Hi,
There is a lot of wrong-headed information in this article. As Jakewash points out, the article deals largely with mixing for multi-channel music recordings.
I have attended Hollywood mixing theater sessions for surround-sound films (the Alfred Hitchcock mixing theater in L.A.) and the surround speakers comprise four speakers on each side wall with two or more on the rear wall.
Many of the names on the list of recording engineers on this document are well known music engineers, not mixing engineers for movie soundtracks. The document is quite dated ("the trend in surround speakers is toward direct-radiating. ."); in fact, the trend in surround speaker design is towards bipole or dipole designs or switchable models.
Originally, when SACD and DVD-Audio multi-channel music formats were introduced, music engineers were at odds with Dolby Labs and THX in suggested surround speaker placement. As the document indicates, they preferred direct-radiating surrounds placed much more to the rear so they would image a sweet spot in the center of the room. The problem with this arrangement is that if you moved your seat slightly rearward the imaging collapsed to the rear speakers. Plus this arrangement only provided a sweet spot position for one listener. Anyone else in the received a soundstage skewed to one side or the other, the front or the rear.
As multi-polar, dipole and bipole speakers were used for music playback arranged in the Dolby array, it became clear that a diffuse and enveloping "wash" of audio was preferred by most listeners.
I also attended several New York sessions hosted by some of the recording engineers named in the document. One of the more bizarre demos was of a multi-channel music recording that placed Neil Young in the rear channels, which was totally unrealistic and very peculiar.
By far the best illusion for home listening of movie soundtracks or multi-channel music is achieved with multi-polar surrounds placed in the Dolby configuration. With well-designed surrounds like the QS8s, ambient envelopment is achieved with no loss of imaging specificity for sounds hard-mixed to a specific side or rear locaton.
Regards,
Alan
