"The single-channel, hard-panned signal of a news reader
is perceived as originating in the center-channel loud-
speaker localized within the listening room; the loud-
speaker itself is the real source of sound. If spatial cues, in
the form of real or simulated reflections, are incorporated
into a good multichannel recording, they can make the
loudspeakers less obvious and can cause the apparent
sound source to seem farther away and the room to seem
larger. A psychoacoustic perspective on what is happening
in these instances would be able to indicate the character-
istics of both local and recorded early reflections neces-
sary to establish dominance in our perception of distance.
Hints that the perception of distance is more driven by
monaural cues than binaural cues [27] are encouraging,
given the limited number of channels available in our au-
dio systems. However, if there is even an element of
“plausibility” in distance perception, it may be difficult not
to be influenced by walls and loudspeakers that we can
see. More research is needed on this important topic."
-Toole
I take this as that with reflections within a good multichannel recording establishes dominance in our perception of distance. He seems to think that the perceptual distance is driven more monaural cues vs binaural cues which then means we still get good sound from less speakers.
www.stereophile.com
, and have not to much time...
