Trigger warning for subjective descriptions
I see a lot of people obsessing about stereo image. Width, depth, height - it all seems to be important. Even more so in the more subjective arenas "...like you could pluck the instruments out of the air..."
If I set myself up for listening - dead center between the speakers, equalateral triangle etc, I can easily detect the image with appropriate music. But it does absolutely nothing for my listening enjoyment. It's an "oh yes, there it is - now lets get back to the music"
For me good sound quality is balanced freqency response, and most important - clarity of the music (which I describe as ease of hearing each voice/instrument, and each note distinctly and without blurring into the general sound. I also like to be "in the music" rather than looking in it. Playing from a single speaker is less enjoyable than playing from two - even if the sound is mono. Fake surround doesn't work for me though for music (at least not on my surround system) as it results in a loss of clarity. Movie tracks presumably mixed for multi channel are fine though. I've not listened to any multi channel music.
So am I the only one who doesn't care about imaging? Or is it common?