Yes ..of course and the "best sound" is CONSISTENT sound that everyone hears and where ALL the program material reaches both ears at the same time regardless of where you are sitting or standing.

Stereo is only the best sound if you are in the "sweet spot" Otherwise it is ugly in a huge room especially if there is any hard panning going on.

I listen to some old Rascals MP3s on my bike and it cracks me up how they hard switched everything into three channels. (before the invention of the glorified variable volume pan pot).Drums left, Vocals left right or center, very discrete and hard to listen to. Even at home if I am not in the sweet spot (which I have adjusted for where i sit) The fake stereo is distracting. I would rather hear the track in mono.



[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 10-16-2010).]

Yes they do and Peter Baartmas was just here and the requirements were the same...But the spread between the Stagepas speakers were 20 feet at best and there were no seats outside the lines. The room was long and the front rows were placed far enough back to realize the benefits of the wider sound field. Something one rarely gets to do in clubs and venues. Adjust seating for the ultimate representation of the music.

They also recommend the keyboard are demoed in Stereo. In many rooms where yu have people on extreme right of left sides of the stage stereo is a lot muddier sounding to those on the sides hearing reflections rather than direct sound.

Two Bose systems would be ideal for wide rooms. indeed. But the pay doesn't go up enough to deal with carrying two around. Kind of defeats the purpose of the Bose System in the first place.

[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 10-16-2010).]

In my case, I factored in the cost of the two Bose L1's before I took the gig, which was a series of concerts in a restored movie theatre...the place wasn't huge, and the stereo field of the L1's was excellent, probably due to their wide dispersal, and the volume was basically the same everywhere.

Set-up time wasn't a hassle either, as I had plenty of time before and after each gig.

It's quite a system, but not for every application.

Ian

That's because it is fake and nothing more than two mono channels.

True stereo is something entirely different. It's a recreation of the space sounds generate in the real world naturally.

A real acoustic guitar played does not produce two separate waveforms that go to each ear. It's the world around us that makes the sound stereo. Waveforms bouncing of every object insight, your head space, the distance between your ears as well as the speed it travels at. Your brain even has the ability to detect where a sound is coming from in a 360 degree space even though have only two points (two ears) listening in a 3 dimensional world. That's pretty amazing as you normally need 3 points.

For example, if someone says something while standing behind you. Why do you think you can hear that they are behind you when the sound comes to your ears equally and at the same time?

The answer to that is complex but ultimately it proves the point that mono is not natural to the world we live and that stereo is.

Regards
James

PS... that reminds me, I have a mp3 file I must upload for people to play around with. Form listening on only a pair of headphones you can hear sound in a 360X360 direction.

NEVER! Because Yamaha's 'stereo sampled' voices rely on added 'effects' for their rich impressive sound, unfortunately, when mixed to mono, these effects are 'canceled out' due to the phenomenon of stereo ' phase cancellation ', resulting in a thin lifeless tinny sound of hearing only the raw sample itself.

Interestingly enough , this phase cancellation phenomenon appears to be most prominent (unique?) with Yamaha 'stereo sampled' voices, as I've not experienced 'phase cancellation ' when going out mono on Korg, Roland, or Ketron arrangers.

This article: Mono Comparability and Phase Relationships , may provide clues to why Yamaha's stereo samples suffer from stereo to mono phase cancellation problems. I hope Yamaha will look into this.

Scott
Scott Yee Entertainment

James great post....

I really learned something I didn't know.

Thank you

OK I have that Mp3 file.

DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS.... Download it first.
CLICK HERE

1: Connect a pair of headphones to your PC or put the file on your iPod.
2: Close your eyes.
3: Take a moment to relax. The room must be silent, no kids screaming or TV on that can distract you.
4: While sitting up straight with your eyes closed, start playing back the file.
5: You will hear a box of matches been shaken and ignited.
6: Concentrate on the location where the sound is coming from.

That's it.
You should be able to hear sound in full 360 degrees and even at one point you will hear the matches been shaking down by your ankles.

If you don't hear the effect at all, don't worry. There's a small percentage of people who don't have this ability to process sound in this way from headphones.

Regards
James

PS... if anyone is interested, I can explain why this works and why when listening anything normally on headphones you can only hear sound left and right.

Here's the famous virtual hair cut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNYcOU0gk4I&feature=related

Again... you MUST close your eyes and wear headphones.

When I purchased my Ultrasone headphones..I listened to a demo CD...Without exception..everyone that listened to the demo and with the Ultrasone HP's...turned around to look where the sound behind them and to the right was coming from ( clarinet )...The stereo field when done right is totally amazing...
Now applying this to a live set up could be another story..but still way better to have stereo over mono..or two mono signals to two speakers..that you think is stereo..

James, wow, thanks for those links to those terrific aural experiences. Quite enlightening!

Scott