Is it possible to really know what you're doing?

@lanx0003 

Are you motivated to invest a multichannel stereo or you have it already? 

I've combined my video and audio playback capabilities for almost as long as I can remember, although it took me a long time to add rear speakers and even longer to cut holes in the ceiling for height speakers.

My main source is now a Reavon universal disk player, which inherits much of the technology from the high-end Oppo players but with much inferior Burr-Brown DACs.  So I just use it as a transport feeding out HDMI audio and separately HDMI video.  It natively handles SACD and many Blu-Ray audio formats including Dolby Atmos.

I use a Marantz AV8802 pre-processor feeding a 2-channel Krell KSA80 Class A amplifier for the main speakers, and a six-channel Perreaux amplifier for the rest.  No centre channel by design!

The Marantz has an array of eight identical Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AMD) 2-channel DACs, which each handle Direct Stream Digital natively, as well as PCM up to 192-kHz at 24-bits.  They are far superior to the Reavon's Burr-Brown DACs.

So quite a different setup compared to the 2-channel streaming 'norm' many here use.

I'm not sure how Rex interpreted Grainger’s use of the foot pedals — By ear I would guess

I will re-read the technical details on how Percy Grainger's piano rolls were recorded, and report back shortly.  Percy did a lot of editing work fixing errors - the result was how "he would have liked to have played"!

Musicianship....Composition......everything else (tone, imaging as examples) are icing on the cake. Determine what characteristics are important to you and strive for those. This can take some time for many. 

@lanx0003 

I'm not sure how Rex interpreted Grainger’s use of the foot pedals — By ear I would guess

There's not as much information in the 2L booklet as I remembered, so I must have read this too - Duo-Art Reproducing Piano - The Pianola Institute.

For the original recording, Grainger used a Duo-Art reproducing piano which punched holes in paper rolls.  Editing was done with razor blades and sticky tape, just like my early computer programming - this was cut and paste for real! 

By 1921 recordings were made on full 88-key instruments with the roll running at constant speed,  Dynamics and rubato were encoded into the rolls, which had four 'bits' reserved for volume.  This theoretically allowed 16 volume levels and was probably set by a second person, usually the producer, using pedals or dials at the time of recording.  Because the volume holes controlled analoge vacuum, which was also affected by the number of notes being played and their duration, much greater dynamic variation could be achieved.

Percy Grainger was heavily involved in editing the rolls.  He observed that "the Duo-Art represented him not as he actually played, but as he would like to have played".

Originally, the orchestral parts were added to the rolls, and these had to be removed, hole by hole, with sticky tape.

For 2L's recording, a major issue was synchronising the orchestral entry at the end of each piano solo.  Microprocessor control allowed the roll to stop after each solo, and the pianolist to restart using a remote control.

So Rex Lawson did not have to interpret for the Piano Concerto, though he did for earlier rolls made by Grieg included on this recording

Sit back and enjoy the music. I have ....