Pin point imaging isn't for everyone

@erik_squires posted an interesting observation:

"Even with very good imaging I notice the following: Instruments are always louder at the sides than in the center."

Several weeks ago I had the privilege of setting up a set of my speakers in a world-class dedicated home audio room. My speakers were not replacing the excellent speakers already in the system, but the owner was kind enough let me set up my speakers in his system for my own education.

I solicited criticism from those present, because I learn more from my critics than from my fans. One listener noticed that instruments were not as loud at the sides as what he was used to hearing! In other words, he was hearing the exact opposite of what you describe, when using my speakers.

I think the difference was this: My speakers were fairly directional and toed in aggressively, so they were generating a very weak reflection off the nearby side walls. The room owner’s speakers had a much wider radiation pattern and were only toed in a little bit, so they were generating strong sidewall reflections.

I’m not saying this is the whole story on why "instruments always sound louder at the sides than in the center", but it may be part of it.

(I am well aware of the inevitable comb filtering in the phantom center image, which is one of the reasons why I do my final crossover tweaking listening to a mono signal over a single speaker.  Comb filtering of the center vocalist could sucker me into making the 2 kHz region too loud.)

Duke

Duke:
That's very interesting! :) I'll have to cogitate on this for a bit. :)


Thanks so much for the detailed background information.

Best,
Erik

Erik, that primary 2 kHz comb-filter crosstalk notch is something recording engineers have to be aware of. When listening nearfield to mixing monitors in a fairly dead room, the notch is not significantly filled in by the reverberant field, so the engineers need to take it into account. Fortunately it is NOT some great mystery, the professionals all know about it, and in fact often use it to precisely locate the exact center of the sweet spot!!  

Duke

Duke,

I'm a little curious about when they were aware of it though.

Having had a HT system with and without a center, the benefit of the center was much better than I had expected. I wonder if that's because the HT system at the time didn't do more than a simple split of the center signal?

Best,
E

I'm also thinking of early sympohonic recordings which used the 3 microphone approach, which were down mixed to 2 channel stereo.