HiRez Poll Mahavishnu Orchestra, The - BIRDS OF FIRE [SACD]

[par4ken]

This was one LP that I purchased years ago only because it was Quad, liked it a lot (I found a lot of music that way}. The AF disc sounds great, lot of surround action and clean sound. I'm sure the recording wasn't supposed to have the X panning but even that screw up still sounds fine.

 

[rtbluray]

Just bought this SACD today, and I'm giving it a well-deserved vote of '9'.
Why not a '10'? Simple. I don't like the drums only in the surround channels throughout the entire album.
I particularly felt like I was getting whacked on the sides of my head during Billy Cobham's solo in "One World", at which point I turned round the other way so that the drums were in front of me. Ah, now that's more like it!

Besides that however, there's not much else to complain about concerning this disc. This is an album made by a band with such incredible and killer musicianship all transferred over from the original Quad mix tapes with no loss of fidelity whatsoever. This really is the best this album has ever sounded, so it's worth adding it in to your collection if you fancy this kind of music.

 

[keenly]

Just bought this SACD today, and I'm giving it a well-deserved vote of '9'.
Why not a '10'? Simple. I don't like the drums only in the surround channels throughout the entire album.
I particularly felt like I was getting whacked on the sides of my head during Billy Cobham's solo in "One World", at which point I turned round the other way so that the drums were in front of me. Ah, now that's more like it!

Besides that however, there's not much else to complain about concerning this disc. This is an album made by a band with such incredible and killer musicianship all transferred over from the original Quad mix tapes with no loss of fidelity whatsoever. This really is the best this album has ever sounded, so it's worth adding it in to your collection if you fancy this kind of music.

:yikes

I love the drums in the rears.

 

[keenly]

Just bought this SACD today, and I'm giving it a well-deserved vote of '9'.
Why not a '10'? Simple. I don't like the drums only in the surround channels throughout the entire album.
I particularly felt like I was getting whacked on the sides of my head during Billy Cobham's solo in "One World", at which point I turned round the other way so that the drums were in front of me. Ah, now that's more like it!

Besides that however, there's not much else to complain about concerning this disc. This is an album made by a band with such incredible and killer musicianship all transferred over from the original Quad mix tapes with no loss of fidelity whatsoever. This really is the best this album has ever sounded, so it's worth adding it in to your collection if you fancy this kind of music.

:yikes

I love the drums in the rears.

 

[rtbluray]

:yikes

I love the drums in the rears.

To each their own. Thankfully it still didn't stop me from enjoying the disc with all of its other merits.

 

[quicksrt]

I listened to this again last night. This was only the second time hearing it complete on SACD in quad. I figured out something I had not noticed before.

In my opinion of course, this album is sequenced so that it is more difficult to get into right at the start. The first song plods along grinding it's way along, and the second track is better. But it's not until track three the thing takes. I suspect that some listeners who did not warm to this album might enjoy it more playing it starting with track three on. Then hear the first two tracks at the end.

I still have no voted, I need more time.

 

[fredblue]

Let me revisit this:



Tonight I double checked that the instrumental balances on the SQ rears in One Word are Left - guitar -keys-violin -Right. I found that still to be true though again, the separation is *much less* than in the front channels (all three instruments are more clumped together in the center in the surrounds, but still have some left-right ordering). Meanwhile the fronts are very clearly violin-keys-guitar. So that weirdness remains.

But tonight I also focused on just the drums in the SQ decode of the song. The SQ decode is not very discrete, so there's lots of drums in the front channels as well as rears. What sound like Cobham's floor tom is consistently more in the left channel than right. *That's true in front and rears*

So that means the SQ situation is even weirder. The *drums* track correctly between front and rear. But the other instruments are reversed.

I would like rule out the possibility that this is an issue peculiar to the decoded SQ version I have. So if any of you have the SQ LP, please give a listen over your hardware and let me know the electric instrument layout in the surround channels. You'll probably have to mute the front channels to tell for sure.

I have the opening/title track taken from a Mint SQ LP and decoded by the Surround Master in MultiCh FLAC form if you'd like to hear how that little box handles the old Quad record for comparison purposes? Just drop me a PM.

 

[The56Kid]

Sorry to add such a late vote to the poll, but I just now purchased this AF SACD. I give it a 7.

I'm a major Cobham fan and having his thunder relegated to the surrounds doesn't cut it on my system. I adjusted the my surround speaker volume levels up to compensate, but it's just not the same when surrounds that are smaller than the mains are involved.

Checking the profiles of those members indicating they enjoy the drums in the surrounds shows in most cases that equivalent sized speakers for mains and surrounds are involved. Given this is an original 70s quad mix, where four equivalent sized speakers were involved, it makes sense and I respect, but don't love the decision to place the drums in the surrounds.

That said, I've loved Birds of Fire for decades and this release truly represents the best sonic experience of this amazing recording!

 

[Daniel John]

Sorry to add such a late vote to the poll, but I just now purchased this AF SACD. I give it a 7.

I'm a major Cobham fan and having his thunder relegated to the surrounds doesn't cut it on my system. I adjusted the my surround speaker volume levels up to compensate, but it's just not the same when surrounds that are smaller than the mains are involved.

Checking the profiles of those members indicating they enjoy the drums in the surrounds shows in most cases that equivalent sized speakers for mains and surrounds are involved. Given this is an original 70s quad mix, where four equivalent sized speakers were involved, it makes sense and I respect, but don't love the decision to place the drums in the surrounds.

That said, I've loved Birds of Fire for decades and this release truly represents the best sonic experience of this amazing recording!

Fully understand your comments regarding drums panned to rears. My surrounds are full range and match my fronts pretty well. So BOF is an awesome sonic experience for me. Placed an order for Spectrum in quad back in Feb and still waiting for it to ship - I may be out of luck on that disc.

Just a heads up, you may not like The Who's Tommy on 5.1 Blu-ray since Keith Moon's drums are panned rear left throughout.

 

[ssully]

My speakers are all matched bookshelf-sized Behringer monitors (plus a subwoofer) , and I still don't like drums panned exclusively in back.

 

[The56Kid]

Fully understand your comments regarding drums panned to rears. My surrounds are full range and match my fronts pretty well. So BOF is an awesome sonic experience for me. Placed an order for Spectrum in quad back in Feb and still waiting for it to ship - I may be out of luck on that disc.

Just a heads up, you may not like The Who's Tommy on 5.1 Blu-ray since Keith Moon's drums are panned rear left throughout.

I was fortunate enough to snag a copy of Spectrum about a year ago and love it. I have Tommy on DVD-A and don't recall that Keith was panned rear left only, but I will have to give it another listen as it's been some time.

Bottomline for my surround happiness: main drum kit across the mains in front of me and percussive accents in the surrounds.

 

[Daniel John]

My speakers are all matched bookshelf-sized Behringer monitors (plus a subwoofer) , and I still don't like drums panned exclusively in back.

Yeah, can understand especially if you're got satellite or smallish bookshelves or monitor type speakers at the back.

 

[Daniel John]

I was fortunate enough to snag a copy of Spectrum about a year ago and love it. I have Tommy on DVD-A and don't recall that Keith was panned rear left only, but I will have to give it another listen as it's been some time.

Bottomline for my surround happiness: main drum kit across the mains in front of me and percussive accents in the surrounds.

Not sure about the DVD-A, but the bluray is mixed with drums rear left. Lots of controversy over that decision. :-0

 

[quicksrt]

Not sure about the DVD-A, but the bluray is mixed with drums rear left. Lots of controversy over that decision. :-0

Which title are you speaking of on Bluray?

 

[jsulzinger]

Which title are you speaking of on Bluray?

The recent Blu-Ray audio edition of Tommy that has a completely different mix than the DVD-A and SACD versions

 

[Daniel John]

The recent Blu-Ray audio edition of Tommy that has a completely different mix than the DVD-A and SACD versions

Yes, jsulzinger is correct. it's the 2013 BDA release of Tommy. You can check out the reviews in the Surround Polls at:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?18388

 

[par4ken]

Yeah, can understand especially if you're got satellite or smallish bookshelves or monitor type speakers at the back.

Get all matched full sized speakers for the best surround!

 

[Daniel John]

Actually, it's the Tommy bluray that made me bite the bullet and upgrade my rear speakers to large full range towers. Damn that Keith Moon.

 

[ssully]

Yeah, can understand especially if you're got satellite or smallish bookshelves or monitor type speakers at the back.

The Behringers are crossed over to the sub at 80 Hz, which is well above their -3dB point. I wouldn't call them smallish. Point is, it wouldn't matter if I had four 'full-range' towers (which really aren't 'full range') instead; I don't like that aesthetic choice for a mix (drums all behind/beside me). I'm not a fan of panning any main instrument exclusively to the surrounds.

 

[sukothai]

I'm not a fan of panning any main instrument exclusively to the surrounds.

I am :banana::banana::banana: