[Sursound] What is Super Stereo? To: "Surround Sound discussion
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Is anyone listining to stereo recordings in SuperStereo? Does it
sound natural (when you play compatible stereo recordings) or is it
more some "Wow! the sound is all around" effect?
/lurk mode off
I frequently listen to stereo recordings using SuperStereo in preference
to the DSP "5-channel stereo" facility of my Denon AV amplifier. This
makes use of a prototype Boots/Minim UHJ decoder, vintage 1981 hooked in
via the Denon's external processor loop.
In general - there are always exceptions - I use just a small amount of
width expansion for the majority of orchestral 'classical music'
recordings. Going to the full 150 degree (approx) width doesn't sound
right to me at all. I am used to the sound (and ambience) of live
orchestral music - London's Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Albert
Hall are within easy reach, for example. In all probability, I'm more
comfortable with the orchestra firmly in front of me, with a small
amount of width expansion to push the brass and kitchen departments more
into the sort of audio perspective I'm used to.
However, choral music comes alive given the extra sound-space, and
there's often a good degree of immersion. I've just returned from a
Eucharist service in Westminster Abbey where I was seated immediately
behind the Decani lay vicars, so am well used to being immersed in
choral music. 50 years ago, I was similarly immersed, but as a treble
chorister (Cantoris) in one of our large cathedrals.
In my opinion, SuperStereo comes into its own when used to reproduce
almost anything mixed from multitrack and which never had a "real"
original soundfield. Here, the full width may be used with confidence.
Unlike all DSP "surround" I've heard derived from stereo, there's not
only a sense of immersion, but a sense of warmth and life in the music.
It is also free of some of the distortions often perceived using DSP
to "enhance" stereo, although obviously the original stereo image is
being 'distorted'.
I've played stereo recordings to numerous people, nearly all of them
non-techie and certainly not golden-eared; without exception, all have
been amazed by the sound SuperStereo produces via a 5.1 "home cinema"
set-up, and report that when reverting to the original stereo (bypass
mode), the sound is "lifeless". The next comment invariably is "Were can
I buy one of these? It would sound great for in discotheque as well as
at home."
My system can reproduce the side/rear channels using B&W dipoles mounted
on axis with and 1 metre above the video/audio sweet-spot for normal 5.1
surround, or can be switched to use a rear forward-facing pair. For
ambisonic material, be it UHJ via the decoder or G-format from DTS-CDs,
I always use the rear pair only as there's sufficient stable side imaging.
I certainly prefer not to use the side dipoles for SuperStereo, and
most people that have experienced it on my system seem to concur.
regards
--
Peter Carbines /returning to 'Lurk' mode