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Why is it that so few recordings seem to pull of the trick of projecting sounds well away from the Speakers? The only two that I own that pull it off really well on my system are:Julian Cope's Jehovahkill, all of a sudden a very loud weird creaking sound like a sinking galleon appears two metres to the right of the right hand speaker, the first time this happened I thought the house was falling down.
Serge Gainsbourg, Gainsbourg Percussions, the applause at the beginning of the live song are projected way forward and the performance bobs and floats on an ocean of chatter, laughter and clinking glasses that seems to lap against the walls of the room. Obviously this recording was made live in the early sixties, so shouldn't be anything that special.
Most music seems to stay resolutely in the same space, about a metre each way forward and back from the speakers and at most half a metre out left and right.
This is such an amazing trick, I'm astonished that it doesn't feature on more recordings, or does it? is my system so limited that it can only pull it off very occasionally?
If anyone can recommend any other amazing out of box experiences I'd be most grateful.
Furry
Follow Ups:
Speaker/room interface! Very good explanations and set-up guide on audio physics american distributor's webpage, only one that ever was worthwhile in my room.http://www.immediasound.com/Speakersetup.html
These tricks are still encoded into recordings, but it takes a really exceptional stereo set-up to decode them. Hifi designers seem to be steering their gear away from the type of stereo holography that used to be so common.One recording that I have at hand in which the stereo effects are really neat is the RCA recording of Carmen conducted by Herbert Von Karajan of 1964. Leontyne Price is Carmen and it is fascinating and thrilling the way her character moves about the room while listening to the opera. Not just her character mind you, but the entire cast seem eerily animated. They move around the sound stage (which seems to encompass the entire room). Sometimes effects appear right beside you (way away from the plane of the speakers) or in corners or other odd places. These effects are startling.
It takes an exceptional playback system to decode them though. The majority of hifi today seems much more concerned with flat frequency response and thumping bass than stereo effects. Ironically, systems from the 60's and 70's were better at this. Also, CD seems less "stereo-phonic" if you will than LPs, and the CD era has witnessed stereophony decline in importance.
The best current systems for stereophony are often the same ones that worked so well in the past. I am talking retro amps, especially tube designs and good old analog records. Certain tube designs are really, really good with stereophony and the resulting stereo "holography" can be really enjoyable. The best tube set-ups can give a startlingly out of the box sensation, as performers flesh out and begin to inhabit the listening room (the opposite of the flat, cardboard cut out effects of today's hifi).
I think you would be well served by checking out shops with retro-gear from Conrad Johnson or Audio Research. Furthermore, mini-monitors have certain advantages over big speakers with regard to stereophony, the primary one being lack of diffraction causing surface area. I have heard many a mini-monitor/tube amp set-up do the holography thing really well, even from CDs. Good Luck.
Thanks for the very comprehensive answer, I'm already commited to the tube route after years in the transistor wilderness. I'll look out for the recording of Carmen that you suggest.Furry
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