03-Dec-2022, 21:14
A long time ago, pre Devialet. Not pre my Devialet, I mean back in the days when the company Devialet was not even a twinkle in anyone's eye, not even the eyes of its founders.
I think it was back in the days of quadraphonic LPs that I tried it and that was back in the days when digital audio didn't exist.
Back then it was touted as the poor man's way into quadraphonics when quadraphonics, the first real attempt at surround sound, was the cutting edge. Quadraphonics fell way short of the performance of current surround sound techniques.
What I remember it delivering was more of a sense of sound around and behind the listening position than a sense of the actual performers being placed around the listening position. In other words it delivered more of a sense of ambience than of an actual soundstage surrounding the listening position. If what you want is to have a soundstage in which performers and/or sound effects if this is for home theatre purposes are clearly located around and behind you it's probably going to fall short of what you're looking for.
I'm digging into 40 year old memories here. If you've got the extra pair of speakers and the speaker cables to do it then try it for yourself but definitely do not expect to get the kind of results you get from discrete multi-channel surround sound source material. You still only have 2 discrete channels of information, you're playing with the out of phase info in the 2 stereo channels to deliver a different presentation to the sides and rear than you get from the acoustics of your room with normal stereo. It will not deliver the kind of localisation of sound sources to your sides and rear that you get from a modern discrete 5 or more channel soundtrack on a video disc or the 5 channels of surround sound on some SACDs.
I think it was back in the days of quadraphonic LPs that I tried it and that was back in the days when digital audio didn't exist.
Back then it was touted as the poor man's way into quadraphonics when quadraphonics, the first real attempt at surround sound, was the cutting edge. Quadraphonics fell way short of the performance of current surround sound techniques.
What I remember it delivering was more of a sense of sound around and behind the listening position than a sense of the actual performers being placed around the listening position. In other words it delivered more of a sense of ambience than of an actual soundstage surrounding the listening position. If what you want is to have a soundstage in which performers and/or sound effects if this is for home theatre purposes are clearly located around and behind you it's probably going to fall short of what you're looking for.
I'm digging into 40 year old memories here. If you've got the extra pair of speakers and the speaker cables to do it then try it for yourself but definitely do not expect to get the kind of results you get from discrete multi-channel surround sound source material. You still only have 2 discrete channels of information, you're playing with the out of phase info in the 2 stereo channels to deliver a different presentation to the sides and rear than you get from the acoustics of your room with normal stereo. It will not deliver the kind of localisation of sound sources to your sides and rear that you get from a modern discrete 5 or more channel soundtrack on a video disc or the 5 channels of surround sound on some SACDs.
Roon Nucleus+, Devilalet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.
Brisbane, Qld, Australia
