Shocking 3D sound in 2 channel

It is not the speakers, its the room.

Well the speakers and room working together. The greatest speakers that overwhelm the room will not produce 3D imaging, whereas mediocre speakers set up correctly within a room can produce a 3D image, mind you the tone may be completely off.

Only once in my Audiophile life have I experienced this phenomenon with such striking clarity. This was at an audio store in Dallas back in the late 80s. The speakers were Dalquist DQ12. The amp and preamp were Adcom. Not sure of the CD player. The music was the Broadway cast recording of Phantom of the Opera. It was spooky how realistically the performers were placed in the sound stage. It was the three dimensional quality of this placement that made the effect so stunning. While I have since been able to get very close to that experience I have never heard the three dimensional, holographic effect like I did that day in Dallas on that relatively modest setup.

Avalon speakers are known for this.

There was even a system that was put together with MIT cables/spectral amps/Avalon speakers called the 2C3D (two channel 3D). I got to hear that system, it was insane how 3D it was.

The store owner hooked up a very expensive LD player and put on a Star Wars disc for me (just sound no screen). It was insane how real it was, it was like I was in the forest, it wrapped all the way around me. Lasers came from 8 feet from the top left back of me and shot down to the front stage. Animals and birds chirped all around me. She put on that roger waters CD also where the TV came from behind me.

With that being said sometimes it can be a little dry.

Speakers can also have varying degrees of depth, hight, and surround if set up correctly and they are time aligned. Try Roger Waters....Amused to Death.

Phantom of the Opera sounds fantastic on just about everything.