ABSTRACT
The term "binaural" denotes having or involving two ears. Using two speakers instead of headphones does not achieve the same effect. In nature, the sound from a central source in front of the listener travels an equal path, thus reaching both ears at the same time, at the same amplitude and with the same frequency content. The best stereo perception is experienced when a listener sits on the central plane between a correctly configured pair of speakers. Sitting in such a position is requisite for any mixing engineer, but most people listen to music in far less ideal locations. Often hours are used to describe the position of a pan pot. Different software sequencers use different numeric scales to represent pan positions. The level of centrally panned signals remains consistent whether played in stereo or mono. When summed to mono, the center image remains at the same level while the extremes drop by 3 dB.
