In my setup the speakers are toed in at 45° about 10 feet appart. The imaging is always central and quite good at all median line seating points, but the subjective effect is profoundly affected by the forward-backward position.

First consider 2 channel. At about 12 feet the image is solid but the subjective effect is one where the players appear to be in the room with you. As one moves closer the image locks into a more solid one, far more solid than a real instrument would be in this same room, and at a certain point about 6 feet back it is as if the listener were transported to the recording studio. You are in the room with the artist.

Whats happening here is a large change in the direct to reverberant ratio, as well as a surpression of early reflection levels. Of course with oni-directional loudspeakers this is not going to be the same since there are reflections from back walls etc. which get greater at closer positions and the direct to reverb ratio will not change nearly as much as with directional speakers.

These are dranmmatically different effects and I have found that different people prefer different ones and this may vary from recording to recording. The question is: do others perceive this same effect? Which is prefered? Please note speaker type and configuration.

Now in 5.1 channels, this effect is gone. There is no image change with forward position and further back is, IMO, far more prefered. This is also due to the fact that 5.1 comes with video and a 12 ft. screen at 6 feet is just plain not watchable. 12 feet is even a bit close.

Has anyone experinced this effect and what are the opinions? Please note that there is no right or wrong here so please don't take that perspective. Just let me know what you prefer and if you get this effect at all.

Earl