Is stereo an unimportant "parlour trick"?

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frugal-phile™
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You only realize it can be 3D when you hear it, and most systems ar enot capable. Not to mention the estimated 10% or so of those who are incapable of hearing a stereo image or those partially impaired in such a manner.

And certainly there is room for other assets a system can have to nbe more important to the individual.

dave
 
You only realize it can be 3D when you hear it, and most systems ar enot capable. Not to mention the estimated 10% or so of those who are incapable of hearing a stereo image or those partially impaired in such a manner.

And certainly there is room for other assets a system can have to nbe more important to the individual.

dave

There are those that hear voices, it does not mean we all should be hearing them.
 
If a system has a really good soundstage/image it is very much 3D if the information is on the source.

Are you quite certain you wouldn't hear that depth on a single speaker just as you "see" depth perfectly well in an oil painting of a barnyard - even with one or two eyes looking?

Have you any reason to believe your mental image bears any relation to reality - assuming there is any real orchestra recorded by a single-location pair of mikes in the recording? Assuming you can find such a recording.

Data anybody?

B.
 
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Are you quite certain you wouldn't hear that depth on a single speaker just as you "see" depth perfectly well in an oil painting of a barnyard - even with one or two eyes looking?

Have you any reason to believe your mental image bears any relation to reality - assuming there is any real orchestra recorded by a single-location pair of mikes in the recording? Assuming you can find such a recording.

Data anybody?

B.

Hmmnn ......... I would prefer listening to a good mono recording in which I can sympathetically ‘imagine’ where the instruments or vocalists are placed, rather than being subjected to an inferior stereo-typical production that merely dictates what I should (or should not) be hearing within a somewhat dubiously conceived soundstage. Happens all the time, and can be very tiring. There is a lot to be said for summed mono.

Sorry, no data :rolleyes: ToS
 
Hmmnn ......... I would prefer listening to a good mono recording in which I can sympathetically ‘imagine’ where the instruments or vocalists are placed, rather than being subjected to an inferior stereo-typical production that merely dictates what I should (or should not) be hearing within a somewhat dubiously conceived soundstage. Happens all the time, and can be very tiring. There is a lot to be said for summed mono.

+1.

But.... of what importance is the visual image in your mind? Doesn't make Beethoven's 15th quartet any more meaningful* - the score has no "depth" even if you like imagining you are in a hall or did hear the piece at a concert (as I do sometimes).

B.
* learned persons may be able to recall certain scores that do call for odd placements of instruments esp brass**. But think about this: certain operas call for certain instruments as part of the action - but they are kept buried in the orchestra pit in Bayreuth.

** or in the case of Berlioz, whole brass bands in the far corners of the hall... one of the greatest experiences of attending a concert hall
 
But.... of what importance is the visual image in your mind? Doesn't make Beethoven's 15th quartet any more meaningful* - the score has no "depth" even if you like imagining you are in a hall or did hear the piece at a concert (as I do sometimes).

Good point. I am very fond of the Bach Cello Suites. I have recordings by Pablo Casals, Mstislav Rostropovich, and YoYo Ma, and listen to all of them in mono. Obviously, the cellos as instruments and individual player interpretations are comparatively different, and so are the recordings, but how the players appear within my inner visual imagery is dazzlingly different each and every time I listen. What I think about, or the visual imaginings of what feelings I have about the music are never the same twice. OK, that’s my gift.

Subjectively, I find the YoYo Ma recordings too reverberant, and in stereo I can hear his cello singing out from a distant room that (obviously) doesn’t belong to me, whereas the Casal recordings in mono are in my room, right in front of my face. Although I love them both, I find the Rostropovich recordings the best of the three as it feels like his playing is pouring directly out of my own emotions into the room.

Interesting how listening in mono never went away, and how 3D cinema in spite of its many iterations, has never really caught and kept the mainstream audience.

ToS
 
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