1st Post Intro & Ramblings

a mono recording cannot recreate an image. Center cannot create an image with any other speaker, time alignment and yada yada ya..... back to basics and equilateral triangle 

Ok I’m done with this thread. Thanks gents, have a good night 

kreapin OP40 posts11-03-2020 11:54pma mono recording cannot recreate an image. Center cannot create an image with any other speaker, time alignment and yada yada ya..... back to basics and equilateral triangle

You really don’t know how we perceive sound do you? I am a bit shocked given your stated experience. Localization happens from relative sound levels and timing. Given traditional studio recording techniques, most of the placement of sounds in a stereo playback is level based, not timing. Timing can be captured through microphone techniques, but that is actually not very common. In a purely analog processing workflow, it is almost impossible to impart timing based location information into stereo playback given that each instrument or group is recorded separately and then mixed.

The only reason things come into the center in a stereo image is because essentially the same thing is coming out of both speakers at the same time tricking the ear into hearing the same thing in both ears at the same time which tell you "center". Most of the movement from left to right is level based forcing your brain to work against the timing information that says otherwise.

Digital processing has brought a significant potential to stereo mixing where some level of timing information can be attempted to be embedded that did not exist in the recording, but that is more difficult than it sounds as the sound still has to come from both speakers, confusing the brain, causing cancellations, etc. The research is on how to use that cancellation as an advantage not a disadvantage.

So ... your comment about not being able to use the center channel in combination with the left or right channel to place a sound somewhere between the center channel and the other two speakers illustrates a lack of understanding of how we perceive location and how location is encoded on most recordings.  Everything that goes to every speaker is unto itself mono. Stereo, quadraphonic, triphonic, comes from the implementation of multiple sources, and it does not have to be two.

Anyone can try this, play a movie like the lion king. You want to stay in Dolby surround so go into your settings and turn off the center channel, 4.2, 6.2 or whatever your setup is without the center. Sit in the sweet spot and listen/watch for like 15-20 minutes. A few things you should notice, the voices are still centered but softer, if there are multiple things on the screen they will have there own space from left to right and depending on the quality of your setup there is depth which means there are sounds directly in front of you at different distances which will match what is on the screen . The downside to this is that sweet spot is limited to 1 or 2 people.

I thought you were done with this thread? Still digging?

Leave the center channel on. There is still depth and width. Tell us, how do your "ears" determine depth or distance? Inquiring minds want to know.