QUOTE
On speakers, the difference between stereo and mono isn't particularly jarring.
I do agree; when I said it was jarring, I had headphones in mind, of course. Whoops.
QUOTE ( @ May 13 2013, 11:11) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Acoustic gramophones incorporate psycho-acoustic principles to make music sound good that are completely different than modern sound reproduction. They used horns and advised to place the phonograph in a corner where the walls extended the effectiveness of the horns. They also played around with totally unbalanced, but totally musical frequency responses.
I'd be interested to read more about this, if you have any literature (online or off) to point to.