Phantom center vs. hard panned sound level

[Bartez2000]

I can't find such a topic anywhere and I think it may be very interesting and important because of the soudstage and imaging. Does anyone of you know what the best proportion of the phantom center level vs. hard panned level? Should they be at the same level in the sweetspot or maybe at a different one? Let's take sine, for example. We play both speakers in mono and then pan 100% to the left. How much quieter should the signal on the left be? It's very interesting what you think about this.

Best regards
B.

 

[kemmler3D]

I can't find such a topic anywhere and I think it may be very interesting and important because of the soudstage and imaging. Does anyone of you know what the best proportion of the phantom center level vs. hard panned level? Should they be at the same level in the sweetspot or maybe at a different one? Let's take sine, for example. We play both speakers in mono and then pan 100% to the left. How much quieter should the signal on the left be? It's very interesting what you think about this.

Best regards
B.

It depends on what panning law your equipment uses: https://samplecraze.com/tutorials/the-pan-law/

This is not often talked about in consumer playback situations since it's pretty rare to use the balance controls, most equipment doesn't even have one. However, it comes up all the time in recording / broadcast, so you will find all you need to know on the subject if you go down those rabbit holes.

 

[NTK]

For your reading pleasure (or perhaps more likely, sleep aid).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263008227_Localization_of_Amplitude-Panned_Virtual_Sources_Part_1_Stereophonic_Panning

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237067976_Localization_of_Amplitude-Panned_Virtual_Sources_II_Two-_and_Three-Dimensional_Panning