Why is 2 Channel better than multi-channel?

Eldartford,

But why fool around with a center speaker if it has the potential of degrading the sound of a recorded material? What purpose does a center speaker provide then other than more clarity of oral discourse or dissertation that is in synch with the performers on the screen? Why would one even consider the images coming from between L and C and R with the use of a center speaker in a matrix modality? Good to excellent soundstaging of one's 2 channel system will give you all those images without muddying it.

Landok...Somewhere there is an audiophile with a monophonic system, who doesn't want to confuse his sonic image by having it come from two places :-)

velocity,

Keep the debate civil. I am not criticizing your views. I'm simply stating another perspective. I'm sure that you have the best equipment but I'm not interested in knowing that. My opinions are mine alone and I'm not really out there trying to convince you or anybody for that matter. I'd rather settle and listen to a scintillating 2 channel pure stereo sound and when I finally become inattentive, I will turn on my BRYSTON 9B SST amp, just for some diversion.

I can't comment on multichannel, but I CAN say with absolute certainty that my two channel set-up plus sub-bass unit generates SPECTACULAR imaging, which I've already described at length in my review of the Intuitive Design Summits. Depth, width, and height are all there, and in SPADES. I have no desire for a multichannel system, although I've never really listened to one, unless that's what they have in the theaters. If that's what surround sound is supposed to be like, then I think it sounds insultingly artificial. But hey, maybe someone with a "better system" than mine can "bring...(me) up to speed."

Mdhoover,

Thank you for your cerebral commentary on the the topic of 2 channel stereo. Often, the purveyors of snake oil run out of justification and falsification and in the process develop a self promotion strategy that portrays them as better because they are bigger, stronger, etc. In this particular case, someone with a "better system" has now developed scholarly credentials to "bring us up to speed". In a quintessential sort of way, we, stereophiles, 2 channel traditionalist or whatever the moniker, should be greatful that in our midst someone with a "better system" will finally show us the way to listening bliss.