I'm committed to 2-channel for several reasons:
O The experts and enthusiasts alike remind us almost daily that we are lucky if even the very best of our playback systems can capture 5% or at most 15% of the magic of a live performance and nobody ever disagrees with that.
Translation: Through our own ignorance and/or ignorance of component manufacturers every last one of us is incapable of producing anything better than a lo-fi (15%) sounding 2-channel system. In other words, if we cant be successful with just 2-channels, why would anybody think that adding more channels somehow automatically puts us back on the right track?
O Some to many recording engineers have difficulty producing superior 2-channel recording so adding more channels can easily lead to more opportunity to go further astray.
O If the 2-channel system has been optimally assembled and synergized and all kinks and bottlenecks absolutely minimized to the point where the speakers have utterly disappeared and there is a half-sphere of music coming from the soundstage then the need or desire for multi-channel should also become absolutely minimized.
O Every last one of us has a budget for which to spend. Dividing that budget by 2 or by 6, 7, or 8 should provide a no-brainer answer as to whether a 2-channel or multi-channel system stands the better fighting chance at getting the sonics right.
O The vast majority of our listening room sides and front and back walls are far closer together than even a small commercial theater room. Hence, the need for a center channel at home is not required and the need for rear speakers is greatly minimized. (Assuming weve done our homework with our own systems, ie proper speaker placement, etc.).
O The multi-channel purists tell us that the rear speakers are used for ambient information only. But if my room is only 21 ft. deep and my speaker fronts are 7 ft. out from the wall behind them and the back of my listening chair is 4 ft. from the opposing wall behind it, will I not also get ambient information without rear speakers? And in such a room as this if I were getting ambient information with just two channels what would I really be getting if I then install rear speakers?
O Last and perhaps most important, if our playback systems are truly able to reproduce the absolute volumes of air captured by the microphones in the recording hall, like the kind of air one hears when they walk into an empty gymnasium and start to dribble a basketball, then our need to retrieve ambient information by adding additional speakers is all but eliminated.
Fundamentally, I despise the thought that I might have 5 to 10 speakers and extra pairs of amps and cabling all over a room.
Did I mention that I favor 2-channel?
-IMO
