Certainly we should be wary of the charlatans in the audio world who try to prey on the gullible, but their favorites are players, receivers and even wires which somehow will mysteriously provide better sound. The "flaw" discussed in Alan's article is simple acoustical fact which has been well-known for decades. All listening in the home has to be flawed as compared with experiencing the live performance, but multi-channel reproduction can bring us a little closer to reality as compared with stereo using otherwise similar equipment. In the concert hall the great majority of sound reaches the listeners from various directions as reflected ambience from walls, floor and ceiling rather than as direct sound from the front. I've previously cited
this article, especially fig.10.4.1, which illustrates how quickly indirect sound becomes predominant. For example, the "critical distance" in listening rooms can be as short as about 4' and even in large halls is only about 20'. Surround speakers can reproduce this sound in a way that's a little closer to reality as compared to being launched from in front of us.
So again, the bottom line is that there are many claims in audio which have no factual basis and are marketing-driven, but the superiority of multi-channel reproduction isn't one of them.
