Not wasting my time on new Digital

D, If you read my post and assumed that I was a disbeliever, than you misinterpreted me. I'm curious and you have piqued my interest. I'm intrigued by your statements and would like to hear more about your setup. How many speakers, what the various surround modes do to the mix, what other type of configuration settings did you do with regards to the processor, etc? So far what I've gathered from your posts is that the vast majority of people aren't listening to digital properly. OK, but can you give us specifics on your setup. Are there component do's and don't? I'm almost interpreting your statements to imply any properly setup HT music system in a dedicated room that has been acoustically treated is the ticket. All one has to do is pick the proper surround mode.
Please shed some light.

Thanks

I'm not sure that digital is a waste of time without multichannel, but it is true that MC is the greatest factor for improvement over analog (for us poor guys who don't have $80,000 LP playback gear). In particular, for someone who will not install multichannel equipment, I doubt that SACD or DVDA is a big upgrade over CD.

I have many 2-channel discs and LPs, and have experimented with many of the matrix systems that can derive multichannel from a stereo source. Almost always I find the result problematical. There is a compromise however, three (not five) channel, and there is a product (SST Trinaural Processor) that "Blows Away" (sorry about that) all the other systems. You can read my review here or at the Imperii Audio website. Kal also had a favorable review in our favorite rag.

No, snipes, I just assumed you hadn't heard it that is all.

And my writing meant to imply that you're welcome to come see/ hear anytime and ask more questions. It was to be a friendly invitation, not a desuasion or persuasion.

Just bad writing :(

Ask away,

Referring to the system you can link too.

My setup is very linear +/- 1.5dB 200-20khz, all 6 speaker are exactly the same, 2 subs with eq, +/- 3db 20hz to 200hz all satellites are setup at the same height except the center, this is for demo purposes only. As people new to the surround format always say they can here the sound directly out of the center channel, even when I'm (tricking them) only playing two channels. :)

You want this kind of flat accurate speaker for surround, because the surround algorithms do diffuse the sense of detail slightly and having a speaker that might be "bright" or "too exact" for normal listening will be great for surround.

The best music format for our purposes is Trifield, Dolby Prologic II is a godsend for many manufacturers giving them access to a very coloration free surround mode.

The rest are to colored to be options.

note on my center channel;

By lowering the speaker a few inches it fully seperates the center sound from the center channel as the voices image above the speaker, disconnecting two strong visual cues. Normally all speakers at the same height.

Cambridge Audio Receiver is very good, the introduction of two ex-TAG McLaren engineers is paying big dividends. When it comes to buying the right equipment for surround, there is a great deal of info to consider. So to keep my posts from being outrageously long, email me because when you say the wrong thing about the right product the noise online gets to be problematic and distracting.

I leave you with one last thought.

A Home Theater will not necessarily make a great music surround system

But a music surround system makes for a great Home Theater.

D edwards

I played around with a SS music system... Sony XA-777es sacd player...Krell amps, Apogee speakers. Good SS software was fairly limited at the time (a couple years ago).

Another SS system (I still have this one)...Pioneer 563A sacd/Dvd-Audio player...Omkyo amps, VMPS speakers. This system has been used strictly for hometheater...I guess I should order some disc's and give this system a listen playing music?...It's been a while.

Dave

D Edwards,thanks for the details thats the type of info I was looking for. Like quite a few people on this forum, I have a combo 2 ch. / HT setup. If I could pare down the equipment to one set AND improve the music experience that would be great. I'm in Atlanta, I believe you said you were in the north east someplace. If I know ahead of time I'm coming up that way I'll get a hold of you. What genre of music do you primarily listen to? Also, I'm very surprised more people haven't jumped in on the thread, I get a feeling quite a few are lurking around. Normally this would have turned into a pissing contest by now. Thanks for the inspiration. The ATC's look interesting as well, I bet the really do Rock and HT well.