Why don't more recordings have soundstage outside of speakers

@simonmoon , It is not about the recording method Simon, it is about the playback. The symphony orchestra is so wide and so deep. At a live concert the sound of each instrument appears to comes directly from that instrument. The sound of instruments does not come from beyond the stage. In a full concert hall there is extremely effective sound absorption in the form of human beings. The reflections you hear are extremely late and relatively weak due to the distances. Up front in row 6 center- left where my dad's season tickets were the image of each instrument was very specific. I could easily close my eyes and point to each instrument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_Hall,_Boston#/media/File:Symphony_hall_boston.jpg. The orchestra has a distinct size and in row six it is really large. On playback you are expecting two speakers to recreate the orchestra's size and the position of each instrument. Since you do not have an individual speaker for each instrument the position of each instrument is determined predominantly by the relative volume of the that sound coming from the two speakers. Phase and timing assists but only if you sit dead center otherwise that information is corrupted. The full size of the orchestra will be determined by the speaker separation and how close in you are sitting. If all early reflections are well dampened it is physically impossible for sound to come from beyond the speaker without studio tricks. Not only that but sound coming from outside the orchestra would be anything but realistic. What you are hearing when you hear imaging beyond the speakers is poor control of room acoustics. How the orchestra was recorded might affect the quality of the orchestra's timbre and image but unless studio tricks are applied it should not produce sound outside the limits of the orchestra which would be surrealistic anyway. My experience with systems over the years bears this out. This type of thing may sound cool but it is not accurate. On the bright side you have identified a problem to conquer and once you do you should have a much tidier image. I have many recordings of Seiji Ozawa at Boston Symphony Hall and most of them are surprisingly accurate. None of them cast an image beyond the speakers and in my front row it is about the same as being in row 6 at the hall, wonderful. 

What you are hearing when you hear imaging beyond the speakers is poor control of room acoustics.

You are wrong...

Each recording is different....

If i was listening something totally incoherent and tricky all the times you would be right...

But it is not the case....

half of my classical recording present itsef an image that can be not only outside of the speakers laterally but also filling the room halfway to me or sometimes completely...

It is related to the recording process and to the way my acoustic settings are distributed and tuned... I can modify that at will....

Then imaging beyond the speakers, which is my experience at least half the time is an evidence of this total control of my room...

I already "enjoyed" what you described when my passive treatment were incomplete and with no active mechanical control....I lived through that like a limitation and the impossibility to experience myself "there".... And in these times my acoustic situation was exactly like you describe...

A manual of equalization is not an acoustic experiment manual at all... A few panels are not an adequate passive treatment either....


By the way i just listen to the 5th concerto of Beethoven with Boston symphony now and the orchestra fill half of my small room... The image does not exceed the speakers laterally in this case, like it is the case in some other recording i own, but the distribution of instruments and  the soloist are in a depth distribution and not only between the speakers but in front of them and in the rear....

If all early reflections are well dampened it is physically impossible for sound to come from beyond the speaker without studio tricks

That’s quite a bold statement... what’s it based upon?.. happy to be educated if there’s some definitive research out there.
The studio tricks are just an exaggeration of an effect that exists in nature which is that if a source of noise is closer to one ear than the other then our brain is able to detect the phase difference to help identify the point in space from where the sound came. If these differences are recorded to the left and right channels they can be reproduced by the loudspeakers. From your listening position each ear can hear a bit of each channel so I agree you can’t expect a 360˚ holographic stereo image. But I also don’t see why the stereo image should be bounded between the speakers - if our brains only used relative amplitude to locate the sources of sounds then it would make sense, but it’s not that simple.

If all early reflections are well dampened it is physically impossible for sound to come from beyond the speaker without studio tricks

That’s quite a bold statement... what’s it based upon?.. happy to be educated if there’s some definitive research out there.
The studio tricks are just an exaggeration of an effect that exists in nature which is that if a source of noise is closer to one ear than the other then our brain is able to detect the phase difference to help identify the point in space from where the sound came. If these differences are recorded to the left and right channels they can be reproduced by the loudspeakers. From your listening position each ear can hear a bit of each channel so I agree you can’t expect a 360˚ holographic stereo image. But I also don’t see why the stereo image should be bounded between the speakers - if our brains only used relative amplitude to locate the sources of sounds then it would make sense, but it’s not that simple.

Great post.... This is also my experience....

And all my Helmholtz resonators grid distribution is there to make easier this localization for the brain of the 2 first frontwaves marked out by them coming from the speakers and walls....

Their other function is to adapt, by their fine tuning of the neck lengts/diameters/orientation, the room response to the particular speakers i used....


By the way just this claim about dampening ALL early reflections is the proof of a complete ignorance of concrete acoustic experiment in specific room....All he know is to adapt anything to his electronic equalizer processing.... It is opposite of a sane uitilization of equalization Which cannot replace neither material passive treatment nor active control....

Actually, many recordings can image outside of speaker boundaries.  IMHO listening equipment is just as important as recording quality.  My audiophile evolution has in part been driven by a desire for better sound staging and realism.  I am now at the point where I frequently hear images outside of my speaker locations.  I also hear depth, and height.   I primarily listen to vinyl through tubes, including and SET amp. Speakers are ls3/5a monitors and KEF LS50 / both known for their imaging abilities.   I am familiar enough with my system that I can hear sonic differences when I change equipment.  One of the points I listen for is the ability to hear outside of the boundaries of my speakers.  Some changes that I think would be an improvement are not, and vice versa.   Equipment is very important, but does not have to be expensive: the first time I really became aware of outstanding image width etc would through a mid level Thorens TT, Stanton 881s cartridge, VanAlstine Super PAS3, a restored pair of Heath W4 monoblocks, and NEAR 10m speakers.   Good records are important, but so is carefully chosen equipment.