[Vintage-Audio] Stereo reproduction

[Robert J. McKee]

Rip Van Winkle...(and relatives)

Creating the three-dimensional sound field from two speakers
has been around from day one minus a few.  There are some
excellent recordings from the fifties and sixties which 
demonstrate the art.  But then along came the idiots with
more and more microphones and more and more channels
and more and more processing to prohibit anything at all
like a real live performance.

I can think of nothing worse than multi-channel recording
with "ambience" attempting to recreate a live performance.
Three channels were used in some recordings with the
center channel sent to both left and right when producing
the two-channel medium for general sale.

Listening to that three channel master recording played
through three channels is quite nice, but one channel short
of recordings made by a number of Crown owners.  THAT
is spectacular having four microphones in front of the music
source (symphony, big band, choir & organ, etc.) and the
playback through an equal number of speaker channels
in-line across the front of the listening area.  If never
experienced, hearing both the original performance AND
the four-channel recording you missed what could have
been a musically satisfying medium.  Too bad the marketers
went with two channels in front with "ambience" in the rear.

Another error that ranks up there with the FCC not adapting
the Crosby FM Stereo system.

Ah, what could have been for all to enjoy.
Bob McKee