Audio Engineer's Reference Book, 2nd Edition

2.5 Stereo

2.5.1 Introduction

It is the intention of this section to investigate the principles of stereophony as they relate to sound reproduction as well as to microphone design and technique. The discussion of ‘stereo’ is not limited to conventional two-loudspeaker reproduction, but considers it in the true sense of the Greek stereo, meaning ‘solid’, or ‘three-dimensional’. Stereo techniques cannot be considered from a purely theoretical point of view, neither can the theory be ignored, the key being in a proper synthesis of theory and subjective assessment. Some techniques which have been judged subjectively to be good do not always stand up to rigorous theoretical analysis, and those which are held up as theoretically ‘correct’ are sometimes ...