HiRez Poll Beatles, The - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [BluRay]

[GOS]

I think it depends on several things.
What type of surround mix the listener prefers. The is QQ after all and classic quad is far different from 5.1.
The room, speaker layout & the speakers. Huge factors as well.
Room correction software or none. The better RC systems are far more accurate at setting parameters than a Radio Shack SPL meter.
I've used both and there is no comparison.
That said, for film soundtracks I set my surrounds +3db from reference as they are not matched to my L\C\R and I prefer more action than many films are mixed for.
My music(rear) surrounds do match my L\C\Rs so I leave the settings as ARC sets them.

Pretty much, me too.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Pretty much, me too.

Same. And sho' 'nuff, what I'm hearing seems to be in line with the vast majority of reviews, most of the time.

 

[ifthenwhy]

I'm of the opinion that Martin and crew made the perfect 5.1 decisions with this release. I fear that a more "activated" Pepper would be way too much of a distraction, particularly because these recordings are close to embedded in the musical DNA of even the casual contemporary music fan. To creativly monkey with the sound stage, as tempting as it must have been, would have been a disservice. I appreciate the restraint.

This 5.1 mix is wonderfully musical and showcases the songs in a "new enough" way to keep this listener suspended in slack jawed joy.

And yes, the new Stereo mix beats the original George Martin effort hands down.

The Mono, of course, remains the definitive statement.

Is this Box Set Worth the money?

Every bloody cent.

10.

 

[Buddy El Gato]

10 by my estimation. Close your eyes, lay your head back and the album comes at you from everywhere in the room with astounding clarity.

 

[5.1 4 Life]

I'm giving the 5.1 of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper a Ten! Love the newfound clarity of the new mix and for me, the new 5.1 mix (along with original mono mix) is now my favorite version of the album. The same goes for the 5.1 mixes of 'Penny Lane' & 'Strawberry Fields Forever'.

 

[Larry Geller]

I dont understand all the comments about having to boost the rear surrounds and reduce the fronts for this 5.1 mix.

I find this recording very satisfying without making any changes at all. Just for the record, I use a SPL meter to insure that all speakers in my 5.1 set up put out an equal amount of sound energy. I wonder how many others do this? (along with having surround speakers that arent a cheap afterthought)

I think it has something to do with expectations. Sgt Pepper is a 50 year old piece of "art". It was recorded with a mono presentation as the objective, but they (Beatles and Martin) thought way outside the box in terms of the production elements. Ultimately, a mono presentation did not do justice to their artistic vision, but they did get as close as they possibly could.

That being said, a Steve Wilson or Elliot Scheiner 5.1 type mix would not have been appropriate for this iconic recording. I think there would have been a huge outrage for mixes that went crazy with tons of discrete music elements. That is not within the vision the Beatles had.

What I LOVE about the stereo remix and the 5.1 is the increased presence and clarity of being able to hear the individual instruments/voices, aided by having a more modern stereo soundstage. In this way, Giles and team simply broke through the limitations of the mono mix technology and let the vision become more fully realized.

Once your system is correctly balanced, and all 5 channels are putting out an equal signal, there is NEVER (ever, ever) any reason to EVER change that balance. If the recording is not perfect, well, that's just the way it is. Once your system is correct, it is correct.

 

[JediJoker]

Once your system is correctly balanced, and all 5 channels are putting out an equal signal, there is NEVER (ever, ever) any reason to EVER change that balance. If the recording is not perfect, well, that's just the way it is. Once your system is correct, it is correct.

Sorry, but... There are no rules. Guidelines? Yes. But not rules.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Sorry, but... There are no rules. Guidelines? Yes. But not rules.

While I tend to agree with Larry, I have been known to add the occasional 3-5db Bass Boost to a number of 4.0/5.1 recordings. As far as boosting the rears........VERY rarely if ever!

As far as 'rules/guidelines' go, it's YOUR system so you CAN do whatever floats your boat to get it to sound like you envision it should sound.

 

[wavelength]

Once your system is correctly balanced, and all 5 channels are putting out an equal signal, there is NEVER (ever, ever) any reason to EVER change that balance. If the recording is not perfect, well, that's just the way it is. Once your system is correct, it is correct.

I like this idea in theory - it's one of the reasons I have 5 identical speakers - to get as equal a signal as possible. In practice I find that an odd-ball room shape which results in non-symmetrical speakers placements make it very difficult to obtain. I wish I didn't have to but I find myself making small adjustments to speaker volumes on an album-by-album basis.

 

[timbre4]

Quick Take

I just returned from San Diego where we listened to the Blu Ray DTS-MA disc. Frankly, I enjoyed the mix more on my friend's system! To the point I would vote higher than the playback results I have at home. Principal difference is the height of the surrounds; I am in the process of moving these higher to approximate the same setup using my existing levels.

Just had to say it, the variance in our surround systems makes it hard to have rules!

 

[FVDnz]

I will say that I definitely have no issues with the remix, one bit. I think Giles did a fine job with the album. My current playlist has Penny Lane opening the album followed by Strawberry Fields - and THEN I proceed to the album in its entirety. Personally, I do like it this way even if the singles didn't make it onto the record. Now just recently, I dabbled with the idea of adding the Yellow Submarine Songtrack version of Only a Northern Song at the end, as if it were a hidden track or something. Again, I like how it has all turned out so far.

All things considered, I still wish to check out the vinyl version at some point.

Sent from my HTC 2PS6200 using Tapatalk

 

[milt]

Sorry, but... There are no rules. Guidelines? Yes. But not rules.

Agreed almost

I do think that there is an optimum way to setup and calibrate for 5.1 music.
The realities of the living space are what most often cause us to vary from that ideal.
While I do have a dedicated built from the ground up music\movie room, we were still limited by the structure of the existing house.
I would have loved to have 9 or 10 ft ceilings instead of 8 ft and non-parallel walls but the cost to value ratio was prohibitive.
You do the best with what you have.

 

[key_wiz]

That being said, a Steve Wilson or Elliot Scheiner 5.1 type mix would not have been appropriate for this iconic recording. I think there would have been a huge outrage for mixes that went crazy with tons of discrete music elements. That is not within the vision the Beatles had.

I disagree. I don't there are huge number of people who even care about having a 5.1 mix to begin with, and those that do, by and large, want their surround mixes to be more adventurous and discrete. The people who would complain about it would mostly be people who think anything other than the original mono or stereo is a outrage, period. So if you're going to mix 5.1, mix it for the people who want 5.1. Not to try and not offend the purists.

 

[kap'n krunch]

I disagree. I don't there are huge number of people who even care about having a 5.1 mix to begin with, and those that do, by and large, want their surround mixes to be more adventurous and discrete. The people who would complain about it would mostly be people who think anything other than the original mono or stereo is a outrage, period. So if you're going to mix 5.1, mix it for the people who want 5.1. Not to try and not offend the purists.

Well, to be fair-apart from my "theory" that everybody has a different perception of what surround mixes should be like and that every setup is different: we don't know IF Paul and Ringo(to a lesser degree) had a final say on how the MCH should be: "adventurous" or "classic" style. I think at least Paul had some "say" on the MCH mix and approved it.

One thing is true; they did give us discrete elements (it was not a "Big Stereo" mix) AND even moving elements in the rears, which , to me, are adventurous, but on the "safe" side (i.e., without overdoing it).

 

[Guy Robinson]

I think it is pretty simple. The 5.1 should have been the same as "Love".

 

[kap'n krunch]

I think it is pretty simple. The 5.1 should have been the same as "Love".

MAYBE ...just maybe...somebody from the group did not approve of how adventurous (and MARVELOUS) the "Love" mix was...you never know...

 

[Franklin]

Part of the problem with comparing it to Love is that due to the mash up nature of the album there were more elements to deal with in many cases in the mix which gave more opportunity for a more adventurous mix.

 

[kap'n krunch]

Part of the problem with comparing it to Love is that due to the mash up nature of the album there were more elements to deal with in many cases in the mix which gave more opportunity for a more adventurous mix.

OMG!!!! I SWEAR that i read the last line as (besides the fact that my subconscious is a big bastard!!) "...which gave more opportunity for more adventurous SEX(!!!!) @:

 

[ar surround]

Part of the problem with comparing it to Love is that due to the mash up nature of the album there were more elements to deal with in many cases in the mix which gave more opportunity for a more adventurous mix.

Good point. Also, going back and listening to Lucy, Kite and Pepper Reprise on the Love album, I now find the extra stuff thrown into those mixes annoying. Although more adventurous, those mixes just aren't that much better than those on the Sgt Pepper 5.1 to put up with the mish-mash. (Not so with the Love version of lets say, I Am the Walrus, which blows away the MMT Bluray 'Silverline' upmix treatment.)

 

[Franklin]

"...which gave more opportunity for more adventurous SEX(!!!!) @:

Quite the opposite as it turns out - I've fallen asleep twice listening to Love!