Please Read and express your feelings and opinions....

Kosst still doesn't get it..... unbelievable......and amusing.

Geoff - After installing the SR Blackbox, I am enjoying listening to 78s where even 30's and 40's piano recordings sound like the piano is in the room, occupying a space as wide as the speakers and as deep as the studio or hall they are recorded in.  Almost stereophonic.  You are so right that there is so much soundstaging potential in recordings (especially simply miked ones) where there is ample depth, width and height.  I just get complaints on the heighth of some of my stereo recordings where my friend harps on knowing that the instruments were recorded on an elevated stage above the mics.  He could be correct but I really care if that's all I'm missing in my soundstage.

Why do I need to do the research myself to prove whats already well understood technology deplyed throughout the recording and reproduction industry? If all these perceptual characteristics can't be measured, how is it that recording engineers have been reproducing and enhancing these phenomenon for decades? Prove it? Go to Best Buy! Buy a CD! Talk to an engineer! You people talk like all a recording engineer does is throw some mics in a room, pick up the sound, balance the levels, and send it out the door. Not even close! The guy who advised me on my room is a Billboard charting producer and engineer. I've seen, heard, and watched what he does. There's no snake oil, myths, or guesswork. The guy knows what you're going to hear because he knows what information he's incorporating into the mix to create the illusions. "Can't measure a soundstage..." Whatever! 

Well, on my acoustic recordings, the recording engineer threw a horn in the room, picked up the direct sound on a master disc and decided (sometimes heard as an intro on the disc) to step forward or backward, sing or play louder or softer.   Sometimes he just rearranged the performers.

In the electric era, most of the time only a mic replaced the horn.  By the 40's, sometimes multiple mics were used and the producer chose the best sounding take from that (Rhino put out CDs of stereo film recordings from that era).  

In the late 78 and mono LP age, the engineer had more tools including equalizers to adjust the sound.

You're certainly correct that in the past decades (maybe six decades), recording engineers have at their disposal an infinite variety of sound altering tools.  The most knowledgeable who understand their equipment also make the best recordings.  However, I'm amazed that the early stereo (mid to late 50's) recordings had the fewest alterations to the sound after they were captured by simple miking using 2 or 3 mikes.  Those engineers were brilliant and had an acute grasp on sound and miking.