Off-center listeners lose the stereo illusion but retain musical content

Evidence

To hear the stereo illusion—phantom images between the loudspeakers—the listener must be in the symmetrical “sweet spot”. When listening off-center the music continues essentially unchanged, but the soundstage is distorted. A sense of ambiguous space is likely to be preserved. The recording method and style of music are determining factors. Spacious classical music is more forgiving than most popular recordings. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 395

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what the ‘sweet spot’ means practically and what happens when the listener moves out of it.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 395
• XREF: connects to: Movie sound designers keep on-screen sound centered and monophonic; Excessive center-channel upmixing damages music soundstage rendering; Two-channel stereo only works for one centrally seated listener — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 69 (+1 more)