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RE: Stereo vs. multichannel: what are your thoughts on this statement (inside).

You probably won't be surprised to hear that I kind of like Sean Olive. I think he's doing some seriously good things for good sound. I disagree with him on this one, though. 5-channel and 7-channel surround is "enveloping," and I can understand how, if you listened to it all the time, stereo would then sound wrong. But I'm convinced that the 5 and 7 channel stereo is what is wrong. When they start remixing all my classic jazz recordings in surround with the goal not of "enveloping" me, but of recreating the ambience of the performance venue, then I'll be interested. Until that time comes, 2-channel still rules and, in my system, it hangs a rock solid center image in front of me.

But a couple of things said in this thread are just not accurate and are bordering on personal. One is that Olive has spent his career trying to discredit audiophile beliefs. That's nonsense. Harman International has audiophile companies in its roster and what Olive spends his career doing is very carefully constructing, running, evaluating, altering and re-running tests aimed at understanding how we hear what we hear and what we prefer. Like all research, it has gaps you can squeeze through if his conclusions challenge your personal beliefs, but I assure you he didn't have challenging your beliefs in mind. He had his job in mind, which is helping his company develop products that professionals, audiophiles and regular consumers will like and buy.

Second, having actually read his columns, I disagree with Analog Scott that Olive "seems to be against the idea that taste in sound may actually vary from person to person." I don't think he's against that idea at all. Doing the kind of research he does, I'm sure he has observed it many times. What that research has revealed, though, is that more often than not, most people (and it cuts across age, sex, and listening experience) end up preferring the same stuff. Another thing it has revealed, over time, is that people's blind, subjective impressions of sound very often reflect what is seen in the measurements. Imagine that.

I don't find this at all surprising. Given a fair comparison -- matched volumes, inability to see the price tags, logos, fancy or plain cabinets, etc. -- I expect most people to have very good ears. Our ears and brains are very well engineered. It's our minds that get in the way.

P


Edits: 06/26/10
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