As a former live and studio sound engineer (got out while I still had some hearing left), I've always been skeptical of proposed advances in audio, both because there are very few actual advances and because those that are real are notoriously hard to push into the mainstream. The whole mega-multi speaker thing seemed like a marketing novelty to me, until I happened to see the Cirque d'Soleil Beatles show "Love" in Las Vegas, all the music for which was remastered from the original tracks. There are speakers everywhere, including six built into each seat. The experience turned me around. The show was good; the sound was unbelievably beautiful. The quality was crystal-clear (no detectable phase problems) and the spatial imaging was staggering. Here's a quote from audioholics.com:
And how about the "huge amount of speakers," you ask? In this case, "huge amount" means over 12,000 speakers in the theater! Yes, you read that right. Each of the 2,013 seats surrounding the stage (in a 360-degree configuration) is fitted with six speakers. Above the stage were speaker arrays similar to what you would see at an arena rock show. As we walked along the hallway that opened into and surrounded the circumference of the theater, we noticed acoustic panels on the walls seamlessly integrated with the decor. It was obvious that this room was all about sound.
There are eight sound system zones in the theater, each with dedicated Meyer M1D Stereo Line Arrays capable of functioning independently of one another. Each zone provides the listener with fully immersive 360-degree surround sound that can be precisely placed one foot in front of the listener or up to 80 feet away in most directions and moved in any direction.
So, don't be put off by a gimmicky-sounding idea like this. Done right, the results can be spectacular.
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As a former live and studio sound engineer (got out while I still had some hearing left), I've always been skeptical of proposed advances in audio, both because there are very few actual advances and because those that are real are notoriously hard to push into the mainstream. The whole mega-multi speaker thing seemed like a marketing novelty to me, until I happened to see the Cirque d'Soleil Beatles show "Love" in Las Vegas, all the music for which was remastered from the original tracks. There are speakers everywhere, including six built into each seat. The experience turned me around. The show was good; the sound was unbelievably beautiful. The quality was crystal-clear (no detectable phase problems) and the spatial imaging was staggering. Here's a quote from audioholics.com:
(http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/musicians-corner/beatles-love-cirque-du-soleil)
And how about the "huge amount of speakers," you ask? In this case, "huge amount" means over 12,000 speakers in the theater! Yes, you read that right. Each of the 2,013 seats surrounding the stage (in a 360-degree configuration) is fitted with six speakers. Above the stage were speaker arrays similar to what you would see at an arena rock show. As we walked along the hallway that opened into and surrounded the circumference of the theater, we noticed acoustic panels on the walls seamlessly integrated with the decor. It was obvious that this room was all about sound.
There are eight sound system zones in the theater, each with dedicated Meyer M1D Stereo Line Arrays capable of functioning independently of one another. Each zone provides the listener with fully immersive 360-degree surround sound that can be precisely placed one foot in front of the listener or up to 80 feet away in most directions and moved in any direction.
So, don't be put off by a gimmicky-sounding idea like this. Done right, the results can be spectacular.