whats the finest recorded cd you've heard?

Amused to Death,though certainly worth a listen, is more of a novelty to me. It would not occur to me as a very natural representation of - more of a WOW-factor; an imitation of surroundisound with only two speakers. It is recorded in Qsound (yes, see other threads on same subject). Mcondo - how did you use a laser for speaker placement? Can you point to an instructional URL? I'd like to try that. Speaking of a natural representation of music in space...the Stereophile recording by John Atkinson of Attention Screen is also superb.

Agree that Amused is a novelty, but the dog barking way outside the speakers does confirm, IMHO, proper speaker placement. I used a Stanley FatMax ($80 or so)for measuring. My method was based on that in Jim Smith's Get Better Sound - establish a center line and make sure both speakers are precisely the same distance away. The trick is getting the front and rear distances right, given differences due to toe-in. I found a 3/4" error in my eye ball placement kept the dog bark almost inside the right speaker. After adjustment it was way, and I mean way to the right. Interestingly, the liner notes on Amused say if you don't hear the dog way out right, your speakers are out of phase. I believe it is more a positioning issue. Hope this helps.

"The Fugs" First album by the fugs

Mcondo - Thanks for the input. That book's been mentioned in a few threads - did you think it's worth the purchase price? I'll give the laser positioning a try. I have various laser levels as I do a lot of construction work these days. I wouldn't have thought 3/4" would make that much of a difference.

Jax2, buy the FatMax, you'll use it for regular home projects also. The book is very good, although one will argue the it is simply the combined wisdom of this and other forums. I like the glossary - now I know what all these audiophile words mean! Yes, small differences make a difference - surprised the hell out of me!