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Octavian, my knowledge of Romanian culture is pretty much limited to some of the classical music. I have a fair amount of music by Enescu, including of course both Romanian Rhapsodies. Bartok also crossed the border on occasion and his Romanian Folk Dances are an attractive little collection which I enjoy.

Stuart, when I used the term "surround" in reply to Octavian, I was referring specifically to using Logic 7 or DPLII to place the ambience contained in a stereo recording on the sides or in back where it belongs. In the concert hall the great majority of the sound reaching the listeners doesn't arrive as direct sound from the front but rather as ambience reflected from the side and back walls and ceiling. Although no home reproduction can be totally realistic, having these sounds which should come from the side or back instead coming only from front speakers doesn't help in creating the illusion. Alan briefly touched on this in past issues of the newsletter, including his "Stereo's Intrinsic Flaw: Why Multiple Channels Are Better" and also his discussion of DPLII. You might check these if you haven't read them in the past.

I wonder if you were thinking primarily of something like all channel stereo which has the unnatural effect of sending the same material to the sides and/or back as was reproduced from the front and would be best(relatively speaking)if all speakers were identical. When the ambience is properly steered to the surrounds by the better processors, such as DPLIIx or Logic 7, the effects that you mentioned don't occur and the common 80Hz crossover works well. The degree to which this increases the realism varies from recording to recording depending on how much ambience is present in the stereo channels, but is almost always a significant benefit.

Very well said by John!

My simple input? I never liked ANY other modes for two-channel except standard Stereo.... until I had DPLII on my Denon 3805.

It's not quite as impressive as 6 distinct channels in an SACD or DVD-A disc, but it really works well on stereo recordings to kind of "immerse" you in the sound instead of just having it in front.

And this from a guy who thought he would HATE multi-channel!

Doh, more settings to play with! Have you experimented with the parameters for DPLII (and/or DTS NEO 6)? If so what do you use, I think the parameters are panorama and center width?

Thanks

Stuart

Stuart, adjusting the DPLII parameters can improve the effect with some CDs. I don't care for panorama, which sends some direct frontal sound to the surround speakers, and leave it off. The center width adjustment at one extreme sends nothing to the center channel and puts that material into the left/right speakers, creating a "phantom" center which might actually sound a little better to someone sitting exactly in the middle. Generally it should be left in the middle of its range. The one that you didn't mention, the dimension control, is the one that can be the most useful. It varies the level of the ambient material which has been steered out of the front speakers and into the surrounds. By increasing the loudness of the surrounds, it can in effect move you back in the hall by increasing the amount of ambient reflected sound in relation to the direct front sound. To some extent this can compensate for an extremely closeup recording which contains relatively little ambience in the mix(e.g. many pop recordings)but can't create something which isn't there. Experiment.

Hi!
I'm glad to hear about somebody who likes romanian (good) music!Do you mind if I ask you how did you get to know about it?Any particular connections with the romanian descent?
Have a nice day!
Regards,
Octavian

I've found that some of the older, poorly mixed CDs can sound better in some surround modes. Each one has it's own signature, and none of them work "best" for all recordings. I generally try Logic 7 Music first, then DTS Neo 6 (which sounds great with only 5 speakers, BTW), and then DPLII last. The've done a decent job "rescuing" some of my CDs from being traded in...

Octavian, no particular ethnic connection; although my people did come from eastern europe, it was a little farther north. I suppose the way that I got to like most of the classical compositions that are now favorites was hearing them on the radio when I was a little boy. As far as Enescu goes I can remember hearing and really liking his Romanian Rhapsody No.1 done by Antal Dorati.