How should music sound when playing in "stereo" mode?

[pdawg17]

What I really mean is: when I'm watching tv/listening to music from my listening position in front of my tv from only my mains, should the dialogue/music sound as if it were coming out of the tv (exactly in between the two speakers) or slightly off to either side? I use my surround system mainly for HT but occasionally music too...should I toe-in the speakers to create a "middle-sounding" effect or would that screw up HT?

[Woochifer]

That would actually be very source specific. Two-channel music is generally mixed to create a "phantom center" image, that's what you should listen for when positioning your main speakers for two-channel playback. A strong center image (provided that the source recording is capable of rendering one in the first place) will sound seamless and create precise location of sounds from side-to-side, and impart a noticeable amount of depth perception.

Trying to achieve that kind of effect with other sources like TV broadcasts or downmixed 5.1 sources is considerably dicier because the sources might not be mixed and processed with the phantom center imaging in mind. With conventional speakers you generally don't want to space the two main speakers wider than about a 50-60 degree angle, because it's easy to detect audibles hole in the center image if the speakers are spaced too wide apart. If you need to keep your speakers at a wide angle, then you can try increasing the amount of toe-in, but the quality of the sound you get will then depend on speakers' off-axis tonal characteristics.

With a home theater setup and 5.1 or matrixed 2.0 surround sources, you can get away with wider angles because you have a center speaker anchoring the middle and no phantom center image that needs to be created. Toeing in the speakers on a home theater setup won't be detrimental if it benefits the two-channel playback. The only issue would be with how much the sound changes with the speakers positioned off-axis.

[pdawg17]

Thanks for the feedback...I guess I'm trying to maximize the quality of listening for both HT and music with the same setup. The mains are not at a wide angle but they are not of super high quality (Paradigm on-wall monitor 5's) so they don't have the same soundstage/imagery as my old Studio 20s...even though they are onwalls, I am able to tilt them in slightly...when they are not tilted in, there is an obvious "hole" in the middle although I need to try more sources to be sure that it is not the source that is bad...how would the sound change for HT if off-axis?

[Woochifer]

Thanks for the feedback...I guess I'm trying to maximize the quality of listening for both HT and music with the same setup. The mains are not at a wide angle but they are not of super high quality (Paradigm on-wall monitor 5's) so they don't have the same soundstage/imagery as my old Studio 20s...even though they are onwalls, I am able to tilt them in slightly...when they are not tilted in, there is an obvious "hole" in the middle although I need to try more sources to be sure that it is not the source that is bad...how would the sound change for HT if off-axis?

Unfortunately, the on-walls are going to compromise your performance by design. The ones I've heard are a clear step down with their imaging quality compared to decent bookshelf speakers.

With HT, you got the center speaker anchoring the middle, so the toe-in is not quite the issue that it can be with a two-channel set. One issue with toe-in on HT is that the tonal properties of certain speakers deviate more than others when off-axis. You just need to experiment with the angling to see which one gives you the most consistent coverage and even tonal characteristics.

[pdawg17]

I know...unfortunately I had to compromise with the wife if I was going to get the ok on my plasma purchase :)...so I decided the plasma was more important than the speakers :)...