Strange Klipsch thing


I stopped by a local shop this afternoon because the guy had recently set up a two channel room. At the moment he's carrying Cary amps - which I use at home - and Klipsch speakers. He had an SLI-80 integrated run through the big Klipschorn speakers placed in the corners. What I heard was an enormously wide soundstage with exceptional image height, BUT, the whole thing sounded like it was being projected onto a perfectly flat wall. Not so much as a shred of stage depth. Is this fairly common with Klipsch speakers? It really seemed like an odd effect. Not my cup of tea at all.
grimace
Would be a sin of omission not a coloration or distortion. Rooms interact with radiation patterns and can interfere with the illusion of depth. Horns tend to have controlled radiation patterns this can cause image to be more in front of loudspeakers but with less room interaction a dipole e stat etc would have a figure 8 radiation pattern which provides more depth but with more interaction with room. Neither is better than the other but one may have a personal preference. Its not distortion or coloration its just the way different designs control radiation patterns. And there interaction with listening spaces. I have built dipole horns works very well.
"Would be a sin of omission not a coloration or distortion."

Matter of perspective I suppose, but if the 3-d cues are there and not presented accurately, how is this different than watching a 3-D tv picture without the glasses needed to see it properly?

With audio, its less obvious and hence less of a distraction I suppose compared to 3-D images.

BTW 3-d TV has no appeal to me mainly because of the special glasses needed to see it properly and the option to not even have it.

With audio, 3-D presentation does have appeal to me because it is part of what was recorded and is always there in the recording to different degrees by default with no real option to remove.

If all tv were encoded for 3-D viewing, then I suspect we would all want to have a 3-D TV.

Yes, horns are more directional and also seem to lend themselves well towards going close to the rear wall, which can be an advantage, right?

They still play by the same rules of room acoustics as any other speakers though I think when it comes to 3-D soundstage and imaging. Good horns that are also highly resolving lend themselves well to the task from what I have heard, but I do not know if they will ever challenge the better omnis like mbl in terms of being the champs at soundstage depth specifically, if that is what turns you on.
Mapman, headphones introduce their own set of perception peculiarities that compromise your point.
"Mapman, headphones introduce their own set of perception peculiarities that compromise your point."

How's that?
Headphones, typically have greater channel isolation, and don't typically present sound to the outer ear in the same way as speakers do. Without electronic manipulation or unique recording techniques, the sound is typically perceived as coming from within ones head as opposed to from a sound stage.