2 speaker stereo vs. 3 speaker 'stereo'

[JohanK]

I remember reading assertions that 3 speakers are better for stereo (?) music reproduction than 2 speakers.

What is the advantage of 3 speakers vs. 2? Is it proper sound outside the sweet spot? Why did 2 speakers become the standard?

Just curious, thanx.

[Lexman]

Johan, I can't say whether 3 speakers is better than 2. But if you want to find out, I suggest auditioning a Lexicon. They probably utilize the front 3 as good as anybody. Of course, there used to be Dolby 3 I think. But that really didn't catch on to good.

As far as why it's 2? I think it's just because primarily, we first had mono music. The next logical step was 2 speaker stereo. From there, we stayed at that level until Quadraphonic came along I think. Since that really only developed a small market, 2 channels remained the standard-

Lex