Post #349212 by tikiyaki on Wed, Dec 12, 2007 6:04 PM

On 2007-12-12 15:27, Hakalugi wrote:
I have a 5.1 setup (with properly placed and matched Paradigm speakers)and I love it. I would definitely purchase any Exotica released in 5.1. I prefer SACD over DVD-A but it's more of a convenience thing as I have an SACD carousel and my DVD-A player only handles one at a time.

As far as most of the 5.1 mixes out there, it's true that many are not that adventurous. The most daring mix of anything mainstream that I have heard is the Who's Tommy. At times it has vocals in the rear speakers and sometimes the whole soundstage is flipped around. With most 5.1 mixes, the performance is typically confined to the front with the main vocals often isolated to the center speaker, rear speakers are maybe used for ambience or occasional effects. Another exception is "Dark Side of the Moon", but I hear that it's still pretty tame compared to the original quad version.

All in all though, I usually won't run my system in 5.1 unless I'm actually going to sit in the sweet spot.

To Me, rock is not the music best suited to 5:1. 4 or 5 piece band....what can you do other than some cool verbs and pans ?

Imagine hearing Esquivel in 5:1 tho....Exotica is the best candidate for it because of the jungle ambience and all the reverb. not to mention, if there is alot of percussion going on, which, in my music is definitely the case, it could be really cool. I have 5-7 tracks of percussion in most cases. Most of it doing polyrhythmic stuff, latin style, where things are ping ponging off one another. I really am curious to see what that would all sound like in surround.

Maybe surround sound needs the right music to make ppeople want to sit in the sweet spot, especially that you can get marijuana legally here in California now :)

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2007-12-12 18:05 ]