HiRez Poll Jeff Beck Group - ROUGH & READY [SACD JAPAN]

[Quadzilla]

I have floorstanding front and rear speakers and for quad listening set them up as large but when listening to 5.1 music change the setting to small with the sub taking over low frequencies. This has been my understanding of the correct setup but please put me right if I am wrong.

That is correct, at least by my thinking. If you have a multichannel input that is strictly analog, it won't apply bass management to analog quad sources; only to digital surround sound that is decoded in the preamp/processor (or home theatre receiver).

 

[olgitnorm]

yep use analog outputs from oppo 105 to multi channel analog inputs on amp and simply change speaker setup on the oppo.

 

[wavelength]

I have floorstanding front and rear speakers and for quad listening set them up as large but when listening to 5.1 music change the setting to small with the sub taking over low frequencies. This has been my understanding of the correct setup but please put me right if I am wrong.

Which sounds better? Let your ears be the guide.

 

[Daniel John]

Unfortunately, that's not the case for many modern day surround sound setups that feature smaller surrounds. It is what it is and as much as I love these classic recordings, I'll probably steer clear of purchasing them if the surrounds are used in this fashion.

When you say "modern day" surround systems perhaps you're referring to systems people purchased for movies where the surrounds are purposely designed smaller (to appease the wife factor) and primarily to reproduce ambient type sound.

If you're finding that alot of the multichannel audio that you're interested in uses rear speakers for full-on instrumentation I highly recommend upgrading your rear speakers. I know after I did, 90% my media sounds much better, fuller. Bottom line, I'm getting much more enjoyment out of the whole multichannel experience.

 

[Daniel John]

I have floorstanding front and rear speakers and for quad listening set them up as large but when listening to 5.1 music change the setting to small with the sub taking over low frequencies. This has been my understanding of the correct setup but please put me right if I am wrong.

Interesting, but not sure why you'd need to do this? If there are just 4 tracks nothing should going to your sub and low frequencies should go to your fronts and rears? Although my fronts and rears are towers I have my AVR speakers setting set to "small" to drive my sub fro 5.1. Never had issues when listening to quad recordings. Maybe I'm missing something????

 

[Quadzilla]

Interesting, but not sure why you'd need to do this? If there are just 4 tracks nothing should going to your sub and low frequencies should go to your fronts and rears? Although my fronts and rears are towers I have my AVR speakers setting set to "small" to drive my sub fro 5.1. Never had issues when listening to quad recordings. Maybe I'm missing something????

Some bass management is applied digitally, and bass frequencies are siphoned off to feed the subwoofer channel ... even if there is no LFE channel on the disk. It depends on the hardware, but setting the speaker size to large will defeat this. A multichannel input that is strictly analog will not mess with it.

 

[Daniel John]

Some bass management is applied digitally, and bass frequencies are siphoned off to feed the subwoofer channel ... even if there is no LFE channel on the disk. It depends on the hardware, but setting the speaker size to large will defeat this. A multichannel input that is strictly analog will not mess with it.

Ah ok, this makes sense I'm going to have to try this to see if my results improve.

 

[Daniel John]

I gave this disc a 9. It's great and in my top 3 Jeff Beck albums (after Wired and BXB). I love the dynamics, keys sound great. Overall really discreet mix. What's really amazing is the music still sounds so very contemporary especially the jazz fusion stuff. If you're into the genre I highly recommend this one...

Love the Japanese Mini LP format. I'm collecting all 5 JBs in this format with B2B and JB Group on the way as well as Truth and Beck Ola (SHM-CD) also in mini LP format which should arrive soon.

 

[The56Kid]

Hi there The56Kid, this is not the ideal place in a QQ Poll but have read the last few comments and am just curious of a few details about your speakers and configuration and would like to maybe help you more enjoy old Quads with drums and such in the rears on your surround sound system.,
there's quite a few great old Quads with such mixes and it'd be a shame to miss out on hearing them possibly thru trying something and that could resolve the issue with a bit of tweaking and so on.

How much smaller are your rears are than your fronts?
Are the fronts floorstanding type and the rears bookshelf size?

Also, what low frequency are the various speakers rated to roll off or comfortably handle?
The manufacturers specs may not be 100% accurate but they would give a guide I guess.

Are you running a subwoofer?
If so, what do you have the crossover for low frequencies set to? 80hz? 100hz? 120hz? 60hz?

Setting up the gear in a different way may bring benefits for these and possibly all surround mixes you listen to on your system.

Oh and these Sony Japan Quad SACDs already have a syntyesised Centre and LFE channel which may help 'fill in the gaps' with systems that have, say, imbalanced Front Left & Front Right setup and/or speakers in the rear that cannot handle low bass.

What model is your AVR, speakers and sub please?

All the best, Adam

Hey Adam - thanks for your inquiry into my system and its setup.

I outlined the hardware involved in my profile, but from a speaker standpoint, I have the Monitor Audio Silver 8 floor standing towers as my Main speakers and the Monitor Audio Silver FX as the surrounds. The FX are certainly not floor standing towers - they can be mounted on a stand or on the wall. Mine are wall mounted at about a 6 foot height directly in line with my main listening sweet spot position.

I do have a sub - an Outlaw LFM-1 Plus - and the cross-over is set for 80hz.

Except for the self-powered sub, all five speakers (including the Monitor Audio Silver Centre) are powered by an Emotiva XPA-5 amp. The 4 ohm impedance load inherent to the Silver 8 towers was causing my Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver to overheat to the touch when reasonably cranked. That is no longer the case with the XPA-5 providing 300 watts of clean power to the mains and their 4 ohm load while providing 200 ohm to the center and surrounds and their 8 ohm loads.

That's about it for my system. Your input is much appreciated!

 

[DuncanS]

I need to give this SACD another listen and vote, once I get my Denon Universal player back from having its tracking adjusted yet again! Oppo 203 by the end of the year I hope.

I've listened to it once and I didn't have an issue. I have 4x Monitor Audio Silver RS8s and the RS LCR as the Centre. No Sub. My set-up is for music, and rarely listen to films in surround. My amp is set to 4 Large so the Bass is as the source. I would suggest setting your Sub up with a higher cut-off say 100Hz or even 150Hz, to match the -3dB point of your FX surrounds, it may even be worth trying with your amp set-up for small speakers all round and see how it sounds.

Hey Adam - thanks for your inquiry into my system and its setup.

I outlined the hardware involved in my profile, but from a speaker standpoint, I have the Monitor Audio Silver 8 floor standing towers as my Main speakers and the Monitor Audio Silver FX as the surrounds. The FX are certainly not floor standing towers - they can be mounted on a stand or on the wall. Mine are wall mounted at about a 6 foot height directly in line with my main listening sweet spot position.

I do have a sub - an Outlaw LFM-1 Plus - and the cross-over is set for 80hz.

Except for the self-powered sub, all five speakers (including the Monitor Audio Silver Centre) are powered by an Emotiva XPA-5 amp. The 4 ohm impedance load inherent to the Silver 8 towers was causing my Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver to overheat to the touch when reasonably cranked. That is no longer the case with the XPA-5 providing 300 watts of clean power to the mains and their 4 ohm load while providing 200 ohm to the center and surrounds and their 8 ohm loads.

That's about it for my system. Your input is much appreciated!

 

[fredblue]

Hey Adam - thanks for your inquiry into my system and its setup.

I outlined the hardware involved in my profile, but from a speaker standpoint, I have the Monitor Audio Silver 8 floor standing towers as my Main speakers and the Monitor Audio Silver FX as the surrounds. The FX are certainly not floor standing towers - they can be mounted on a stand or on the wall. Mine are wall mounted at about a 6 foot height directly in line with my main listening sweet spot position.

I do have a sub - an Outlaw LFM-1 Plus - and the cross-over is set for 80hz.

Except for the self-powered sub, all five speakers (including the Monitor Audio Silver Centre) are powered by an Emotiva XPA-5 amp. The 4 ohm impedance load inherent to the Silver 8 towers was causing my Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver to overheat to the touch when reasonably cranked. That is no longer the case with the XPA-5 providing 300 watts of clean power to the mains and their 4 ohm load while providing 200 ohm to the center and surrounds and their 8 ohm loads.

That's about it for my system. Your input is much appreciated!

You're welcome, thanks for the info., you've a great setup there.

Are you using the Yamaha as a preamp/processor?
If so are you running it with the YPAO calibration?

there are follow on questions from there depending on your responses but I think we ought to take it to private message from here on, I don't want to give the moderators any grief as this is a QQ Poll and we are supposed to only discuss the title at hand in these kinds of threads

 

[marpow]

Listening now. Maybe this is my favorite, my big 10", oop's my big 7" Japanese release.

 

[marpow]

Just checking, making sure I voted 10. Turn this mf, up.

 

[Tubelicious]

Removed due to brain-freeze

 

[sjcorne]

Hope this isn't considered a thread hijack, but Can someone tell me how this compares to the Audio Fidelity Version of the same album? I didn't see a separate listing for it.

I'm in the process of filling in the gaps on my Jeff Beck collection. The Japanese deluxe packages seem coolest, but I'm going for as close to the original quad mix as possible. If disabling my center and LFE will essentially give the quadmix (a La the Moody Blues SACD) then that's what I want to shoot for. Hope that makes sense

Audio Fidelity did the Jeff Beck Group (orange album), not Rough & Ready.

Disabling the center/LFE will give you the quad mix as intended...the center on this release appears to be a low level sum of all four channels. I find it’s rather detrimental to the soundfield.

 

[Tubelicious]

Sorry! I'll move to the appropriate thread! Been researching all the Jeff Beck this AM and got confused

 

[marpow]

I consider my self an expert on this release having owned every version since it's inception. This 7" SACD MCH Japanese release is a must for the rock music collector.

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

I was talking with a dear old friend after a fun live gig a couple weekends ago. He's a really good keyboard player. We were talking about these old albums, and he told me that back in the day, hearing Max Middleton's playing for the first time on Rough and Ready was pretty much a life-changing event for him.

 

[wiredsol]

I love this album. Love the packaging. The first few moments of the first track sound as if the recording tape was oversaturated by too high a recording level somewhere in the mastering process. It's a high-frequency distortion. It does clear up. The rest of the tracks are fine and sound awesome! My speakers all have super tweeters so it is quite noticeable. Do I have a bad copy?

 

[JohnA]

Just don't find the surround working as well as Blow by blow or Wired.
Doesn't help that musically it doesn't click with me as much as other Beck albums, hence the 7