Thread: Pictures at an exhibition, few questions about different editions

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Post by dead_man_surfing December 6, 2005 (11 of 14)
Windsurfer said:

I am not sure but I believe the Vanguard multi-channel series actually do (erroneously in my judgement) have instruments coming out of the rear channels. This is gimmickery and I hope it will have a short life in the market. The purpose of the rear channels is to assist in creating the illusion of placing the listener in the concert hall. So all you should get, in an ideal recording from those rear speakers is a sense of being in an enlarged space instead of your listening room. Ideally you should be able to recognize the actual hall the recording was made in if you are familiar with its sound. If you have the Vanguard recording it probably does sit you in the middle of the orchestra and if you don't hear instruments coming out of the rear speakers something is likely wrong. Again, I haven't heard this yet just read about it. I bought the thing by mistake and I would check it out for sure for you but I am about two days away from completing my multi-channel system.

I agree that it is a great piece of music! I heard it played in Boston last year in Symphony Hall - that was terrific.

agree on the "hall" - argument, but when you just hear a little bit when tuning the rear to maximum no atmosphere will be given.

Dieter

Post by Windsurfer December 7, 2005 (12 of 14)
dead_man_surfing said:

agree on the "hall" - argument, but when you just hear a little bit when tuning the rear to maximum no atmosphere will be given.

Dieter

As I said:

"If you have the Vanguard recording it probably does sit you in the middle of the orchestra and if you don't hear instruments coming out of the rear speakers something is likely wrong."

I think something is wrong with either your setup or an amplifier or preamp - My player has a menu that allows (maybe I should say requires) you to declare whether there are rear speakers, the distance from the rear speakers to the listener, and the nominal loudness of the rear speakers. If yours does also, checking those settings may reveal your problem.

Post by Windsurfer December 10, 2005 (13 of 14)
dead_man_surfing said:

agree on the "hall" - argument, but when you just hear a little bit when tuning the rear to maximum no atmosphere will be given.

Dieter

The Vanguard Mackerras recording is very active in the rear channels with snare drums, triangles and all manner of percussion just as in the booklet description. Moreover several instruments are aligned along the sides in a "virtual image".

If you aren't getting this, there is definitely something either wrong with your equipment or the disc. Assuming your player is defaulting to multi-channel and not to stereo.

Something I am embarrassed to admit is that I had similar problems yesterday with the Parasound A-23 I am using for my rear channels. It has level controls in the back - the right channel was turned all the way to minimum, leaving me with little sound coming out of that channel.

After discovering and making the appropriate adjustment, all was well. Interestingly, the multi-channel mix is much more satisfying as the stereo is relatively mushed together while the three front channels in the multi mix have plenty of air and space between the well defined instruments. I still would have preferred the rear channels to have been used exclusively for ambience however.

You are definitely right about MacKerras's interpretation - it is stupendous.

Post by hanser December 14, 2005 (14 of 14)
What about the Stokowski instrumentation? should be great; I plan to buy it based on the reviews. Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky (Stokowski Transcriptions) - Serebrier

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