x/y to two separate channels or one?

[PATRIOT2006]

After speaking with a VP of engineering one day at work he showed me a test with a signal generator. You block one ear and turn your head throughout the room to find where the standing waves are and other phasing problems. It was an eye opener to say the least. When I got home I used my tone generator/cable tester. It only gives me one frequency at 1k but I discovered the room has no standing waves anywhere although I do experience some phase cancellation. The engineer suggested using the stereo mics but summing them to one channel because each mic is picking up different things due to phase cancellation. It seems to make alot of sense but isn't that the same as panning both channels to the center or am I missing something here. My mic preamp has a summing buss, but you still go out to two separate channels if you choose to use it. I really don't know why I would use it at this point. The manual does not give examples of what applications it is used for.

[LemonTree]

Phase is a time delay issue. One signal hitting one mic before the other.

X/Y is a stereo micing technique and if you have your mics positioned correctly should cause you no phase problems.

When you get into things like double mic ing a snare drum on top and bottom....then you'll learn about phase