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In the Forum: Audio For Dummies ™
In the Thread: A new 'chic' foolishness about mono systems

Post Subject: Mono - more to it than you think ?Posted by Teflon on: 4/9/2016

steverino wrote:
Generally I agree that Mono recordings are only preferable when the stereo recording is messed up in some way.

I would assume this is a popular viewpoint, and easily agreed with, when the goal is to reproduce as closely as possible the spatial effects enjoyed in a music venue. And also if you want to listen to orchestra with the traditional placement of instruments, such as violin to the left etc. where something different would sound out of place.
However, there are times when my goal is not to reproduce the spatial effects of a venue and sometimes I do not insist on the need to perceive instruments in an orchestra to have a particular placement. Sometimes my goal is to enjoy the music without the constraint that I should be located in a particular place relative to the reproduction system in order to have proper stereo, or even just to feel enveloped by the sound without any need for authentic placement of instruments. In these cases, I like a mono source where the sound is subject to the reverberations of the room I am in. I could imagine that my ear-eye-brain would then perceive no incongruity in the spatial information generated by the speaker-room interaction because the system is not attempting to generate a spatial experience from another place, another venue altogether. The choice of speaker for this type of reproduction may not be optimally a single speaker from a stereo pair, but a speaker of different design which encourages interaction with the room.
You may argue that the only valid goal is proper stereo reproduction - that's OK with me too, I don't argue with your beliefs whether audio or religious.

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