Using one speaker (summed to mono) is the best hi fi solution for many smaller spaces like kitchens and garages in my opinion

[BobbyTimmons]

In my opinion, there are many cases using one speaker summed to mono is a more practical solution.

1. In rooms where the speakers can only be placed to one side or in a corner. Using one speaker allows the speaker to be placed closer to the center of the room where there are less problems from boundary gain.

2. Room acoustics in general are easier to manage with one speaker.

3. You don't have to worry as much about staying in the sweet spot as a listener. This is ideal for spaces like kitchens and garages where you can be moving around.

4. It halves the amount of space used excluding the source.

5. Where speakers can be bought individually like studio monitors, it halves the cost or doubles the budget. If your budget is $800, you can get a single studio monitor of higher capability than the cost of getting two $400 monitors.

6. Many albums sound better when folded to mono. This is the case with many early stereo releases. If you already have two channel systems, it's nice to have a dedicated mono set up where you listen on one speaker.

 

[alex-z]

Strongly disagree.

With 2 speakers you have two low frequency sources, allowing for more consistent room mode behaviour and therefore better bass response.

You also have 6dB extra dynamic range with the second speaker + amplifier channel.

If you have albums that sound better in mono just set your source to downmix.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

Strongly disagree.

With 2 speakers you have two low frequency sources, allowing for more consistent room mode behaviour and therefore better bass response.

You usually have two low frequency sources with different amounts of boundary gain and therefore an often worse real world performance.

You also have 6dB extra dynamic range with the second speaker + amplifier channel.

That's irrelevant in many use cases and especially in small spaces like kitchens considering the levels many people listen at. Most people here are listening at levels even on their main systems that would be very easy to achieve.

If you have albums that sound better in mono just set your source to downmix.

The room acoustics for mono listening will usually be cleaner with one speaker and that's especially so in smaller spaces where the speaker positioning for two often isn't ideal, where you could get a single speaker closer to the center of the room, but not two.

 

[Keith_W]

I don't know about you, but when I am in the kitchen I pay more attention to what I am doing with my knife than worrying about whether I might have room modes or not. In fact, I don't even care - as long as I can hear the music, that's all that matters.

 

[Ropeburn]

Small appartment with open kitchen and tower speakers = none of this matters. Crank it a bit and enjoy electrotechnobass while chopping onions.

 

[Chr1]

I would love a bigger/open plan kitchen personally.
I get decent stereo imaging when doing my washing up... Or looking out my window at the opposite end of the kitchen. Not so much when prepping/cooking as I have to stand side on.
Unfortunately my kitchen is tiny and only about 7 1/2ft wide.
So the subwoofer on the shelf is not really necessary. The wee Marantz M-CR610 has pretty decent sub eq options tho, so seemed rash not to.
My neighbours haven't complained yet thankfully.

 

[JohnnyNG]

For a situation where stereo itself is not important, sure. And I did live with a single speaker for about a month before completing my other speaker and listened to my entire mono record collection but prefer two speakers even for that.
My main (stereo) system covers my kitchen as well (where room modes are not something I'd worry about) but if I needed something dedicated to that space I'd unretire this beauty (your post made me go find it. ).

 

[girtab]

ideally you want imaging from your music which is not possible with mono. Unless you wanna just bop to some tunes with friends then just use a bluetooth jbl or something, but i wouldnt consider that hifi (even though jbl makes some amazing value portable speakers)

 

[BobbyTimmons]

ideally you want imaging from your music which is not possible with mono.

In typical smaller spaces where the speakers are close together or assymetric you often don't get worthwhile stereo imaging from two speakers. Using a single speaker closer to the center of the room you'll also improve the ratio of direct to indirect sound.

Unless you wanna just bop to some tunes with friends then just use a bluetooth jbl or something, but i wouldnt consider that hifi (even though jbl makes some amazing value portable speakers)

Maybe for dance music, but for listening to classical or jazz I'd recommend a single studio monitor summed to mono.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

As a FM radio engineer, the assumption was always that a significant portion of the audience was listening in mono, either because their radio was mono, or because the signal was weak enough that the receiver gave up trying to decode the L-R subcarrier.

"Better"? Probably not, but since a voltage sum is different than a power sum, anything panned to the center will be increased by ~3db when summed to mono. That usually means lead vocals or whatever else is supposed to be "on top" of the mix is more "on top" than when listening in stereo. This "extra clarity" can be beneficial when listening in noisy environments (cars, kitchens, etc) so that might be what the OP is hearing.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

As a FM radio engineer, the assumption was always that a significant portion of the audience was listening in mono, either because their radio was mono, or because the signal was weak enough that the receiver gave up trying to decode the L-R subcarrier.

"Better"? Probably not, but since a voltage sum is different than a power sum, anything panned to the center will be increased by ~3db when summed to mono. That usually means lead vocals or whatever else is supposed to be "on top" of the mix is more "on top" than when listening in stereo. This "extra clarity" can be beneficial when listening in noisy environments (cars, kitchens, etc) so that might be what the OP is hearing.

The improvement in clarity isn't from folding to mono itself (although it improves the coherence of a lot of early stereo mixes that are hard panned) but from improving room acoustics in problematic spaces. If you play from a single speaker closer to the center of the room instead of two speakers closer to the corners of the room you're probably increasing the ratio of direct to indirect sound or delaying the reflections enough for your brain to separate them from the direct sound. You're probably also reducing comb filtering and the peaks from the boundary gain.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

If everything is hard panned left and right, the mix won't change when summed to mono.
If some instruments are hard panned and some are in the center, the instruments in the center will be boosted.
If it's a "true stereo" recording that depends on arrival times vs panned mono, summing to mono can make the recording sound pretty bad, although most recording engineers are aware of the importance of mono compatibility so it's usually not a problem.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

If everything is hard panned left and right, the mix won't change when summed to mono.
If some instruments are hard panned and some are in the center, the instruments in the center will be boosted.
If it's a "true stereo" recording that depends on arrival times vs panned mono, summing to mono can make the recording sound pretty bad, although most recording engineers are aware of the importance of mono compatibility so it's usually not a problem.

In the earlier recording piano would be hard panned to the left while the horns to the right. The original Van Gelder mixes are usually the opposite way around. In his remasters he's moved it all to the center. When you set up a stereo system in a problematic position with one speaker in a corner the low frequencies of some instruments are going to be boosted in these records. In the 60s the double bass was often in the center, but in the 50s stereo mixes it was often being hard panned to the right. Then if you put the right speaker in the corner of your kitchen where the double bass is hard panned.

 

[Ropeburn]

No discussion about hardpanning is complete without mentioning Commodore Amiga - its Paula soundchip has 4 PCM playback channels, two each hardpanned left and right. For actual panning you need to do software trickery - with which you can also get 14bit resolution by using two 8bit channels.

Of course extensively used for music, as it was the first affordable line of PC/homecomputers with hardware supported PCM playback on multiple channels and gave rise to the whole sample-based Tracker principle of music software. Early example with obvious hardpanning and rudimentary software mixing:

It isn't half as much fun as mono sum!

2015 example using every trick in the book: