Huh !! Robert has a point in most live performance there is no sense of instruments really at least when it comes to a symphonic performance ... I would however say that in small ensembles, Chamber music, Jazz and the likes there is such ... There is separation between instruments and they have a physical presence and dimension...
Robert
does have a point, a very good one, I'm just not sure it's relevant to this discussion (more on that in a minute). Even small ensembles don't present the kind of imaging good hifi does, unless the performance is completely acoustic, the acoustics of the room are extremely controlled and you have the best seat in the house. If you get to experience all of the above more than a few times in your life, congratulations.
I see the soundstage as the virtual volume of space from which the sound comes from. This voume has dimensions that usualy vary with recordings and it seems that some components suggest more of that volume than others given the same speakers and room.
This is why Robert's point is not particularly relevant to this discussion: Imaging, and sound stage are false constructs of recording and stereo reproduction. They do not exist in the wild. Not sure about some components suggesting more than others, without that suggestion being a further distortion of a false construct, but I'm open to how that can happen.
The more I listen to Live performance and I have these past past few weeks, the more Irealize how much 2-ch stereo is lacking ... I am really hoping that Surround sound gets the recognition it needs to bring music reproduction to a different level.
That would be nice. Surround has the ability to seriously reduce the negative influences of the room by providing direct sound from all around, and creating a truly enveloping listening experience much more like what one might hear from the best seats at a great club, cabaret or concert hall. But before it can get any recognition in that area, it has to work that area. Are you aware of any surround recordings that use the extra channels in an attempt to create a more natural enveloping ambience? Most of what I've heard, except for film soundtracks, just used the extra channels for cheap tricks -- "Duuuuuude!!! The congas are like
behind me man!!!!"
When Robert speaks of maximizing the enveloping experience in 2 channel, and getting something that is more natural, more like what you would hear in a performance space, I think of dipoles and bipoles and the compromise - if this is important to you - is imaging, the placement and separation of instruments and voices. It ain't natural, but it's cool.
Next to "Enveloping, natural stereo sound" in the dictionary, by the way, it should say "See Sigfreid Linkwitz."
Tim
PS: One more point to an already long post -- while pinpoint imaging is not "natural," it does provide a nice illusion, a substitute for the visual cues we have in concert that we do not have listening at home. I will admit, I'm pretty addicted to imaging.