Dolby Surround CD's - What's Your Latest?

[jaybird100]

These were all on the RCA/Victor/BMG label. As jaybird100 points out, there's also a slew of Henry Mancini and Tomita albums on Dolby Surround CD from the same label. I've got eight Mancini's that I'm aware of so far, and four of the five Tomita's that I'm aware of. I also recently saw two Arthur Fiedler Dolby Surround CD's, but passed them by because they weren't cheap enough and I was totally unimpressed with the mix on his "Greatest Hits of the 70s" Quadradisc.

The key in quickly identifying any of these discs while perusing used CD's is the spine of the CD. Nearly all of the RCA/Victor/BMG Dolby Surround CD's that I've seen have silver spines with the inverted striped red triangle and blue circle logos to one end. But, you can see two exceptions to that "rule" right there in the photo. And many of the RCA Red Seal stereo CD's will trick you into looking at them also because they carry very similar looking indicators on the spine. The last Mancini I came across didn't fit the rule either: I think it was a full color spine instead of silver, and it was only the "double-D" logo and "DOLBY DIGITAL" on the front that caught me. So, the spine is not a hard and fast rule, but it's a pretty good starting point.

I think it was some of fredblue's posts that alerted me to the Mancini and Tomita Dolby Surround CD's about a year ago. Before that, I was totally unaware of Dolby Surround CD's. Since then when I find one, I look at the "also by this artist/also in this series" info in the inserts, and end up walking out with a number more discs than expected!

They weren't all from RCA. Delos, Varese Sarabande, Silva Screen, had several titles. Even Sony had at least one, One more point; yes, these discs had the "double D logo on them, but with "Dolby Surround", not "Dolby Digital". RCA also had some titles in their High Performance 24/96 series (as they advertised, but they weren't) discs. There were classical discs put out by Intersound that were issued using the Shure Stereosurround system. Telarc issued a few, too. There are more out there than you think!

 

[humprof]

They weren't all from RCA. Delos, Varese Sarabande, Silva Screen, had several titles. Even Sony had at least one, One more point; yes, these discs had the "double D logo on them, but with "Dolby Surround", not "Dolby Digital". RCA also had some titles in their High Performance 24/96 series (as they advertised, but they weren't) discs. There were classical discs put out by Intersound that were issued using the Shure Stereosurround system. Telarc issued a few, too. There are more out there than you think!

The Telarcs are good! Here's a(n incomplete) starter list--part of the larger section on "Dolby Surround CDs" in Mark Anderson's surround discography:
http://www.surrounddiscography.com/dolby/dolbyclas.htm#telarc
And here's another relevant article by John Sunier:
https://hometheaterhifi.com/volume_3_4/v3n4g.html

 

[Wunlow]

Silva Screen [Records] has put out some fantastic re~recordings of film scores over the years in stunning HDCD encodings and DOLBY SURROUND. Although the Amazon Reviews decry the fact that they're not the original Carpenter soundtrack recordings I took a chance and ordered this.

I can see the why that would be disappointing but in the same breath, hey, if these sound good and are close enough to the originals..

Will be quite curious to hear your thoughts on this once it arrives!

 

[4-earredwonder]

I can see the why that would be disappointing but in the same breath, hey, if these sound good and are close enough to the originals..

Will be quite curious to hear your thoughts on this once it arrives!

I have quite a few of the Silva Screen HDCD/Dolby Surround Silva Screen RBCDs and IMO, they all sound exceptional!

 

[CINERAMAX]

I have Symphonic Music of Yes and Andreas Vollenweider in DS, how can I rip the 5.1? I have EAC and some others.... TIA

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I have Symphonic Music of Yes and Andreas Vollenweider in DS, how can I rip the 5.1? I have EAC and some others.... TIA

Not a discrete codec to rip, but rather more like a matrix process i.e Dolby Pro Logic II through your receiver etc., I use a Surround Master in Involve mode, or Up-mix via Penteo.
Here's some thoughts from @Disclord
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...ound-cds-whats-your-latest.18156/#post-189800

 

[CINERAMAX]

I see, thought they were ac-3, get it now. Isn't penteo an avid plugin, it would make a great upmix codec for something like the Trinnov Altitude surround processor. Their best upmixer for stereo is automatic, which is meh. Thanks, woof!

 

[surround.sound.enthusiast]

One more point; yes, these discs had the "double D logo on them, but with "Dolby Surround", not "Dolby Digital".

Too true! Thanks for the correction, I edited my post. I knew what I wanted to type, but it didn't quite make it to the fingers...

 

[Imbobman]

Here's a nice piece on Dolby Surround CDs (including some of the RCA Victor/BMG's from 1989-199x under discussion here recently) by the late John Sunier, founder of Audiophile Audition:
https://hometheaterhifi.com/volume_3_2/v3n2d.html
Interestingly, a few of those same CDs appeared again--but without Dolby encoding, I think?--in RCA's short-lived "High Performance" series a decade later:
https://positive-feedback.com/high-fidelity/rca-red-seal-high-performance-series/

I recently played the RCA Tomita- Kosmos surround.
It sounded excellent.
I just went & hunted down 7 of the classical titles you had pictured Surround.sound.enthusiatist.
Looking forward to hearing them.
Thanks for the info regarding these.

 

[Imbobman]

The Telarcs are good! Here's a(n incomplete) starter list--part of the larger section on "Dolby Surround CDs" in Mark Anderson's surround discography:
http://www.surrounddiscography.com/dolby/dolbyclas.htm#telarc
And here's another relevant article by John Sunier:
https://hometheaterhifi.com/volume_3_4/v3n4g.html

A lot of impressive titles on Mark Anderson's list. I wonder what they actually sound like?

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I recently played the RCA Tomita- Kosmos surround.
It sounded excellent.
I just went & hunted down 7 of the classical titles you had pictured Surround.sound.enthusiatist.
Looking forward to hearing them.
Thanks for the info regarding these.

Isn't that Tomita "Kosmos" the same one, but an actual discrete surround title in SACD by Denon?
https://www.discogs.com/Tomita-Space-Fantasy/release/8812742

 

[watsontr]

Haven’t bought one in a while but I do have these

 

[Imbobman]

J.Pupster, yes more or less the same as the SACD by Denon but the track listings are different between them.

Watsontr,
How is the mix on the 'Snow flakes are dancing'? I've heard it doesn't work ...
Which of the ones you have could you recommend?
Thanks for the comments you added here.

 

[Quad Linda]

I have Mancini, Tomita and classical RCA Dolby Surround CD's. I also recommend RCA Victory at Sea 2 volumes and lots of Telarc. Blues, PDQ Bach and other goodies.

 

[Quad Linda]

Can't forget Wendy Carlos SOB 2000, Symphonic Stones, Chieftains, Maria Muldaur, Junior Wells and more...

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Can't forget Wendy Carlos SOB 2000, Symphonic Stones, Chieftains, Maria Muldaur, Junior Wells and more...

yeah, haven't forgot the Chieftains on that one, just need to pick one up

 

[J. PUPSTER]

also, just want to mention- I ran this Telarc Memphis Horns (Spatializer - 3D Surround Sound) through the Smv2 in Involve mode and although decent, it was not as discrete as I was expecting, just a nice warm wrap around sound with occasional nice touches.

https://www.discogs.com/The-Memphis...drew-Love-With-Special-Guests/release/4666931

 

[watsontr]

How is the mix on the 'Snow flakes are dancing'? I've heard it doesn't work ...
Which of the ones you have could you recommend?
Thanks for the comments you added here.

I haven't played these in a while but my memory was that Snowflakes worked fairly well? I'll have to check it against the quad to be sure (editing as I noticed later that the cat was successful in 'helping' me)

 

[surround.sound.enthusiast]

I recently played the RCA Tomita- Kosmos surround.
It sounded excellent.
I just went & hunted down 7 of the classical titles you had pictured Surround.sound.enthusiatist.
Looking forward to hearing them.
Thanks for the info regarding these.

As everyone is mentioning, the RCA/Victor/BMGs we've been talking about are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Dolby Surround/Shure Stereosurround/Circle Surround/Spatializer (etc.) discs. I reference Mark Anderson's discography extensively when hunting for old quad stuff, but haven't yet for these "modern" discs (they are about 30 years old now!!) But, in keeping with our conversation about the RCA/Victor/BMG, here are some photos of the other titles that have been brought up (some are captured in other posts above already)...


As you can see above, the Mancini's don't uniformly follow the rule of thumb I mentioned before. They all have the triangle shape, but in different ways. Many are silver in color, but not all. The top blue one was the one I didn't even know existed until the past few weeks, and only because I paused in his music section thinking I already had it all. I've also just discovered elsewhere on the internet in the past few days that that blue one, and the white Pink Panther one... even came in Dolby Surround encoded cassettes! And having not removed all of the PRE-OWNED stickers from my Tomita's yet I didn't realize that the spines spell out his last name until I saw watsontr's post. Neat packaging design!


Some discs can be downright sneaky. Oracle (above) had the logo very tiny on the back, but it was the silver spine that made me pause. Bond? I pulled that one off the shelf because it was a colored jewel case with a blank spine. The Hitchcock? Even sneakier, I've learned to pause when I see yellow and red spines like that one, because the labels that used that packaging style did a lot (in classical) in Shure Stereosurround. It was a surprise to find a release in Dolby Surround.


Here's the Symphonic Music of Yes that CINERAMAX mentioned. I pulled that one off the shelf mostly out of curiosity. Then I saw the logo on the front, then I saw that Alan Parsons was involved, then I saw that members of Yes actually perform on it. Deal sealed!


And lastly, if your into nature sound effects merged with instrumentation, look into the Solitudes CD line. Many are in Dolby Surround - and check out the copyright on this one. I was quite surprised to see a disc made as late as 2008. And, if it turns out you are into them, the NorthSound/NatureQuest labels did a lot of similar releases, but they used Circle Surround on their discs.

 

[watsontr]

And having not removed all of the PRE-OWNED stickers from my Tomita's yet I didn't realize that the spines spell out his last name until I saw watsontr's post. Neat packaging design!

So were there six Tomita Dolby CDs in total? I only had four (T-O-M-T) and never managed to get Firebird (I) so what Tomita disc may have had the letter A?