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In Reply to: no need Robert ... posted by TBone on July 14, 2012 at 07:49:53:
I have been perusing the Audio Engineering Society (AES) site and it is probably a bit like the Bible in that you can find whatever it is you’re looking for depending on what side of the argument your own. But one thing that is clear the issue of what delivers superior sound quality, two-channel or multi-channel, seems long settled as far as I have been able to find. In some way it was settled in the 50’s when the first massed produced “stereo” recordings where done in three channels. Fairchild and others were unable to produce a satisfactory 3 channel cartridge and the rest is history.
More recently this issue was put to rest about 10 years ago. In numerous places in the AES site you find statements like: it is “well understood that the listener envelopment (I hate that word) is an essential component of good concert hall acoustics”. Or “The audio engineering community has long determined that multi-channel is superior in the recreation of the concert hall experience in the home”. The debates have not been two channel vs. multi-channel, but instead, what multi-channel configuration works best.
I’m not at all wedded to the paradigm that 5.0 or 5.1 are the best multi-channel configurations. Some of the more interesting that I have seen, including what I have seen at AES include the use no center channel with multiple speakers forming a semi circle arc around the front and sides. There are dozens of other schemes out there.
Also, of interest is that while most recording studios are equipped to handle just stereo recordings the vast (more than 80 percent, especially the major labels) number of commercial releases are actually recorded in multi-channel even if they are released as stereo because CD is restricted to two channels. The chances are fairly great that many of the recent recordings you have purchased were originally recorded in multi-channel and better reflect the artistic *intent* of the recording group and recording engineers.
In some respects this is what happened at the dawn of stereo. Back around 1953-54 stereo recordings (including a wealth of 3 channel) were made….but few actually made it out of the studio to the public. It was not until a decade or more later that stereo began to supplant monural (with many mono guys kickin’ and screamin’ to hold on to the “superior” mono format.
Likewise, today there are many recordings, originally recorded in multi-channel but released only in stereo, that are “born again” as newly released multi-channel SACDs sometimes 30 and 40 years later. As I mentioned in a previous post I have a fair number of classical and non-classical recordings that fit exactly this scenario. The multi-channel content (the stereo is also on the disc for direct comparison) is absolutely the bomb. It’s like the shackles have been ripped off and the *real* performances are allowed to shine through for the very first time. I gotta think that if Mark Knofler, or David Gilmour, or Maurice White (Earth, Wind, and Fire) were to tell you that some of their greatest recordings are for the first time able to be heard in multi-channel the way they were *intended* to be heard in the first place that this must get you attention. (No matter whether or not you like these particular artists or not; I think you get my point). Well, guest what? That is *exactly* what they have said. It seems to me that as a music lover, although not necessarily as an audiophile, this is an offer that must deeply move you. It sure the hell moves me and is a paramount reason why hi- rez, hi-end, multi-channel is not optional.
Again not proselytizing....just some other points of interest
P.S.
I have to say this from time to time....I in *no way* compromised my *excellent* two channel system to accommodate multi-channel. I do fully understand most would be unable to accomplish this.
Robert C. Lang
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Follow Ups
- Again not proselytizing....just some other points of interest - Robert C. Lang 01:09:13 07/16/12 (0)
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