HiRez Poll King Crimson - THE COMPLETE 1969 RECORDINGS [Blu-Ray Audio]

[rtbluray]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this MASSIVE new box set from King Crimson covering all known recordings of theirs from the year 1969, which is the year they recorded and released their debut album "In the Court of the Crimson King".

There's a LOT of surround sound content in the box set. Some of it has already been released before (on DVDA-V and/or Blu-Ray Audio.)

The Surround Sound content is listed below along with applicable links to the poll threads for the 2009 and 2019 5.1 surround mixes.

Disc 22 Blu-Ray
24/96 2009 Hi-Res Stereo and 5.1 Surround Mixes (originally released in 2009 on DVDA-V, poll here: HiRez Poll - King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (2009) [DVD-Audio])

Disc 23 Blu-Ray
24/96 2019 Mixes in Stereo, 5.1 Surround and Instrumental Mixes (originally released in 2019 on Blu-Ray, poll here: HiRez Poll - King Crimson - IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING (2019 50th Anniversary Mix) [Blu-Ray Audio])

Disc 24 Blu-Ray (all surround sound content exclusive to this set)
2020 Dolby Atmos Mix
24/96 I Talk to the Wind (duo version) 5.1 Surround *
* audio through four channels only

 

[GOS]

I haven't had a chance to properly listen to it, and won't vote until I can do that. I need to recalibrate my speakers as I moved them around......doesn't make sense to vote till it's dialed in.

 

[jimfisheye]

Well I guess nobody is really interested in this set because no replies and so far nobody has even rated it yet!! No wonder the price is DROPPING and probably will continue to DROP.

They just released all this a couple years ago and most of us had over half that material from the fan club releases before that. For us, it's a single remix in the Atmos format for a stiff price. A format that hasn't had the decoder codec released yet for computer based home entertainment systems (which I'd speculate is most listeners here in the 21st century). That makes our only choices to even hear it between demo'ing it on some temporary cheapo Atmos having receiver (which still costs $$$) or spending another 4k - 6k minimum for something with the hardware decoder that has enough channels of high end output DACs. Frankly everyone involved in this from the Atmos camp to KC blew it here! You aren't going to do well releasing something that can't be listened to properly.

Is King Crimson touring doctors and lawyers conventions now or something? I'm just a musician, man...

 

[M-D-Z]

Does anyone know .... Would I get excellent, or just mediocre compromised audio results, if I played one of these multi-ch Atmos encoded (audio) discs using only the (F/L~F/R) + (R/L~R/R) standard quad outputs plugged in to my OPPO UDP-205?
The people at OPPO said the player “knows” to convert the output appropriately based upon what is or is not plugged into the rear panel, so consequently, the player outputs in standard quadraphonic mode if only those interconnects are connected, and he said there was no need to reconfigure the disc player, or to re-route the signals where they are re-combined differently.
The reason I ask is because I have no plans to add more channels to my standard four corner quad set-up.

 

[himey]

Does anyone know .... Would I get excellent, or just mediocre compromised audio results, if I played one of these multi-ch Atmos encoded (audio) discs using only the (F/L~F/R) + (R/L~R/R) standard quad outputs plugged in to my OPPO UDP-205?
The people at OPPO said the player “knows” to convert the output appropriately based upon what is or is not plugged into the rear panel, so consequently, the player outputs in standard quadraphonic mode if only those interconnects are connected, and he said there was no need to reconfigure the disc player, or to re-route the signals where they are re-combined differently.
The reason I ask is because I have no plans to add more channels to my standard four corner quad set-up.

You must turn off the unused channels in the Oppo speaker configuration.

Yes it will still sound good. Steven Wilson is smart enough to realize that not everyone will be using 3D audio setups and he will ensure that it sounds great in 2D as well as 3D.

 

[Hamilton59]

King Crimson 2020 Dolby ATMOS Mix

I’ve listened to this release over 20 times now. It is my favorite version of this album and I think it is the best ATMOS remix I’ve heard of a classic album. (Booka Shade’s Dear Future Self has a few tracks that are more extremely, discretely mixed)

This is a difficult release to review simply because we have two previous releases to compare it with and it’s natural to want to know exactly what are the differences. I’m not setup to be able to A/B compare two disc at the same time, so I have to rely on memory.

Something I’ve noticed with ATMOS mixes is that it is more difficult for me to tell where a sound is coming from when it is mixed somewhere in the space above me. I have a 7.2.4 ATMOS setup with upper front ceiling speakers and wall mounted rear ceiling speakers behind me. It is easy to hear the location of a sound in the base plane of the 7 speakers around me but much harder when it is mixed somewhere above my head unless it is mixed hard to one speaker or pair above me. I keep finding myself looking around above me trying to locate where a sound is coming from during these songs...

Ok let’s start off with a Great Simple Menu...just press play...





21st Century Schizoid Man

The intro sounds that float around you are mainly coming from the height speakers. The song starts with the full room ATMOS mix that raises the sound stage above and around you. The guitar chords on the verse still move around you but not in the discrete circle of the previous mixes that I really liked. I simply cannot follow pattern (?) this time..This is the only point of the mix in entire album that I actually prefer the last mix to the ATMOS mix. Fripp’s lead guitar wonders all around and above you and I get the sensation at times that it is quickly moving in a circle above me.



I Talk To The Wind

Simply beautiful. The music surrounds me. I have to get up and walk to each speaker to find out, surprisingly, that the the music is mainly coming the height speakers. The cymbal taps are coming mainly from the front speakers. Greg’s vocals are in the front center but the harmony vocals are in the heights! The woodwinds are in the rear channel 7 speakers. But I can’t really hear these discrete placements sitting in my listening position.... they are simply surrounding my ears with the music....
Fripp’s guitar notes move across and around me. The flute solo wanders about and around.

Epitaph

Timpani rolls across behind me, music comes up all around and cymbals swish across in front of me.. Vocals and drums are across the front. Other instruments come in and are mixed all around me. Acoustic picked guitar moves about and bass clarinets are behind and beside me. Mellotron is all around and above.

Moonchild

Music moves around, cymbal taps are coming from the ceiling. As always, Greg’s vocals are front center. Drum toms are across behind me. Guitars across the front. The free form improv has instruments floating back and forth above and around you. The guitar is front leftish, the percussion is more playfully mixed around the room. Drums are across the rears. Bells across the top and right front. I am surprised they weren’t more adventurous with the mix. I think I would have slowly spun the entire mix around the room... I personally don’t mind the quiet improv section. It slows things down and takes a break from the songs. And the best thing is it creates the contrast to the stunning intro of...

The Court of the Crimson King

Ahhhh what you want... drums across the front, mellotrons around and above you. Vocals anchored in the front. Guitars picked and flutes around and above. Backing king and ahhh vocals around and above. Flute solo wanders about and above. The ending sections collapse to the center front speaker. Simply Beautiful and Amazing.

This is a fantastic mix for magical music.

10

 

[ogrequad]

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere on the forum, but I was wondering:

If I listen to the Atmos mix through my 5.1 setup (which does include a player with Dolby TrueHD decoding but no Atmos capability), am I simply hearing the 2019 mix or am I getting a compromised, but different, mix based on the Atmos mix? I’m listening right now and I must say it sounds fantastic in its own right, even without the Atmos, but I’m not familiar enough with the 2019 5.1 mix to know what might be different. Any ideas??

 

[himey]

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere on the forum, but I was wondering:

If I listen to the Atmos mix through my 5.1 setup (which does include a player with Dolby TrueHD decoding but no Atmos capability), am I simply hearing the 2019 mix or am I getting a compromised, but different, mix based on the Atmos mix? I’m listening right now and I must say it sounds fantastic in its own right, even without the Atmos, but I’m not familiar enough with the 2019 5.1 mix to know what might be different. Any ideas??

My take, as I have mentioned here before is that, if the audio engineer takes into consideration that there will be people listing on 2D setups, he/she can make mixing decisions that will sound great on both 2D and 3D setups.

Atmos has built in compatibility to any number of speakers.

Yes, the mix you are listening to, in 5.1, is the same on this blu-ray as the Atmos, downmixed by your system.

 

[AYanguas]

Testing the SW Atmos mix with Wides 9.1.4

I have a 7.1.4 Atmos and, after the recent Denon Upgrade that enable the use of Wides with DSU and Neural:X 9.1.4, I am tempted to try Wides using two additional old shelf speakers I had.

I tested first with the ‘reference’ Yello-Point Atmos mix. I get more progressive panning from fronts to the sides listening this Yello-Point Atmos. I liked really. It is an improvement with the Wides with respect to the previous 7.1.4 experience.

But, when testing ITCOTKC Steven Wilson Atmos mix, I was first disappointed. The Wides were completely silent. No sound at all putting my ear close to the Wides. I thought this KC Steven Wilson mix was a fixed 7.1.4, Disney style.

Listening more time, I have occasionally listened some sound at the Wides at very briefly moments at very low volume. So, it seems it is NOT a fixed 7.1.4 print.

It looks like Steven Wilson has mixed most of the time with object sounds located at the main 7.1.4 speaker positions. At least, comparing with the fully aggressive Yello-Point Atmos that renders to an almost continuous use of the Wides.

This is not a bad thing, because this SW Atmos mix is superb. Just evaluating if the Wides are worthy for me for the content that I usually enjoy.

 

[jshep5]

WARNING: Mis-assembled box sets - no Disc #6, extra Disc #9 in its place

I first bought the King Crimson's The Complete 1969 Recordings box set from Amazon UK. I discovered that instead of Disc #6 there was an extra Disc #9 in its place. I bought another box from Amazon USA. Same exact problem!! A third copy (the Amazon USA replacement) finally had the correct set of one each of all 26 discs. Sheesh!

Be sure to check your copy.

Jim Sheppard

 

[GOS]

WARNING: Mis-assembled box sets - no Disc #6, extra Disc #9 in its place

I first bought the King Crimson's The Complete 1969 Recordings box set from Amazon UK. I discovered that instead of Disc #6 there was an extra Disc #9 in its place. I bought another box from Amazon USA. Same exact problem!! A third copy (the Amazon USA replacement) finally had the correct set of one each of all 26 discs. Sheesh!

Be sure to check your copy.

Jim Sheppard

Ugh! Guess I need to look at mine closer. ON the other hand, I Need to listen to mine again....been too long.

 

[Clement]

WARNING: Mis-assembled box sets - no Disc #6, extra Disc #9 in its place

I first bought the King Crimson's The Complete 1969 Recordings box set from Amazon UK. I discovered that instead of Disc #6 there was an extra Disc #9 in its place. I bought another box from Amazon USA. Same exact problem!! A third copy (the Amazon USA replacement) finally had the correct set of one each of all 26 discs. Sheesh!

Be sure to check your copy.

Jim Sheppard

Welcome to QQ and thank you so very much for your first post–great community contribution! Glad you finally got it all straightened out! Stay Surrounded, Comrade!

 

[Marplot]

I had the same issue with the Red box set, which also got sorted in the end.

 

[Hamilton59]

Wait, are you all saying that there are other discs in there besides the ATMOS mix ?!?!?!?

 

[AYanguas]

Wait, are you all saying that there are other discs in there besides the ATMOS mix ?!?!?!?

Yeah!.... I think so...

After so many times I have listen to this Album, now even in Glorious Atmos, it looks a little repetitive... (Oh, I beg you pardon)

So, I begin to listen to the "Let's Make A Hit Waxing":The copy at the Atmos Bluray. (I think it also exists in other discs )
Very Interesting to hear some kind of "deconstructed songs". The mix (2.0) DSU upmixed sound fantastic. It is a very refreshing way of listening the same notes of the same songs but in a different manner.

I'm hypnotised with the "I talk to the wind" parts with only the Drums, Bass and flute...

 

[Clement]

Yeah!.... I think so...

After so many times I have listen to this Album, now even in Glorious Atmos, it looks a little repetitive... (Oh, I beg you pardon)

So, I begin to listen to the "Let's Make A Hit Waxing":The copy at the Atmos Bluray. (I think it also exists in other discs )
Very Interesting to hear some kind of "deconstructed songs". The mix (2.0) DSU upmixed sound fantastic. It is a very refreshing way of listening the same notes of the same songs but in a different manner.

I'm hypnotised with the "I talk to the wind" parts with only the Drums, Bass and flute...

I did the SAME thing today! You aren't kidding about the upmixed sound--it was a blissful 68 minutes . . . if memory serves!

 

[marpow]

If anyone is still interested in buying this set......IMPORTCDS is having a 10% discount on items included in their list on eBay......it's currently $187.54 but if you buy another item on their list you get another 10% off that which is $168.84 with FREE shipping!!!

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update: Dec. 6 at 10:19am

Well I guess nobody is really interested in this set because no replies and so far nobody has even rated it yet!! No wonder the price is DROPPING and probably will continue to DROP.

King Crimson 2020 Dolby ATMOS Mix

I’ve listened to this release over 20 times now. It is my favorite version of this album and I think it is the best ATMOS remix I’ve heard of a classic album. (Booka Shade’s Dear Future Self has a few tracks that are more extremely, discretely mixed)

This is a difficult release to review simply because we have two previous releases to compare it with and it’s natural to want to know exactly what are the differences. I’m not setup to be able to A/B compare two disc at the same time, so I have to rely on memory.

Something I’ve noticed with ATMOS mixes is that it is more difficult for me to tell where a sound is coming from when it is mixed somewhere in the space above me. I have a 7.2.4 ATMOS setup with upper front ceiling speakers and wall mounted rear ceiling speakers behind me. It is easy to hear the location of a sound in the base plane of the 7 speakers around me but much harder when it is mixed somewhere above my head unless it is mixed hard to one speaker or pair above me. I keep finding myself looking around above me trying to locate where a sound is coming from during these songs...

Ok let’s start off with a Great Simple Menu...just press play...

View attachment 60495

View attachment 60496

21st Century Schizoid Man

The intro sounds that float around you are mainly coming from the height speakers. The song starts with the full room ATMOS mix that raises the sound stage above and around you. The guitar chords on the verse still move around you but not in the discrete circle of the previous mixes that I really liked. I simply cannot follow pattern (?) this time..This is the only point of the mix in entire album that I actually prefer the last mix to the ATMOS mix. Fripp’s lead guitar wonders all around and above you and I get the sensation at times that it is quickly moving in a circle above me.

View attachment 60498

I Talk To The Wind

Simply beautiful. The music surrounds me. I have to get up and walk to each speaker to find out, surprisingly, that the the music is mainly coming the height speakers. The cymbal taps are coming mainly from the front speakers. Greg’s vocals are in the front center but the harmony vocals are in the heights! The woodwinds are in the rear channel 7 speakers. But I can’t really hear these discrete placements sitting in my listening position.... they are simply surrounding my ears with the music....
Fripp’s guitar notes move across and around me. The flute solo wanders about and around.

Epitaph

Timpani rolls across behind me, music comes up all around and cymbals swish across in front of me.. Vocals and drums are across the front. Other instruments come in and are mixed all around me. Acoustic picked guitar moves about and bass clarinets are behind and beside me. Mellotron is all around and above.

Moonchild

Music moves around, cymbal taps are coming from the ceiling. As always, Greg’s vocals are front center. Drum toms are across behind me. Guitars across the front. The free form improv has instruments floating back and forth above and around you. The guitar is front leftish, the percussion is more playfully mixed around the room. Drums are across the rears. Bells across the top and right front. I am surprised they weren’t more adventurous with the mix. I think I would have slowly spun the entire mix around the room... I personally don’t mind the quiet improv section. It slows things down and takes a break from the songs. And the best thing is it creates the contrast to the stunning intro of...

The Court of the Crimson King

Ahhhh what you want... drums across the front, mellotrons around and above you. Vocals anchored in the front. Guitars picked and flutes around and above. Backing king and ahhh vocals around and above. Flute solo wanders about and above. The ending sections collapse to the center front speaker. Simply Beautiful and Amazing.

This is a fantastic mix for magical music.

10

Hamilton59's review was so terrific, I just had to order the box set. Really looking forward to the immersive Atmos, I mean that's why I built an Atmos room.
I think it arrives tomorrow?

 

[marpow]

I voted 10. (Disc 24)-BD-A Dolby Atmos. My Rig is 5.2.4 (3 subs). I listened at a comfortable 55 volume knob. I used my channel level a bit, mostly pumping up the heights. I am still trying to train my brain to differentiate between the foundation speakers and the heights, and adding a little volume to the heights seems to help. It seems Hamilton59 and I agree on this getting use to fact.
This Dolby Atmos remix was highly enjoyable to the point I was floating in space on all these tracks. Just closed my eyes and let myself experience what was in my room.
I think for the first time I finally got how beautiful and intricate this album is. Tracks 2,3, and 4 are about as delicate as I can imagine.
The Atmos experience really made it enjoyable.
I am a newcomer to King Crimson, maybe about 3 years now, it is an interesting project that is for sure.
I also listened to the remainder of Disc 24, the 4.0 of I Talk To The Wind and the stereo of Lets Make A Hit Waxing with it's fun studio recording of a band practicing on tape, multiple takes, very very long.
The menu, possibly the best I have ever come across.
Really glad I got this, mainly to experience the music in such a way that I was able to release myself into my room and was in a state of pur enjoyment. No computer, no liner notes, just sitting with eyes closed.

 

[kap'n krunch]

holy sheeit!
Was listening to CD 1 and , man that band was deffo one of a kind!!! They started a kind of improv no one else had basically done...

 

[marpow]

Ripping the box set now, whew, what a chore. I think for the surround mixes I will stick with the DVD's. Complicated because the CD's duplicate themselves starting on the sessions. Using DVD AE is much easier than the Blu Rays with MKV and MMH, a little quicker. And 24/48 for stereo is just as good as 24/96.
The one Atmos disc I will just listen from the disc as my JRiver player won't play MKA files.
Need to stop for awhile, too much thinking.