Shocking 3D sound in 2 channel

Michael,
They are right, of course. It is a combination of speaker behaviour, room acoustics and T/T+phonostage attributes. Try Martin Logan electrostats at varying degrees of tilt, or even alter the arrangement of the soft furnishings along with your listening position and you will see/hear what I mean.

Personally, I'm not a room acoustics purist so I fully enjoy wraparound sound featuring tall images which can even appear standing right next to the listener's chair at full height.

A good example of this was a well known female artist who was singing front and centre while her other "selves" were harmonising/rapping in the L+R channels. With a particular turntable (an LP12), rather than residing at the loudspeakers, her other selves appeared standing on either side of my listening chair - 6 feet tall and so real I could touch them. (Try this trick with a CD and you'll be out of luck... ;)

Some turntables accentuate the vividness and reality of these "phase effects", effectively causing sounds to appear from the rear corners of the room. :)
Again it is very much recording dependent.
It is a fun hobby :)
Enjoy.
All the best,

Mr Moon- An easy case to make, in general(ambiance recovery/vinyl vs CD). I'm guessing your friend has quite a record collection? Would they be interested in adopting a new son?

Rod,
He does indeed and I've discovered more than one or 2 newer bands/artists thanks to his generous nature. ;^)

All the best m8,

I really only have had this phenomena happen a few times. I have Maggies 1.7, Dyn C1 sigs, Harbeth SHL5 as well as tube and SS amps. I love them all and I love the hobby. However, this ultra real 3D has only happened with my Harbeths (on Exposure amplification). Harbeths are said to be easy to place but I found them to be ultra critical. Anyway, not trying to open a Harbeth can of worms - just pointing out that they do this for me and they are not know as resolution champs.

The other system that does this for me is at my grimy computer desk in my garage. The speakers are $40 Altec Lansing 2.1 computer speakers playing off my computer. The weak link in the chain is every link in the chain! There is nothing in the path that I would say is admirable. Also, the speakers are positioned almost at my sides (more like a 20 degree angle. I think this case is lust me sitting conveniently in a good spot between the two channels, however marginal their quality.

With my system it happens with every use does not sound like there on or sound emanating from loudspeaker just a sound stage wall to wall front to back image in center clear as a bell. One issue with conventional dynamic designs or dipoles is the room interaction this obscures imaging. Also improper time alignments can cause image to blur. I even get foley effects behind head or have image spin intact behind listener.