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I have Herb's Greatest hits CD as well as greatest hits volume 2 and several Early A&M CD releases and I'm happy to say the left/right stereo is still present and the shout factory and HAP releases retain that same mix to my knowledge they were Not remixed I hope this helps MikeI need to check my CD of Herb's Greatest Hits -- most of my A&M CDs are stored away in favor of the newer Shout or HAP versions. Was the left/right stereo still present on Greatest Hits, or did they remix it into the newer less-separated sound for that release, or did they remix for earlier CD releases too?
It was a straight transfer from whatever was on the original LP. I've never heard any A&Ms that were altered upon reissue, Herb or otherwise.I need to check my CD of Herb's Greatest Hits
I've actually heard neither quad nor surround sound. As a kid, I recall all the hoopla with quad: then, as now, the sonic delivery diagram -- showing a family happily surrounded by music in the four corners of their living room -- seemed peculiar. Unless you want to hear the orchestra as though you're the 4th chair clarinetist, the placement made no outward logical sense. Similarly, for pop LPs, where the soundstage is created (and not typically reflective of how the band is physically oriented), it just seemed odd to want to hear a combo from the viewpoint of within the immediate confines of their instrumental envelope. By virtue its name, "surround sound" I’d gather this is the same deal -- just fancier. (I don’t watch movies (though I do buy soundtracks -- but only for the composer's work, not the screenplay) and know next-to-nothing about that sort of thing, but I always thought "surround sound" was for all those Hollywood action films where everything’s always blowing up and people are screaming and such...so as to make it more you-are-there-ish.)Quadraphonic and surround sound, done right, have a similar placement of instruments between all the speakers. Modern day surround has much better mixes than most quadraphonic releases, though, as engineers back then simply threw different instruments at the four corners without much care or thought put into it--the mixes back then were often gimmicky at best.
Different-er?By virtue its name, "surround sound" I’d gather this is the same deal -- just fancier.
I had a surround sound receiver for almost a decade 2003 until 2011 sometimes it sounded great other times not so much depending on what I was playing but the simple two channel Sony receiver I currently use and have been using since 2011 has been Stellar and Simple to me keeping it simple and doing more with less Goes a lot farther and is more enjoyable at the end of the dayI lived through the "quad" phenomenon. Since not everyone was set up for quad, as a demonstration, there were two FM stations in the market that got together and played a quad record - two channels on one station, two channels on the other. I remember setting up two stereo receivers in our basement and trying to hear this quad broadcast. It was underwhelming to say the least. One of the stations had an overactive compressor/processor which didn't lend itself at all to this experiment. One of the stations actually went to "quad broadcasting" for a short time, but it never amounted to much as the craze (if there ever was one) died out.
My favorite movie since 1968 was, and has always been, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. It was a true "experience" in the Cinerama theater in which I saw it the first couple of times. Particularly enjoyable was my first experience with surround sound. The early part of the movie with the man-apes shrieking first on the sides and then seemingly from the rear of the theater. It became a little game with me over the years to get as close to that experience as I could.
Obviously a mono version of the film on VHS wouldn't do it. A stereo VHS still didn't really accomplish anything either as it was all pan and scan anyway. I bought into the LaserDisc thing as I'd seen a demo of the 2001 disc playing on a store display. It was Letterbox! I had to have it, and sure enough, my first LaserDisc purchase was the 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY disc on Criterion. Though it had a nice stereo soundtrack, and by then, I had at least a Pro-Logic setting on my receiver and I set up rear speakers - it still wasn't quite the discreet sound I'd heard in the theater.
Finally when DVD arrived in the late 90s/early 2000s, I was able to funnel the 5.1 surround Dolby Digital track to my front and rear speakers in the large house up north. I could finally hear the man-apes shrieking from behind my couch! We had of course, other movies with 5.1 sound and enjoyed some of them. Mostly it was the sound of bullets and storm noise that seemed to wake up the rear surround speakers. It was a fun, but not essential part of most viewing experiences. I recall a STAR WARS movie - I think it was ATTACK OF THE CLONES - that opened up with the loud engine noise of the transport space-plane arriving on Coruscant. It shook the surround speakers so much so that I could actually smell the wood in the speaker cabinets!
There were a few DTS surround CDs that I bought too, Herb Alpert's PASSION DANCE, Carpenters SACD, and the Corrs IN BLUE. While it was somewhat interesting hearing the separated surround sound, it seemed to me to be too confining to bother with. Stereo copies of this were just as entertaining, particularly when I was in another room.
When we moved south, I found that this house just doesn't lend itself easily to surround sound. Though the house is wired for surround speakers in the ceiling, I've never bothered with it. After all of the hubbub I went through up north just to get a few sound effects coming from the rear, I just didn't think it was worth the effort here. Plain old stereo, with a center channel for movies, sounds pretty darned good to us most of the time.
I find this to be the case also. Stuffing speakers onto bookshelves or on the floor near the furniture are practices that started in the 60s when compact "bookshelf" speakers became popular. Think of the KLH Model 6, the Advent, AR, etc. No way some of these would fit on an actual bookshelf (them Advents is heavy!!), but the acoustic suspension or vented cabinets allowed smaller cabinet dimensions than typical floor standing speakers of the day. Even today, many are happy to stick a pair of Bluetooth speakers on a kitchen counter or tucked into the decor. And I'll even admit I do the same, like the pair of Boston A40s on top of cabinets in the kitchen--perfect for background while making a mess at the stove or stuffing my face.As for muddled stereo soundstages: listen to any given Steely Dan LP -- if it sounds muddled it's your set-up and not the stereo imaging. From experience, once I got my Hi-Fi into a larger room with proper sound tiles and such, the pop soundstage came alive and I could discern left-to-right sonic placement (the panning) from the crafted soundstage.
ROGER all of the above. Getting my speakers off the floor (about 20 years ago) was a good move, but a good 2' away from the back wall and "isolated" to limited degree on their stands (which are weighty) helps to further define bass and lower mids.I find this to be the case also. Stuffing speakers onto bookshelves or on the floor near the furniture are practices that started in the 60s when compact "bookshelf" speakers became popular. Think of the KLH Model 6, the Advent, AR, etc. No way some of these would fit on an actual bookshelf (them Advents is heavy!!), but the acoustic suspension or vented cabinets allowed smaller cabinet dimensions than typical floor standing speakers of the day. Even today, many are happy to stick a pair of Bluetooth speakers on a kitchen counter or tucked into the decor. And I'll even admit I do the same, like the pair of Boston A40s on top of cabinets in the kitchen--perfect for background while making a mess at the stove or stuffing my face.
Yet it doesn't take much to properly set up speakers for a proper listening system. Take some measurements, set up a good listening position, leave some room behind the speakers (get them away from the walls), and go at it. One can even improvise and make some temporary stands to put the speakers on, so they are more at ear level vs. pointing into our knees. (Even cinder blocks, if disguised, make for very sturdy stands that can outperform stands costing in the hundreds of dollars.)