What M/C albums sound like they're were originally concieved as M/C ? (1 Viewer)

[Phil A]

Rachael, that's exactly how I ended up the bass management solution I use now. I had the 2 subs for stereo and distributed ".1." I had the Strata III in the bedroom system, which is kind of a waste since I watch about 2 movies a yr. in there and am either throw something on when I hop in the shower or am in one of the mutliple locations the bedroom system feeds via a speaker switcher such as outside or in the garage. I 1st played around with a Phase Technology Octave 1.0 sub I had laying around waiting for the basement system that has its own electronic crossover built in via an RCA input and output (ltd. though to 60, 80 or 100 HZ). I then dragged the Strata III into the main system and as long as I was on an insanity kick I just continued. I don't have room for floorstanders in the mains system so I have Thiel Power Points on the rears which in my room where they are placed probably start dropping off in the mid to upper 60 HZ area. The Thiel MCS1 center likely goes to the mid 40HZ area. The 7.2s as the left and right go down pretty deep and I have the 2 front subs crossed over at 22HZ for music.

In the bedroom system, I have 3 Thiel SCS2s up front, Eosone rears and a Sunfire, Jr. sub and in the basement I have B&W P6s as the left and right and a (B&W) CDM center, PSB surrounds hooked to a passive sub and the Phase Technology Octave 1.0 sub. I am looking forward to play with the new 2000ES in the basement system as soon as I catch up with some stuff.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Blue Man Group's Audio certainly fits the bill here, I've never even tried to play it stereo.Mike Oldield's Tubular Bells also existed as an early quad experiment,and the import SACD is a good testament for that.Pretty much any J-M Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis album could benefit from MC treatment,and all live orchestral recordings would be good candidates as well.

 

[cwhite]

So far, there's only one Alan Parsons album available in multi-channel and it's a DTS compact disc. I am surprised he has not rushed to re-release much of his back catalog into multi-channel audio. "Stereotomy" was mixed in Ambiosonic surround. I bet you could get interesting results if you listened to a few of his albums in Dolby Pro-Logic II.

 

[Rachael B]

Phil, I just listened to Greta in stereo. It's an amazingly open-sounding recording even in stereo. Her voice seems so projected out of the speakers, like a cloud of a soundfield, floating there. I'm alredy impressed as hell. Next: the M?C mix and that there ex-tree song.

 

[Rachael B]

Charles, that HDVD...I think (?), of his I Robot is pretty awesome. It's old-fashioned stareo though...

 

[Phil A]

Yes the Greta Matassa disc is good in stereo even on the CD layer. I lent it to a friend a while back who only had a high end CD player and his wife came downstairs as it sounded so realistic and wanted to know what it was.

 

[Brian L]

I Robot would be an HDAD (24/192 Stereo on one side, 24/96 DAD on the other). And yes, its sounds wonderful.

Interestingly enough, I played it back via my NAD 762 "EARS" surround mode, which is NADS proprietary ambience extraction scheme. I find EARS to be vastly superior to any other extraction mode I have heard (although I have not had the pleasure of auditioning the high $$$ Lexicon stuff).

The front sound stage remains in tact, the center does not become overly prominent, and the surrounds just gently pull the soundstage back into the room. And no stupid over the top delay or reverberation added to the mix.

A shame that this can only be found on NAD products, since that pretty much guarantees that not too many users will get to hear it.

Next I am going to give EARS a run at the 2CH SACD mix of DSOTM...should be fun.

BGL

 

[cwhite]

I have "The Turn of a Friendly Card" HDAD or DVD-A and it's sounds excellent but it's stereo. I was referring to Parson's album "On Air" on DTS CD.

 

[Rachael B]

This thread hasn't drifted towards the conclusion that I had forseen. So, here it is. After about 5 years of hi-rez, isn't it telling that as of yet no new, specially recorded for 5 channel albums have been promoted and released by the majors as such. I think that speaks volumes about the level of commitment that the majors have.

You could argue that a scant few of the albums we've mentioned here were specially recorded for 5 channel, but that might be a stretch...?

 

[Phil A]

Rachael, the problem is that much of hi-rez is back catalog stuff that we've discussed elsewhere. Yes, I do love it. But until current mainstream (yes there are some audiophile labels noted above) artists have stuff released in hi-rez at the same street date as initial release with multi-channel as a priority vs. afterthought, those formats will remain niche. I might like most of my stuff in 2-channel and love back catalog releases (although with cave painting and dinosaurs) but it really won't cut it for the masses, many of whom I'm sure feel music is overpriced.

 

[cwhite]

The major labels are more concerned about stopping illegal internet music downloads, gaining a foothold in legal internet music downloads and industry consolidation than pushing high resolution and/or multi-channel sound formats. I guess they believe if they could push the unwashed masses back to purchasing compact discs for $17.99, then they may consider a viable replacement for compact discs.

 

[Phil A]

Charles you are absolutely correct. Some of those problems they have brought on themselves by not carefully managing their business in terms of funds going out the door on overpriced contracts. They also want to control the distribution. Blockbuster Video had all the technology ready to go to have downloads to their stores (with the CDs produced there) and a printer to print the artwork and the record labels made sure they protected their current distribution network and CD release structure. Imagine the nerve of the public wanting only a couple of the good songs from an album by a particular artist and have a CD of stuff they like vs. buying one that is high priced with a few things they like.