannel processor that’s worth its salt and the right amount of correctly setup speakers. It should become obvious.

When 2 channel guys are in hot pursuit of cost no object "3D", etc, it continues to be a bit laughable for the same reason....Spending more and more up the wrong tree will continue to provide a gimped outcome. I could put up my multichannel rig (i didn’t even spend that much on it) against ANY cost no object stereo rig and it will run circles aound the latter. It would probably lose, however, to some guy’s ultra high-end multichannel rig, i suppose...but, some guy’s 2 channel? nah, it ain’t losing...

Some of you guys are not really strapped for cash.....try something different than what you’re used to, research the newer technologies and tweak it out...

I've listened to pretty much every configuration (5.1 through 13.4.4) and while it provides a cool effect it doesn't move me in the way that even a mediocre two channel system does. Movies? Sure - give me that immersive feeling with planes flying overhead, the sound of bullets ricocheting through the side, rear, and atmos speakers - it makes sense for this kind of foley info to come from all sides. For music however it just sounds gimmicky and fake. I'm speaking for me of course and shouldn't influence even a single member of this forum. I also don't have much interest in others telling me what I should and shouldn't enjoy. Like ketchup on hot dogs or black licorice. Someone making a face and pretending to be disgusted doesn't impact my enjoyment one whit. Plenty of people here describe the process of procuring, cleaning, and listening to a record (including having to get up to flip it after 22 or so minutes) to be a horrible, exhausting experience. I can't get enough of it, and the joy of hearing music come from a spot where a speaker isn't still seems magical to me. There is an evolutionary reason our ears are shaped the way they are and two channel setups are optimized to take advantage of that physiology.

 Not really a contemporary thought.

Remember the  double Advent?

@deep_333 

Why don’t you spend a minute or two describing to us “two channel guys” your awesome multi-channel rig. Obviously you have achieved this nirvana you describe.

I’ve listened to pretty much every configuration (5.1 through 13.4.4) and while it provides a cool effect it doesn’t move me in the way that even a mediocre two channel system does. Movies? Sure - give me that immersive feeling with planes flying overhead, the sound of bullets ricocheting through the side, rear, and atmos speakers - it makes sense for this kind of foley info to come from all sides. For music however it just sounds gimmicky and fake. I’m speaking for me of course and shouldn’t influence even a single member of this forum. I also don’t have much interest in others telling me what I should and shouldn’t enjoy. Like ketchup on hot dogs or black licorice. Someone making a face and pretending to be disgusted doesn’t impact my enjoyment one whit. Plenty of people here describe the process of procuring, cleaning, and listening to a record (including having to get up to flip it after 22 or so minutes) to be a horrible, exhausting experience. I can’t get enough of it, and the joy of hearing music come from a spot where a speaker isn’t still seems magical to me. There is an evolutionary reason our ears are shaped the way they are and two channel setups are optimized to take advantage of that physiology.

You probably heard some rig set up for movies by a "HT enthusiast"? If so, that’s never a good example. Such rigs are typically set up to get everything exaggerated/make adrenalin pour like the niagara (i.e., wanting that helicopter sound to pan from top front to top back, effects everywhere, panning sounds around a grid, etc). Some of these HT guys are in the habit of setting up six 18inch subs in a small-ish room and tearing up the drywall (Hint: avsforum). Everything would indeed sound gimmicky, awful and fake for music. A lot of parameters change though when you have to set it up for music.

For instance, many guys have figured out by now that you need to put subwoofers, in specific spots in a room? i.e., the optimal location for a low bass transducer is not where your speaker is? The room decides it, physics, acoustics, etc come in play, etc? It wasn’t so back in the days...

Similarly, a certain fulfillment of soundfield requirements can’t be met by setting just 2 speakers up front.. It requires additional speakers in other optimal areas of the room. It’s just the science/technology behind how it works out in a room.