Stereo v Mono, The Great debate which do you use ?

[leelive]

I have 2 speakers not far apart from each other so am sticking to stereo.

[STEVE HANLEY]

I've just tested several genres of tracks at home ... walked out of the room - put my ear to one speaker panned the speakers ... closed my eyes switched mono - stereo to see if I could tell the difference outside the room - stereo sounds noticeably better in all the tests I've done especially on tracks which do not have any extreme panning which is 99% of tracks.

You need to go the boozer and the match with your mates a lot more often

[BeerFunk]

So in short - if you're in a BIG room with your speakers below head height and you've popped them in the corners of the room and aren't playing your music very loud (or you've got multiple speakers facing all directions) - MONO. If not you're offering a better quality of sound to those who are on the dancefloor with stereo. If you google the mono - stereo argument you'll find the majority of articles relate to large applications and recording.
That's my ten pence.

I don't think quality of sound is the correct term for this, to be honest. The quality is the same in either mono or stereo.

Stereo does offer a better listening experience because it emulates the live effect of hearing different instruments and sounds from either side of the 'stage'. I'm very confident that few people will notice if your sound is in stereo or mono though. Personally, I don't think the benefits are great enough to go with stereo sound. It's another thing to worry about which really isn't worth the effort.

[DJ Jules]

Mono - for a few different reasons.

1. The Numark has a mono/stereo switch on the back which makes it easy to run Mono
2. I sometimes run with just one speaker in small venues (I've done a few teen parties in large kitchens/living rooms lately where two speakers would have been overkill and taken up space)
3. Unless the listener is in the "sweet spot" with an unobstructed path to both speakers (how likely is that on a dance floor?) stereo adds no value
4. Some of the clubs I've worked in recently have far from ideal speaker positioning, making the ideal stereo positioning pretty much impossible

Personally, I think Stereo's place is in the living room and when using headphones. Just my opinion though.

Julian

[Totally Plucked]

Seems like mono gets the vote up to now,
UK PartyDj thanks for your input and comments, however you seemed to have missed the boat on this
Yes, I think everyone would agree that stereo gets the nod whilst listening in a home environment, however the debate was for 'Live' environment

No offense intended !!

[ukpartydj]

Mono - for a few different reasons.

1. The Numark has a mono/stereo switch on the back which makes it easy to run Mono
2. I sometimes run with just one speaker in small venues (I've done a few teen parties in large kitchens/living rooms lately where two speakers would have been overkill and taken up space)
3. Unless the listener is in the "sweet spot" with an unobstructed path to both speakers (how likely is that on a dance floor?) stereo adds no value
4. Some of the clubs I've worked in recently have far from ideal speaker positioning, making the ideal stereo positioning pretty much impossible

Personally, I think Stereo's place is in the living room and when using headphones. Just my opinion though.

Julian

All your points I can somewhat agree with mono is best in nightclubs / single speaker however It you haven't already - try listening to your system in stereo live and if its anything like mine you may notice that stereo sounds much better on the dancefloor and if at one extreme of the room ( quite difficult in most venues) the stereo sounds on par with mono because all the important elements of the track are still present.

Seems like mono gets the vot
UK PartyDj thanks for your inpd comments, however you seemed to have missed the boat on this
Yes, I think everyone would agree that stereo gets the nod whilst listening in a home environment, however the debate was for 'Live' environment

No offense intended !!

No offense taken, I think you just have to try it yourself , I personally think the extra atmosphere in stereo far outweighs the chance that somebody in the corner isn't quite hearing the song perfectly. When you switch from.mono to stereo its like the music has come out of a box to "surround' you more. Think hearing is believing, a disco environment is just and upscaled living room. Just as thought also if you point your speakers inward a lot your making the stereo effects more noticeable - give that a try!

[yourdj]

Mono.

[super-hero]

@ukpartydj. I agree that stereo can sound better in a lot of cases. But I think mono is more practical in most mobile dj setups. For me, it's just so that each side of the speakers is playing exactly the same thing. An if one should pack up, I don't loose any of the audio. If that makes sense.
You may also be getting around 3dB of gain in your listening tests for stereo, if you have 2 inputs both panned to the centre on your desk. This may give you a false impression that the sound is better, because you can hear more of it. This is not a fact, as I don't know how you have things setup, just thought it might be a factor.


As for setup. I use stereo all the way to the crossover, then mono to the amps. I do this as I think it maintains as much of the original signal as possible, for as long as possible.

[leelive]

Why don't you just use one speaker instead of two?

[Shaun]

Why don't you just use one speaker instead of two?

For me....aesthetics. It's also the reason I use two subs when one would be more than enough.