Side-placed surround speakers beat rear placement by wide margins

Evidence

The important message in these data is that the placement of loudspeakers may be as important as the number, and placement more to the side is advantageous. Sounds arriving from the rear are extremely rare in the standard repertoire of music, but the need for a credible spatial impression is common. Ironically, a 1971 publication entitled Subjective Assessment of Multichannel Reproduction (Nakayama et al., 1971) showed that listeners preferred surround loudspeakers positioned to the sides, compared to ones placed behind, awarding subjective rating scores that were two to four times higher. It seems that nobody with any influence read it. — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 1672

Categorization

• CANDY: A 1971 study found listeners preferred side surrounds 2-4x more than rear ones — and nobody listened; makes a fun trivia line.
• XREF: connects to: Adding rear speakers at matching angles does not improve spatial illusion — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 724

Broader Connections

• Adding rear speakers at matching angles does not improve spatial illusion #corroborates (0.90) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 724