Kenazfilan - regarding back to back CS5s. Jim made that comment at the press conference introducing the CS5 in response to a question as to why he didn't provide a second set of inputs. It was not a thought-out position, but rather offhand: "if you want to spend an additional $10K for a second run of expensive cable, you'd get better results with a second set of speakers". The response begs the question of the cost of amplifying the second set of speakers, their cable, etc.
Anyhow, back in the listening room after the show, we tested the idea, and it has merit. The 2 speakers per channel act as bi-polar radiators which comes close to omni-directional radiation into the room. The polar response becomes extremely uniform and the sound-field becomes immersive. One caveat is that the room must be well damped, especially at the launch-speaker end so that the additional reflected sound-power does not overwhelm the direct radiation from the front speakers. We had perhaps 8' to the front wall and perhaps 6-7' to each side wall. The front and back speakers need not be the same model. For demonstration-testing I used a Yamaha P2200 professional power amp with adjustable gain for the back speakers so that the direct vs reflected sound could be blended on the fly. Each speaker is producing half the sound while coupling better to the room for a very big, impressive presentation.
It would be hard to imagine incorporating this idea into a normal residential-sized room, and also the extra amps and cables would have to be found. But . . . I still have that Yamaha amp and a bunch of speakers in the hot-rod garage. I'll try to find time to try it out.
