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Does Imagination play a role in how we enjoy Sound Stage?
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Robin L
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Yes, although an even more important consideration is how those listeners are aligned with the speakers. If one of the auditors is off axis, they will not hear the soundstage as well as an auditor on axis. On the other hand, some people find "soundstage" very important; others tend to listen to music monophonically.
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As sound stage is a product of our perception, each person will have a different one by design.
As perception is our interpretation of what our senses tell us, it might even have no correspondence with reality at all.
As perception is our interpretation of what our senses tell us, it might even have no correspondence with reality at all.
I find that in my 2-channel setup, if I listen with eyes open, I see the two speakers and that leads me to think that they are the separated sound sources, and there is no center speaker. Sound perceived to be coming from the center goes missing. If I close my eyes & listen, then I get more of a center-fill impression, since my eyes are not sending me conflicting information about the absence of a center speaker, when they are closed.
Multicore
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I listen to stereo recordings with little to no interest in soundstage. Live music is a different matter.
But what's the evidence of your some people vs. others claim? Is it personal experience or is there research on this?
Knowing the layout of the musicians (in the venue) helps listeners filter out misleading reflections, both in the recording venue and in the listener's room. Being able to dismiss such distractions naturally improves the sound stage*. For example, the 2nd violins are usually placed to the right of the 1st violins (i,e., just left of the conductor) , but some orchestras place them to the right side of the conductor, mirroring the 1st violins. To further confuse matters, some orchestras adopt the 2nds on the right configuration for the works of certain composers, e.g., Berlioz. Knowing the actual configuration greatly reduces potential conflicts between the expected layout and what is actually heard (the actual layout).
* and the sense of ensemble - playing together in time.
* and the sense of ensemble - playing together in time.
Listening to an orchestra recorded in *3D sound* is absolutely mind-altering and extraordinary
Thanks to Specsavers Audiologists, this is your opportunity to hear one of the world’s finest ensembles in 3D sound. And we think you’ll find it quite incredible.
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Robin L
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A: Personal experience - a lot of the recordings I love are historical mono, soundstage has nothing to do with the case.
B: Forums such as this, where some will claim the importance of such things as surround/Atmos (soundstage in excelsis), others are disinterested. So, some of the time, I am one of the "some people".
My stereo is essentially a desktop stereo, where the two tower speakers are positioned so that good stereo recordings have a keen sense of soundstage. But usually, my attention is drawn away from the imaging to the musical content after a while.
Curvature
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Wrong logic here.
If this were true, we could not navigate the world. In the end our hearing is a positional system that, despite unpredictable differences in environment and anatomy, works consistently person to person.
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I'm not talking about hearing, I'm talking about perception.
Depends perhaps on your definition of sound stage as well as the positions of each listener. Hopefully you're referring to actual sound stage as baked into a recording and as reproduced in your room with your speakers. These days soundstage seems more thrown around by many as just some sort of indication of personal preference of a general nature.
Curvature
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You are wrong to make the distinction. In many ways.
If you make it, you avoid answering the OPs question.
You know, we may be asking the wrong question: "Does Imagination play a role in how we enjoy Sound Stage." First, I'm not sure how one enjoys sound stage - Appreciate? Surely. Enjoy? Not so sure. I think a more interesting (and potentially more useful) question is "How does sound stage help one imagine the performance?" Second, some pieces don't function as the composer intended without strong positional information - a sound stage.. E.g., Bach's motet for 2 four-part choirs "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied" loses much of it's drive and musical sense absent the rudiments of a sound stage. If forced to appreciate this piece in glorious mono, one is perforce compelled to imagine a separation not present in the recording. In short, we must use our imaginations or accept a less than complete performance.
I’m convinced there is no need for any imagination to hear stereo imaging and soundstage exactly as it is in the recording, and that we all will perceive it the same way when it comes to the width, depth, and placement of sound objects in the stereo field if we get the chance taking turn listening in the sweet spot to the same recording and on the same sound system.
The main thing I believe will differ is the way we choose to describe what we just heard depending on what we focus on the most while listening, and that will make us a bit uncertain if we really heard the recording the same way. But there is nothing “magical” or “unreal” about what is on the recording, the stereo projection will be the same as long as we get to hear the same recording, in the same well-set-up speaker system, and in an acoustically good listening room that will not mask the information on the recording.
The main thing I believe will differ is the way we choose to describe what we just heard depending on what we focus on the most while listening, and that will make us a bit uncertain if we really heard the recording the same way. But there is nothing “magical” or “unreal” about what is on the recording, the stereo projection will be the same as long as we get to hear the same recording, in the same well-set-up speaker system, and in an acoustically good listening room that will not mask the information on the recording.
if we also question the sound stage, then we might as well listen with a bedside radio. You can disagree about many things, but one fact is clear: the system/speakers/room work, when the speakers disappear and the musical message is uniform in the space in front of your eyes. In stereo. in monophony it's another story. However, this is the basis and principle of stereophony, the reconstruction of the message recorded with at least two distinct channels and emitted by at least two speakers. The rest is done by the brain, the two ears that we all have, but not in terms of imagination, but in the reality of things. because understanding the origin of a sound or noise is innate in every living being and is a very important attitude in terms of adapting every living being to the environment. So no imagination, but the real physical condition of every human being: as long as our system is not mono and has at least two speakers positioned correctly. If you want to learn more, go look for stereophony and binaural listening.
Do you perceive orange like I do? Do you perceive right and wrong like I do? You may never know because I don't know how you'll perceive my answer.
Sound stage is a product of presentation (rotate the speakers far enough apart, you AIN'T perceiving a sound stage. I don't care what your perception whispers to you, it's making it up) you're confusing perception with imagination I do believe.
The definition of "imagine" is interesting in the context of this discussion i.e. "The faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses". We "hear" with our brains and not just our ears and well know and universal audio illusions prove that what we hear can change based on what we see and other stimuli, the McGurk effect below is an example. So I think the answer to the OP's questions is that "imagination" probably doesn't play much if any of a role in imaging, but our brain, using other sensory cues and biases, creates what we hear and that can go far beyond what is in the actual sound waves.
Multicore
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That professor should have put on sunscreen before doing the BBC recording of baa and faa on the beach.
(Baa and Faa on the Beach is going on my list of titles without songs yet.)
I read the linked burb in wiki. It it interesting, but there's little in it (the wiki burb) that cannot be readily intuited after reading one of the basic counterpoint texts and Rimski-Korsakov's "Principles of Orchestration," with a touch of Harry Olson thrown in for good measure. Now, mix all of that together with William Calvin's "The Cerebral Symphony: Seashore Reflections on the Structure of Consciousness" and you might have the making of a syllabus.
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