Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Diana Krall DVD in stereo

I'm rather new at home theater and serious stereo listening ... please pardon the naive feelings of audio excitement

I found Diana Krall's album, "Live in Paris" frequently mentioned in the Axiom forums. Wanted to find out if the album sounds that good on my M80s. I finally rented this DVD from netflix. I thought I'll evaluate my M80s and see if they are good with stereo imaging as well.

They didn't disappoint. The imaging was crystal clear. I don't have a sub yet, but the bass guitar was clear and deep as well. Diana Krall seemed like she was right in front of me in the second song.

I finally understood Alan L's tips on evaluating speakers for stereo listening, i.e., can i clearly picture in my mind the location of the different instruments, does the vocal portion sound natural etc.

Any other albums you guys can recommend that will show off my new Axiom speakers? Thanks very much.
Ananth

Ananth,

I'm a big fan of DVD concerts, and "Live in Paris" is my absolute favorite. I really enjoy watching as well as listening. But, if I have other things to do, I can just listen, and ignore the video, if I choose.

The following are all DVD concerts.

I don't know your musical tastes, but you might give "Norah Jones - Live in New Orleans" a try.

If you enjoy modern country music (more country rock, than country) Give "Faith Hill - When The Lights Go Down" a play. I'm not a big country fan, but this lady is the real deal. Not only does she sound good, but she looks good too. I REALLY enjoyed this concert. (Thank you, Ray! ) There's also "Alison Krauss + Union Station Live"

In the Rock 'n' Roll genre, there's always "The Eagles - Hell Freezes Over" DVD.

If you're in a Public Broadcasting kinda mood, try [/url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000077ZND/qid=1103986446/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-5654537-0900600?v=glance&s=dvd"Josh Groban - In Concert[/url]

And, there's always old favorite "James Taylor - Pull Over" or "James Taylor - Live at the Beacon Theatre"

Again, these are all DVDs not CDS. You certainly can listen to them in stereo, but to really hear them at their best, you gotta get that sub and add a center and surrounds, and listen in DTS or Dolby 5.1. Though I'm not sure, I believe there are CD versions of all these concerts available.

I have the DVD for a concert featuring the artist from "Oh Borther, Where art Thou?" Called Down From the Mountain and I REALLY enjoy it. Great for fans of southern blues and gospel. Some lesser known artists, some more famous (Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris).

Hi Jack,
I added the Norah Jones album to my rental queue -- thanks! My tastes in music are fairly varied, I'm guessing I'll enjoy most, if not all of your recommendations.

BTW, with the exception of a sub, I have a 7.1 Axiom speaker system. I merely wanted to evaluate the sound imaging that the M80s would produce on their own, hence my attempt to listen in stereo mode.

Here's my wish list for 2005; I had to stop after buying a new receiver (Denon 3805) and Axiom speakers (M80, VP150, QS8x4) because of the budget factor
a. one of SVS 20-39pci/SVS 25-31pc+/HSU VTF-3 MKII
b. Samsung HL-P4663W

Thanks again Jack.
Ananth

You're very welcome, Ananth. Sorry about the Josh Groban link. Obviously, I bailed out before checking it adequately.

I linked all the titles to Amazon because you can listen to bits of the tracks to get an idea if you'd like the DVD. By all means, you should do a search to see if you can find better prices if you intend to buy. If you're only renting, all this is irrelevant.

Babalu, thanks for the tip. I'll have to check out that concert.

I can recommend The Band's "The Last Waltz" which many (ok, me) consider the greatest rock movie available on DVD in 5.1. I always loved this album and the 5.1 is pretty good. The video sets this apart from other rock concert movies as Scorsese doesn't do crowd shots and focusses on the performers, a long list of luminaries from the 1970s. The music definitely sounds better than my CD version.

Great! First replace vinyl. Now replace CD. When will it end!?

Merry Christmas everyone.

-dale

Great indeed! The Muddy Waters segment alone is worth the price of admission.

edvacdude, it appears you have 7.1 speakers and amp, but no discrete 5.1 music playback (except for Dolby 5.1).

If surround music is important, I'd recommend a combo player (DVD/CD/DVD-A/SACD), or lacking that an SACD player.

For DVD vido albums, Roger Waters - Live In the Flesh is great, both sound and video. Waters wrote all the lyrics on Pink Floyd's famous Dark Side of the Moon album.

For surround music without a DVD-A or SACD player, DVD-A albums have a Dolby 5.1 "fallback" track which sounds great. You can play them on most any DVD player. Good examples: Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (DVD-A), Eagles - Hotel California (DVD-A).

If you have SACD playback there are some superb surround albums: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (SACD), Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (SACD), Roxy Music - Avalon (SACD), David Bowie -- Ziggy Stardust (SACD). The Pink Floyd SACD album is especially spectacular.

Just because an album is SACD, DVD-A or surround doesn't guarantee it will sound good (even on Axiom speakers!) There are lots of poorly-engineered albums out there.

joema,
A universal DVD player is definitely on my wish list; missed including it I initiallly bought the Denon 3910, but had to return it, because I overran my spending limit Hopefully by the time I get to buying a dvd player next year, prices may have dropped on it, or I may end up buying the 2910.

It would have been nice if Denon had provided for their Digital Link feature in the 2910 model; I'm unable to budget for the 3910 which is double the price! Oh well ...

Ananth

Just remember you can play most DVD-A discs RIGHT NOW on your regular DVD player. You'll get Digital Dolby 5.1 quality, which is generally better than CD, plus surround.

Unfortunately there aren't many DVD-A discs, and fewer still good ones. The Fleetwood Mac and Eagles DVD-As are good, and I very highly recommend them.

I also have Neil Young - Harvest (DVD-A), REM - Greatest Hits (DVD-A), Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery (DVD-A), Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (DVD-A). All great artistically, but the surround mix is sub-par on all of them IMO.

edvacdude
I just purchased a cd, dvd combo by Eric Clapton called "Sessions for Robert J". If you like old delta blues I highly recomend this cd/dvd.
I thought I was just buying a cd, but was pleasantly surprised, to find it also included a dvd of Eric Clapton doing Robert Johnson tunes in one of the locations they were originally recorded. It also has many insights on how the music was originally recorded. None of this dvd is of a concert, but instead, its just Eric Clapton and another guitar player (and sometimes a whole band) just playing accoustic blues in a room with a camera and sound crew. Havent finished watching or listening to the whole thing yet, but what i've seen/heard is great.

Bray

Thanks for the pointer to what looks like a must-purchase. Do you have "Me and Mr. Johnson"? If so, how do the performances compare? Thanks for your input.

-dale

UCONN
No, I've started to buy that on several occasions, but for what ever reasons, I never seem to make out of the store with it.
A few of the songs on "Sessions" can be found on the "Unplugged" cd but are arranged completely different; so different its almost hard to tell they're the same song. Eric comments on this on the dvd when talking about Robert Johnson. "Robert J probably had 20or more arrangements for any given song."

Thanks Bray. Interesting stuff. I've been meaning to pick up Me & Mr. J. for a while but I think I may grab the DVD first.

joema, ajax:
THANKS for your suggestions in prior posts.

Latest status: I bought the Denon 2900 (thanks to Ray's input ). Build quality is excellent.

Joema: Since I wanted to audition your SACD/DVD Audio recommendations, I bought a copy of Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon SACD, and a SACD recommendation I saw at CNET (Ladysmith Black Mombazo - Raise your spirits Higher). I'm fixing to also buy Hotel California (DVD Audio) and Fleetwood Mac - Rumors (DVD Audio).

Ajax, you convinced me. I finally bought Blue Jeans Cable's 6 channel audio cable (Belden 1505F). The staff at BJC were helpful both on the phone, and through email. I was reviewing more information on Monster Cable's sue-happy tactics. I typically don't like to choose between companies on this basis (take Microsoft, aren't they predatory, but I still use Windows ), but if they sued a used clothing firm because they used "Monster" that's too much

Thanks again guys.
Ananth

Glad to be of service, Ananth.

In reply to:

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I bought a copy of Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon SACD, and a SACD recommendation I saw at CNET (Ladysmith Black Mombazo - Raise your spirits Higher). I'm fixing to also buy Hotel California (DVD Audio) and Fleetwood Mac - Rumors (DVD Audio).

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When you hear these and get excited, just bear in mind these are the pinnacle of audio engineering. There are many mediocre and poorly-mixed surround albums out there.

There's a complete difference, a total disconnect between the artistic quality vs. the engineering quality of the surround mix.

The artist can be great, the song great, but the surround mix poor, gimmicky, or amateurish.

I won't repeat my above recommendations but after recently buying some more surround albums, I stand by those recommendations.

Well-mixed surround albums are acoustic miracles. Poorly-mixed ones are junk. Fortunately (or unfortunately) our great Axiom speakers make this difference easy to hear.

Let us know your review of the albums you get.

joema,
Here are my (initial) impressions on Rumors (Fleetwood Mac) and Hotel California (Eagles), both in DVD Audio.

Rumors
My favorite tracks from an acoustic perspective are Chain, and "Never Going Back Again". In chain, there is an instrument played at the beginning (harpiscord?), it sounds so incredibly clear and present that it wowed me. The various guitar sounds on "Never going back again" were clear, immersive and powerful. Great album on DVD audio, glad I bought it I found no difference between the surround tracks and the stereo versions because they are both recorded in 96Khz, 24 bit.

As far as "Hotel California", the surround tracks were great. Especially, "Hotel California" I haven't listened to it as exhaustively as the Rumors album because of a technical issue that drove me nuts as I tried to work it out (unsuccessful) BTW, if you have any insights on this issue, please feel free to comment in the thread, "Hotel California DVD Audio issue with Denon 2900".

BTW, I haven't received my SACD selections yet.

Again, thanks for the recommendations!
Ananth