High-End Swiss Show Report

Klangwerk exhibited with Illusonic and their 3-channel setup. “A fundamental problem with stereo playback is the “sweet spot” say Klangwerk and continue: Phantom sound sources are only perceived between two speakers when the listener is at the same distance from the left and the right speaker. If he moves out of he middle, the level and delay references (which are the basis for the perception of phantom sound sources) are no longer accurate. The spatial representation collapses.” Klangwerk speakers radiate laterally so that the L/R differences in level are gradually compensated when moving out of the middle, which “significantly increases” the “sweet spot”. The Illusonics processor is a nifty bit of kit too and basically calibrates the output f the speakers…sort of DSP i suppose.
I’d have loved to have stopped longer in this room and heard the system belt out some tunes we know but sadly time was not on our side.