For me listening from home playback equipmemt is just that- proivide entertainment at home. I probably have no illusions that I am replicating a live hall performance in the confines of my room. I have long abandoned the concept that hi-fi is about reproducing live performance that I recall when sitting in a concert hall. Hi-fi home playback is simply about reproducing a replica of the performance as closest to the recording made as possible.
So when Multi channel came out, the emphasis on the format was to provide a "listening expeirence" at home that is supposed to be new, exciting, revealling, immersive, etc. The term "realistic" is also used but I have doubts about that. Realism often is defeated with home playback, expecially when I hear panning between stereo channels of the same instrument, as if the musician was running back and forth while playing the congas. Same with multichannel, when you start to hear percussion going around the room, or when you are in the middle of the concert stage with the musicians around you.
But I must say, home playback of such artificially mixed recordings DO provide a totally different, revealing and satisfying listening experience. Those new mixes somehow disentangled some instruments that sounded congested in stereo, or faintly hinted at, and given full detailing and exposure on their own in a separate channel or two. It isn't everyday you find yourself in the middle of the band playing their thing. MC at home puts you right in the middle. It isn't realistic, but I welcome the unique listening experience. Who says home listening has to be as realistic as watching a concert? Excellent stereo, which I like to listen to from time to time, gave some convincing sterephonic imaging of a stage. But that was the most. Realism it never was. So why confine myself to something that can never be achieved? If i wanted the real thing, I'd hitch a ride to the local concert hall.
But those were the first few months on the MC route. The experience was as novel as it was exciting. A colleague likewise wasn't entirely enamoured with the unrealistic immersive feel in many MC pop mixes. So what he did was move the rear speakers slightly to the sides. Result: it somehow made the experience a wee bit convincing by providing a 180 degree soundstage, where he is still hearing mostly front signals but give the illusion he is closer to the stage than ever, not in the middle. In effect, he's listening to 5 channels in front of him, with the rears on the sides giving a much wider soundstage. I tried it and must agree it does provide a wider soundstage in front rather than an immersive feel. I do this when listening to MC and it seems agreeable even in HT mode. But that's just me.
