Have you ever been seduced by surrround sound?
A few years back when Dolby Pro Logic II was introduced I was excited to listen to all my music with the processing. I spent hours tweaking the settings to get the most 3D image I could. Eventually I found the sound to be more of a gimic than an improvement. I went back to listening to normal stereo.
Then I got seduced again by multi-channel DVD-Audio and SACDs. I never found much music on the formats that I liked. Some stand-outs included Queen
A night at the Opera and Flaming Lips
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. I tried to impress my father-in-law with the Queen surround mix and he fell asleep. The Flaming Lips album is more an experiment in annoying surround mixing than music so I only listened to it once.
Since then I've been on a quest to get the best stereo experience my budget will allow. I've upgraded my speakers, purchased tube pre-amps and separate 2 channel amps.
I think surround sound is great for movies and video games but it should keep its distance from stereo recordings.
Have you been seduced? Does surround music have a place in our listening rooms? Anyone else with similar stories as me? Did you feel cheated or was it a fun experiment?
Would you join the
Real Stereo Campaign?