Why is 2 Channel better than multi-channel?

Audiotomb....It's too bad that you have never heard a good multichannel audio system. They do exist, and discs to play on them.

If your pursuit is realistic sound in the home, 2 speakers never was and never will be enough. Why do you think Dipoles are so popular! 2 real, 2 virtual speakers 4 channels!

Even if the instruments are only presented in front, without surround speakers you cannot begin to present the entire recorded event. 2 channel is at best amputation of all electronic and real reverb and delay processing and venue. Whether you thinks its important or not...it is anyway.

Ask any Pro Lexicon DSP processor designer, all reverberation and delay effects are modeled as a 360 degree effect. 2 channel 160 degrees at best.

Amputation of the music and the environment around it.

And let's not fixate on the surround or rear channels. The center front is the most important of all.

Eldartford,

Let me state the obvious...it all matters

and you're preaching to the choir

Most people that have opinions on multi channel sound have for years enjoyed the joys of a stereo 2 channel sound system. The well known illusion of a sweet spot can only be effectively realized with a stereo sound. Multi channel sound somehow disrupts the nature of the sweet spot with the extraneous signals from the center and surround channels. Multi channel sound also affects the soundstage and depth of a musical presentation. The presentation of a sweet spot and a 3 dimensional sound is replaced by the sense of being in the midst of a musical rendering when listening to a surround system. For movies, the extraneous sound from the other channels may prove exciting and in some cases necessary to enhance the vocal presentation of dialogues amongst performers. There is no need for a sweet spot to be maintained but rather move the sound where the action is at various times throughout the movie presentation. Most audiophiles that I know of who have a surround system also have a dedicated two channel, stereo only system. The sweet spot is a phenomenon that stereophiles experience with stereo sound and arguably contend that it is a better sound.