Thread: What is your WORST Mixed MultiChannel SACD Purchase?

Posts: 4

Post by delerue May 30, 2005 (1 of 4)
Mine has to be JT (James Taylor) mixed by Nathaniel Kunkel. The disc sounds like an experiment by some techno nerds toying with a new concept, i.e multichannel mix. Some of the tracks sound fine but some (such as Honey Don't Leave LA, Another Grey Morning, etc...) come off with James Taylor's fine vocal isolated to the center speaker only. It distracts one from the entire listening experience and is as annoying as having Nathaniel kick you in the rear to remind you that HE was mixing this masterpiece in multichannel.

Overall, an artifical and ineffective way to show off this great title in surround sound. I will stay away from anything that Nathaniel ruined, I meant, touched ! Uurrrgghhhh......

Post by fotodan May 31, 2005 (2 of 4)
Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade with Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra on Philips. I played it over and over and adjusted as many variables on my system as I could but finally decided it was simply a lousy recording. Sold it.

Post by Daland May 31, 2005 (3 of 4)
fotodan said:

Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade with Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra on Philips. I played it over and over and adjusted as many variables on my system as I could but finally decided it was simply a lousy recording. Sold it.

You may have adjusted too many variables on your system. It sounds just great on my own system. One of the best multi-channel recordings I have heard. I use Borodin's "In the Steppes of Central Asia" for demonstration purposes.

Post by fafnir June 11, 2005 (4 of 4)
fotodan said:

Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade with Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra on Philips. I played it over and over and adjusted as many variables on my system as I could but finally decided it was simply a lousy recording. Sold it.

I am afraid that I must concur with fotodan. When I came across this discussion, the first SACD that I thought of was the Gergiev recording. In fact, I kept it only to demonstrate to my friends that poor judgement on the part of the recording engineers will defeat good technology every time. The main problem is that the engineers seemingly had no idea what to do with the rear channels and created a sound stage that sounds like an echo chamber.

My second choice would be the Hough/Hyperion Rachmaninoff set, which sounds as if it were recorded from behind a screen in the rear balcony of the world's largest concert hall. This is a shame too, because the performances are very fine indeed, and Hyperion usually does much better.

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