phantom images in stereo

Yeah, I'm really just looking for the occasional "error" in the imagining... something to jump out of the mix, here and there, as an effect. I'm not necessarily trying to produce a stable image, in a certain position. The overall stereo image of the mix would provide the context for these "popping out" sounds. I certainly understand what you're saying about listening environment, and so on. I actually never noticed these effects in the Aphex Twin track I was talking about, until I got new speakers. I moved from decent home-stereo speakers, to entry-level professional speakers (Blue Sky Mediadesk 2.1 -- highly recommended, for the dough!), and suddenly the imaging opened up, and everything I was hearing became so much more detailed.

I was thinking of delays because, as I understand it, timing errors influence the perception of direction (so long as the delays remain within the 50 ms window within which the percept "fuses"). Aren't these timing errors resulting in similar phase issues? I'd wondered, also, whether raw electronic sounds -- simpler waveforms, without room influences already present (like samples) -- would give a more pronouced effect, so thanks for the heads-up on that.

Anyway, the phase thing will do for my purposes. I'm building a performance instrument that will respond to drum patterns, in a sort of interactive composition program. I'd just like to incorporate this "image-messing-up" effect as another possibility.

Thanks for the help.

J.