Is it possible with standard stereo to hear sounds behind you?

[Digi&Analog Fan]

 I was looking through a major audio review magazine a while back and to my surprise (and slight dismay) I noticed that the audio reviewer, (not one they use very often) had the same unusual name as someone who years ago stole some very collectible record albums from me via the mails. Literally cherry picking the best titles sent to him in good faith, keeping them without paying, and then returning the lesser titles without any packing inside. Its a small world; maybe too small. Anyway, he shall remain nameless. In his speaker review he described that the speakers threw an enormous image and that you could hear sounds from the LP both behind his listening position, above him and off to the side of his listening position which was about 10 feet in front of the speakers. This was no nearfield listening and only the 2 speakers in front, in a standard 2 channel audio setup like most of us listen to. I was wondering if this is actually possible, or just a figment of his "mind." Without getting into complex discussions about phase etc. and everything which might give some of us a headache, is this possible? Have you ever experienced this in a standard 2 channel setup playing standard stereo vinyl? If so please give the title, the artist and track. If you have experienced this on a CD, you can be more specific still, and give the title, the track and the exact time of the track that this occurs on your system.

 

 I have a very open sounding system myself, but have never experienced instruments in a standard setup like this where instrumentation seems to be coming from behind me or laterally off to the sides of my listening position. Has anyone experienced this, and also you might add what equipment was being used, especially the speakers.

[Digi&Analog Fan]

What is Q sound?

[Digi&Analog Fan]

No matter how something was originally recorded, with an omnidirectional mic or what, if the only source of sound you are listening to is 2 speakers in front of you, how could someone hear sound from behind them no matter what the mic picked up originally? To my thinking, you would need speakers behind you ( something that produces sound) to hear any "direct"sound from behind you. An echo from bad acoustics behind you really doesn't count. What I think it is, is that a very few peoples systems are so open, and floor to ceiling expansive, that their usually 8 foot ceiling cannot contain it once it hits it and the sound creeps back along the ceiling back toward the listener with nowhere else to go. I have experienced this myself, but never to the extent that the music  sounded like it was actually behind me or directly off to either side of me. 

 

 Thanks for all who are posting, but the question of this thread is not what some trick technology like Q can do or whatever, but whether regular stereo sound with only 2 speakers being used in customary placement can sound like there are sounds behind you or actually off to your side. Like I say, the audio reviewer who claimed this stole records I sent him in good faith, perhaps claiming sound effects like this in his review was some kind of deception also, for some purpose.

[Digi&Analog Fan]

As the original OP of this thread, one of the reasons I posed this question was to look into the future and maybe find out what my system was going to be capable of some years down the road as it gets even more open sounding. There isn't a year that goes by that my newly discovered tweaks and upgrades don't net me at least another 30% in sound quality. What is happening is that "most" of my recordings have such image height that it sounds like the singer and some instrumentation is plastered on my ceiling and starting to creep toward me along the ceiling, most often noticed on dynamic peaks. The closer "toward me" part on dynamic peaks; the on the ceiling effect quite often, maybe even usually, (meaning most recordings, most of the time), once my equipment warms up for over an hour and reaches its maximum spatiality capabilities. The sound is not what I would call anywhere near "directly above me", but heading in that direction, and showing signs of that possible caability, if my systems openness continues to improve, which it probably will over time. What I do not notice, is sound directly off to my sides like a reviewer described playing ordinary material in a review of an expensive panel speaker years ago.

 

 What I think is happening is that the spaciousness of the sound has to go somewhere. With amazing image height, it hits the ceiling and then has to go somewhere. Remember those Super Balls you had when you were a kid? I think sound pretty much behaves like if you threw a Super Ball. If you threw a Super Ball with real force at a table at the height of your speakers (near them), the ball would bounce off the wall behind the speakers with great force, around the juncture of wall and ceiling, and with plenty of momentum and energy left, it would come back toward the listener in the listening position.  If the Super Ball was thrown by (former ?) MLB pitcher Joel Zamaya, who was capable of a near105 mile per hour fastball, the Super Ball would come back toward the listener from high up on  the ceiling with plenty of height and momentum left to make it to "behind" the listener. If the ceiling was a high enough ceiling, say 12 feet maybe this phenomenon wouldn't happen. Ditto if there were sound diffusors or sound absorbent material lining the entire ceiling. Actually you should have something absorbent on the ceiling in front of your speakers to tame early reflections, (which I do), but the majority of my ceiling is not covered with any such material. This is not an unpleasant effect that I am looking to get rid of. I am just saying what happens. Actually it gives one the feeling that the sound is limitless; spatiality wise. Like I say, it doesn't take any kind of special effect recordings (which is not what this thread is about really), this happens with ordinary everyday recordings. Thanks, and nice to know about the Olivia and Chesky recordings though. I think I'll seek those out. Those sound very interesting!

[Digi&Analog Fan]

Interesting. I will look for that one. When stereo lps first came out toward the latter 1950s, (there were lots of factory pre-recorded stereo tapes available in stores  long before then), there were lots of records with motion and movement, "Stereo Action," Sounds In Space" Stereo I Motion" "Moving Stereo" in addition to Living Stereo which was usually stationary. One exception to the rule I can think of with regular Living Stereo was at the end of one side of Music For Bang Baroom And Harp, where a tap dancer dances off stage behind her in an awesome display of not only depth but depth in motion. That lp was always on the TAS Super Disc list.

[Digi&Analog Fan]

I think the big question is: since sound always comes from what makes the sound and the location of what made the sound in the first place; can direct sound (not echoes) be manipulated so that it sounds like its coming from the opposite direction? When we hear a singer who sounds like they are in the middle of your frontal stereo image,  it is because his voice is in  the right and left channei with equal volume, so it sounds like its coming from the middle. But if a sound was only coming out of the left channel, could it be manipulated somehow to make it sound like its coming out of the right channel, without of course adding its sound to the right channel? Making sounds from the front, sound like they are coming from behind you would be the equivalent of this seemingly impossible feat. I haven't gotten a hold of some of the discs claimed to be able to do this yet, but if they do, I will be a believer and say "WOW". "Except for echoes or weird acoustics, I thought sound had to sound like its coming from where its actually coming from and have a source in that location." 

[Digi&Analog Fan]

Buying those cds you mention will be a priority. I always like to experience something new. Thanks.