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

[fredblue]

Yes - I have that one - and agreed its near the bottom of my list of Yes albums:

Yes debuts the surround sound process pioneered by Seattle Audio Imaging Labs, Inc. (SAIL). SAIL has invented an encoding system that makes music consistently compatible with today's home theater systems. Having eliminated image collapse and synamic frequency response aberrations, the SAIL process results in a superior surround sound experience without any enhancements to the hardware components. For those without surround sound systems, meaning regular stereo systems, there is no difference in output from standard stereo. To make music compatible with today's surround sound systems, SAIL used their REcode process for the album. REcode is a mastering process that renders stereo or two-track material in SAIL surround sound. The process detects the statistical average of the spatial field and translates that to the placement of images in the surround sound field.

do you know I've picked this one up and put it back down again so many times.. torn between the potential quality of the "surround" and the quality of the music itself!

 

[steelydave]

do you know I've picked this one up and put it back down again so many times.. torn between the potential quality of the "surround" and the quality of the music itself!

Yeah but they've finally solved the problem of 'synamic frequency response aberrations'! You'd be a fool not to buy a copy, in fact you should buy five copies just in case.

 

[fredblue]

haha.. it's all about the synamic abberations! @:

 

[fredblue]

Summertime - Ray Brown Trio (TELARC CD-83430),
Symphonic Music Of Yes (RCA VICTOR 09026-61938-2).

 

[fredblue]

My latest Dolby Surround CD (purchased 1993ish) - I suppose you could say it was my first Surround album purchased :yikes:

The Symphonic Music of Yes
View attachment 11387
View attachment 11388

It only took me a decade to get a system to play it in surround ...

better late than never though eh!? I only just got it, arrived in the mail this morning, never even knew of its existence til I saw your post!

have you tried this through the Surround Master? it's very good through PLII Music! the little electric guitar flourish at the end of Roundabout whizzes out and ends up over your shoulder! Very Coooool..!!

ps. This CD benefits enormously from being cranked! Suddenly lots of bass kicks in, its a nice open dynamic recording. arrangements are a bit all over the place but surround soundfield is very effective, strings-a-go-go in the rears!

pps. how possible is it that the rears may not (always) be mono? only I could swear there's tinkly xylophone bits rear left that aren't in rear right! I didn't think ProLogic was capable!? Could it be the PLII decoding is doing some added stuff all of its own making that isn't on the disc encode?

thanks LK! rather enjoying this one, it's certainly different and it's certainly surround-y!

 

[LizardKing]

better late than never though eh!? I only just got it, arrived in the mail this morning, never even knew of its existence til I saw your post!

have you tried this through the Surround Master? it's very good through PLII Music! the little electric guitar flourish at the end of Roundabout whizzes out and ends up over your shoulder! Very Coooool..!!

ps. This CD benefits enormously from being cranked! Suddenly lots of bass kicks in, its a nice open dynamic recording. arrangements are a bit all over the place but surround soundfield is very effective, strings-a-go-go in the rears!

pps. how possible is it that the rears may not (always) be mono? only I could swear there's tinkly xylophone bits rear left that aren't in rear right! I didn't think ProLogic was capable!? Could it be the PLII decoding is doing some added stuff all of its own making that isn't on the disc encode?

thanks LK! rather enjoying this one, it's certainly different and it's certainly surround-y!

I've played it in PLII and via my Surround master...

I found out about it from a local radio station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_FM_(Wellington)) at the time playing the original version of Roundabout and then this version back-to back... I had to get it...then found out that it was Dolby Surround.

 

[elmer]

thanks for all the neat info! the "Spies" cd looks interesting, what's the album like?

that Adrian Legg must be rare?! I've been looking all over since you posted elmer and can only find the '94 reissue (different cover art, no bag/noose over his head! no Dolby Surround logo either!)

Your welcome! Spies is sorta' Spyrogyra with a slightly harder edge - pretty much no name studio cats - although the playing is pristine, the songs are a bit generic. It does feature Jose Feliciano on one or two tracks but his presence is fairly muted. One interesting note is that Chad Wackerman plays drums on a few tracks. Chad recently replaced Marco Minneman on a leg of Steven Wilson's recent US tour in support of "The Raven.."

I received the Adrian Legg ages ago at a listening party thrown by his label at the time (Relativity) on Long Island, NY - he signed the cover of the promo (pictured). Not much happened to that release sales wise - for the faithful only.

 

[fredblue]

Concierto de Aranjuez/Rodrigo - Erich Kunzel, David Russell (TELARC CD 80459)

 

[fredblue]

Journey To The Centre Of The Earth - Rick Wakeman
(EMI 7243 5 56763 2 0),
By Way Of The World - Spies (TELARC CD-83305),
Fanning The Flames - Maria Muldaur (TELARC CD-83394).

I'm hooked on these things! They're cheap, they're fun, they're surround!

Ok they're not SACD or DVDA or even DTS (most of the time, though there are a couple that are DTS CD by stealth!) but many of those I've been buying lately have a great immersive surround quality and fidelity is awesome on some of them (the TELARC's in particular, not a duffer so far and I've got 8 of them by Telarc alone now).

I'm just giving the "Spies" disc (Recorded in "Shure Surround HTS Full Logic" according to the liners) a quick listen before I get to work and I have to say it's very cool! there's a definite sense of separation and surround thru ProLogic II Music, with superb sonics. Impressive!

 

[fredblue]

Mysteries - Steve Reid's Bamboo Forest
(TELARC CD-83415),
Southland Of The Heart - Maria Muldaur
(TELARC CD-83423).

 

[fredblue]

Everybody's Gettin' Some - Junior Wells
(TELARC CD-83360),
Best Kept Secret - Lady Bianca (TELARC CD-83367).

The Junior Wells looks very interesting, some amazing star-studded guest artists on it, including Santana and Bonnie Raitt.

 

[rustyandi]

I have asked this before
and did not receive an answer
Has there ever been an LP that has Dolby Surround encoded?

 

[fredblue]

The Memphis Horns - Wayne Jackson & Andrew Love With Special Guests (TELARC CD-83344).

With William Bell, Robert Cray, Etta James, Mavis Staples, Bobby Womack & Leon Russell.. what an embarrassment of riches! Some truly special guests on this one!

 

[fredblue]

Mahler:Symphony No.9 - Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Jesús López-Cobos
(TELARC 2CD-80426 : 2 CD Set)

 

[John Svensson]

How are those Maria Muldaur discs? John

 

[fredblue]

How are those Maria Muldaur discs? John

Musically great, though the two albums are quite different in "feel", Fanning The Flames is rockier/ballsier blues, Southland more subtle and singer-songwriter-y.

They both pan out nicely in ProLogic II Music on my setup and both have excellent fidelity, Fanning the Flames in particular is superb in every respect.

 

[fredblue]

Barber: Prayers Of Kierkegaard, Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem, Bartok: Cantata Profana - Robert Shaw, Atlanta Symphony Orch. (TELARC CD-80479).

 

[fredblue]

The Big Picture - Erich Kunzel & The Cincinatti Pops Orchestra (TELARC CD-80437).

 

[Disclord]

The Big Picture - Erich Kunzel & The Cincinatti Pops Orchestra (TELARC CD-80437).

does the CD or booklet credits state Dolby Surround or have no surround system ID? I ask because this CD was released in Circle Surround but only had the Circle Surround info on a sticker on the shrink wrap. I love the DTS version of this disc.

 

[fredblue]

does the CD or booklet credits state Dolby Surround or have no surround system ID? I ask because this CD was released in Circle Surround but only had the Circle Surround info on a sticker on the shrink wrap. I love the DTS version of this disc.

the booklet refers to Spatializer and Circle Surround systems