Sensitivity to loudspeaker permutations during an eight-channel array reproduction of piano notes

An experiment has been conducted, in which ten pianists with different skill rated the sound realism and scene accuracy of a sequence of piano notes reproduced by a linear loudspeaker array, whose channel positions were changed during the test so to define different spatial patterns for the same sequence. Only exaggerated channel permutations produced significant downgrade of both qualities, furthermore without introducing appreciable changes of the apparent listening position. These results suggest that an accurate multi-channel reproduction of the frontal waves may not be crucial for determining the perceived quality of a digital piano.