Quote Originally Posted by thepogue
the song was "Babylon Sister" durning the "you got to shake it-you got to shake it-you got to shake it baby" and I was near the back of the room...and I was very much shakin'...but had to move away from the rears so as not to miss what ole Donald was saying up front...so my experience is that postioning is still very much a factor in 5.1 as well as 2 channel.

Pogue
Yup, that would be from Gaucho. Even with a channel balanced system and a seat in the sweet spot, that mix has flaws aplenty -- the loud vocalists in the back being only one of them. It reminds me more of an early stereo recording where the instruments would get segregated into one channel or the other, rather than specifically mixed to create a more uniform front image. Surround music has come a long way from that initial effort, which now dates back 8 years.

IMO, the front soundstage is a lot more stable and consistent in a 5.1 setup, particularly in an off-axis position. With the surround effect, it will shift the same way that a phantom center effect with two-channel will. But, with the front soundstage anchored by a center speaker, you got a lot more maneuvering room in the 5.1 setup.