2+2+2 Multichannel

Eldartford, I'm glad your happy with it. As for me I haven't heard one example that wasn't disappointing. It is of no concern to me whether its done digital or analog, though I suspect it would be easier to do well with digital. Sogood51's post had me thinking about speaker placement for 3 channels for the first time ever. I'm surprised at myself. I really didn't think I ever would, at least not for a long time. Please let us know what results you have with the 2+2+2 set up.

Unsound...For matrix multichannel, very few recordings work well, and you probably never heard them. It's easy for me to understand your skepticism. Also, note my comment that it's a lot easier (and better) to get three channels out of two than four.

One of the best, IMHO, was not advertised as multichannel.
It's the LP version of Judy Collins singing "Amazing Grace". (The CD version is not so good). Judy is solidly front and center while a church congregation is around you. When it ends, as the reverberance dies away, you can hear people behind you putting hymn books back into the wooden racks. Scary! On the same record is "Farewell to Tiwathe" (a song about whaling) where the recorded sound of whales float all around the room while Judy sings. You are underwater with the whales!

You could check this out by just bridging your stereo amp with a couple a odd speakers in series (to keep the impedance up).

I don't know how well I can evaluate the 2+2+2 scheme, as my regular speakers are Magneplanars, and it just isn't possible to mount a high speaker above them exactly as specified for 2+2+2. I am going to give it a try with some box speakers, but the results may be inconclusive. Also, I am looking into the possibility of stacked MMG magneplanar speakers. (See other thread). For evaluation of the 2+2+2 scheme I think that a set of the tiny Bose cubes (yes, those)would be best. Remember we are evaluating the spatial effects, not audio quality, and the tiny size would facilitate optimum positioning and should help make the difference vs 5.1 apparent.

Eldartford, my gut instincts tell me that you are right on about 3 channels working better than other multiples over 2. I have to admit that a 2 channel LP having that abilty would be a huge surprise to me. Sounds very interesting. I have never owned panels (though I almost bought Maggies). I always wondered what would happen if you put two pairs of panels back to back. It sounds like you have the capability. Have you tried it? Would you consider trying it?

There is an interesting article posted this month at the Audiophile Audition website on non-5.1 music surround formats. It's not on 2+2+2, but it has much discussion on the problems of 5.1 for music listening and what might be better in the future:

http://www.audaud.com/audaud/OCT03/EQUIP/equip3OCT03.html