Ahhhh! How can this be possible?

[Eidie]

I’ve been working out my new system.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/i-think-i’m-done.24972/#post-846774

Today I have be listening to Orbital - Snivilization. The phenomenon I am about to talk to appears on most tracks but is really apparent on track 2 “I wish I had duck feet”.

The soundstage appears to extend way outside the width of the speakers (equilateral triangle 2.2m a side). By at least a metre. Both sides.

How is this possible?

 

[marcello252]

is it a binaural recording?

 

[digitalfrost]

I also have that, but I use https://www.ambiophonics.org/

 

[Eidie]

is it a binaural recording?

No it isn’t. A straight rip from the original cd. ALAC 16/44.1. But it is really weird. Currently listening to Trk. 7 and the same phenomenon is very apparent.

 

[Eidie]

I also have that, but I use https://www.ambiophonics.org/

And Lysergic acid diethylamide?

 

[boXem]

Isn't one of the 2 speakers out of phase?

 

[solderdude]

The soundstage appears to extend way outside the width of the speakers (equilateral triangle 2.2m a side). By at least a metre. Both sides.

How is this possible?

When it is in one album only it's simply how the song was mixed. There is nothing weird about it.
Similar to how you can hear sounds from a stereo TV way to the left or right of the TV when there are only 2 speakers on the TV itself.
It is done by signal processing.

 

[Eidie]

Isn't one of the 2 speakers out of phase?

I have checked, and no I don’t believe so.

 

[sergeauckland]

I have several CDs that give that effect. I find it rather pleasant when it happens.

S.

 

[Eidie]

When it is in one album only it's simply how the song was mixed. There is nothing weird about it.
Similar to how you can hear sounds from a stereo TV way to the left or right of the TV when there are only 2 speakers on the TV itself.
It is done by signal processing.

There are many, many things that are weird about.

 

[Eidie]

I have several CDs that give that effect. I find it rather pleasant when it happens.

S.

Oh it is not unpleasant! It is amazing! But how can it happen!

 

[tomtoo]

This song has a extrem wide soundstage. They use some stereo widener effect.

Its all ok, no reason to worry.

If you interested there is a read about.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-stereo-widening

 

[Eidie]

This song has a extrem wide soundstage. They use some stereo widener effect.

Its all ok, no reason to worry.

If you interested there is a read about.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-stereo-widening

Not worried. Ahhhhhhhh...


Read the link. Very interesting. I have a bit of a handle on how it’s done. Still don’t understand how it is possible!

 

[tomtoo]

We have some ways to determine the position of a soundsource. Time between left and right signal, phase of the signal, loudnes of the signal. Playing with this can have nice effects. Its found in the psychoacustics department, where iam not at home.

 

[tomtoo]

Not a sign of acute audiophilitis. This dangerous illnes can realy be coused by intense listening on new speakers. But a realy good provision against it, is reading ASR. So you are not in danger.

 

[bigjacko]

Maybe the room reflection? Maybe ertain frequency in that particular album was reinforced by the room?

 

[sergeauckland]

Oh it is not unpleasant! It is amazing! But how can it happen!

There are circuits where a knob adjusts the image from mono to super wide stereo, where the image extends past the loudspeakers. It is to do with phase shifts, EQ, frequency dependent delays and added reverb and it's sometimes done deliberately, at other times just happens as a consequence of the way the track was mixed and mastered.

If you think that the perception of a stereo image is create entirely in the brain, as there's no physical reality to a stereo phantom image, then it's not hard to think that the brain can be fooled into hearing other things. Front-to-back depth can be created artificially by using delay and EQ, so extra width and even height aren't surprising.

Think of it as the audio equivalent of all those optical illusions where we see things moving that aren't, or parallel lines that converge.

S.

 

[DVDdoug]

If you invert the phase (polarity) of one channel you'll get a "spacey" effect and if you invert everything (like if you reverse the connections to one speaker) the bass will cancel almost completely. If you play it on a mono system you'll get silence.

If you use this effect on just the vocals (or just one instrument) the vocals will be canceled in mono.

If you want to experiment (just for fun) you can flip the connections to one speaker, or you can use Audacity to invert one channel, or slightly-delay one channel, of an audio file etc.

 

[MRC01]

... We have some ways to determine the position of a soundsource. Time between left and right signal, ...

For the OP: sound travels at about 1100 feet per second. Your ears are about 7 inches apart. So a sound coming from your R hits that ear about half a millisecond before it hits the L ear. Your brain detects this time difference and uses it (among other things) to sense the direction of the sound. Your brain detects smaller delay differences as sounds that are closer to center.

Now if you make a stereo recording with this same delay in some of the sounds, they'll sound like they're coming from well outside the speakers.

 

[Pennyless Audiophile]

It happens to me all the time. Tubular Bells 2, for example, in some musical passages it sounds almost 180 degrees.
Pin Floyd's Marooned brings you to a beach, in the right hemisphere of your room, with the sea in the left hemisphere.
This is the reason why you need reflections in a listening room, otherwise you loose all these effects and everything will sound like a group of garden midgets in a line between the two speakers.