Posted by bartc (A) on July 28, 2003 at 07:07:32

In Reply to: Re: Mono destroying imaging? Not so sure! posted by David Aiken on July 28, 2003 at 00:42:19:

...as I was writing the last paragraphs. Had not thought of soundstage and imaging as completely separate phenomena, because we all concentrate on stereo here and it wouldn't have come up that way.

So for sure, mono can be increased dramatically in apparent soundstage, a la my FM/room lens experience. This is NOT a fluke, it's hearable by everyone and stable.

Obviously, imaging didn't work the same in mono, but it still gives some illusion of imaging - not the spatial aspect of particular instrument placement, but the illusion of real instrumentation none-the-less. By increasing the soundstage in mono, you do fool the brain into thinking of imaging. It's only when you really compare or listen critically with some knowledge that this illusion of imaging fails in this kind of setup.

This is one reason that I'm so high on the room lens clones: they improve the sound markedly in all formats in my room.