Music For The Lexicon!

[BacktoHyundaibychoice]

OK... HANDS DOWN the BEST 5.1 so far is the Beatles Love DVD-A!!!!! (count um, 5 points). Just like you guys have said. Still to arrive is the 5.1 demo sampler DVD-A

As a review for those just joining this thread- the 17 speaker Lexicon is awesome. That's all you need to know.

My dealer now uses "Love" as a demo for the Lexicon.
Wonder where he got the idea...
;-)

 

[gerryb]

Not everyone likes the Beatles... I'm not sure I could stay in the car very long with that DVD playing in the dealer's showroom...

 

[BacktoHyundaibychoice]

Not everyone likes the Beatles... I'm not sure I could stay in the car very long with that DVD playing in the dealer's showroom...

I suspect it's THE soundtrack for those coming from an Avalon, Buick, or similar. In other words, the over 50(?) crowd should be fine with it.
Curious though: with what music would YOU demo the Lex?

 

[gerryb]

I suspect it's THE soundtrack for those coming from an Avalon, Buick, or similar. In other words, the over 50(?) crowd should be fine with it.
Curious though: with what music would YOU demo the Lex?

Great question...! To be honest, I haven't really found anything that is 'AWESOME SOUNDING' after having purchased a few DTS DVDs and A couple DVD-AUDIOs. I bet the Love DVD sounds great but I have to like the music as well as the way it sounds through the audio system to really enjoy it. (I'm in the under 45 camp..) I'm waiting for a few more to come in and may post a quick review of the ones I have.

 

[BacktoHyundaibychoice]

Great question...! To be honest, I haven't really found anything that is 'AWESOME SOUNDING' after having purchased a few DTS DVDs and A couple DVD-AUDIOs. I bet the Love DVD sounds great but I have to like the music as well as the way it sounds through the audio system to really enjoy it. (I'm in the under 45 camp..) I'm waiting for a few more to come in and may post a quick review of the ones I have.

1. "Love" DOES sound amazing.
2. Which DVD-A's do you have? I'm in the market for some...
3. Please do post a review when you get them. (See #2)

Thx!

 

[gerryb]

1. "Love" DOES sound amazing.
2. Which DVD-A's do you have? I'm in the market for some...
3. Please do post a review when you get them. (See #2)

Thx!

Will do. I can tel you that the biggest impression to friends has been made by the Eages DVD (Video with DTS). Watching the video, close-ups of the guitar, vocalists, etc. while hearing 5.1 audio through 17 speakers has left a few of my friends and my wife in awe of the technology in the this car. I personally didn't think the audio track was 'superb' but certainly very very good. I think I would use this approach with an in-showroom demo...anything.. anything but the Beatles.

 

[BacktoHyundaibychoice]

I think I would use this approach with an in-showroom demo...anything.. anything but the Beatles.

Get off my lawn! Damn kids...

 

[musher51]

anything.. anything but the Beatles.

If you're more of a rock-n-roll guy, I can heartily recommend Deep Purple's "Machine Head" on DVD-A. The whole damn thing is pretty amazing, but the guitar and organ solos on Highway Star and Lazy - in particular - will blow you right out of the car. I even cranked this one for my parents (both 84) over Christmas and they couldn't believe the sound!

 

[cliffbig]

Not everyone likes the Beatles... I'm not sure I could stay in the car very long with that DVD playing in the dealer's showroom...

Nevertheless, it is a disc that will help to sell tech systems because of the superlative sound quality and mix.

Other discs I strongly recommend is Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet, Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name, Genesis' Abacab, The Best of REM, and the first Barenaked Ladies album. (Some of those might prove harder to find than others.)

I Like the Eagles' live DVD-audio, but I'd never recommend it (or any live album) as a DVD-A demo disc. IN almost every case, all you get is excellent stereo for the music and an audience crammed in the back seat (or so it sounds). If you really want to sell the benefits of the system, you need to demo something with discrete sound placement, and the choices I've suggested all have it in spades.

 

[BaywayRic]

Will do. I can tel you that the biggest impression to friends has been made by the Eages DVD (Video with DTS). Watching the video, close-ups of the guitar, vocalists, etc. while hearing 5.1 audio through 17 speakers has left a few of my friends and my wife in awe of the technology in the this car. I personally didn't think the audio track was 'superb' but certainly very very good. I think I would use this approach with an in-showroom demo...anything.. anything but the Beatles.

The man is dead on The two ways to be blown out of the car is the "Intro" which plays after you select DTS, but before it gets to the first track. The second is the 'hidden track' Seven Bridges Road, which only plays with DTS, and it has to be manually selected via the play list. (it's at the bottom of page 2) Set EQ at treb 50%, mid 75% & bass 100%

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[genesis@genesisworld.com]

There is an audio company called Chesky (www.Chesky.com ). Through Amazon, I received - The Ultimate DVD SURROUND Sampler & 5.1 Set-up Disc. Chesky does some pretty great 5.1 (and 6.0) recordings.

Unfortunately of the 2 disks I was supposed to get, I only got the jazz / classical sampler. While I like Jazz & classical, I really was looking forward to their test DVD-A to really check out the Lexicon performance from a technical perspective. The booklet that comes with the disk set is REALLY informative about 5.1/6.0, all about DVD-A and more.

The Test disk has standard things like channel ID-ing for all channels; rattle test; several various tests of the bass and sub; comparison of stereo & 5.1; AND..... get this.... a 5.1 recording of a NYC subwayride!!

I'll give another post when I get the Test disk and run it. I have the 17 speaker Lexicon so if the player will handle it, I'll also try the 6.0

 

[gerryb]

The man is dead on The two ways to be blown out of the car is the "Intro" which plays after you select DTS, but before it gets to the first track. The second is the 'hidden track' Seven Bridges Road, which only plays with DTS, and it has to be manually selected via the play list. (it's at the bottom of page 2) Set EQ at treb 50%, mid 75% & bass 100%

Cool. I didn't notice the hidden track! (Bass at 100%? You must also be a member of the under 45 group of Genesis Owners!)

 

[BacktoHyundaibychoice]

Cool. I didn't notice the hidden track! (Bass at 100%? You must also be a member of the under 45 group of Genesis Owners!)

Or the deaf over 55 crowd!

 

[BaywayRic]

or the deaf over 55 crowd!

ouch!!!!

 

[genesis@genesisworld.com]

There is an audio company called Chesky (www.Chesky.com ). Through Amazon, I received - The Ultimate DVD SURROUND Sampler & 5.1 Set-up Disc. Chesky does some pretty great 5.1 (and 6.0) recordings.

Unfortunately of the 2 disks I was supposed to get, I only got the jazz / classical sampler. While I like Jazz & classical, I really was looking forward to their test DVD-A to really check out the Lexicon performance from a technical perspective. The booklet that comes with the disk set is REALLY informative about 5.1/6.0, all about DVD-A and more.

The Test disk has standard things like channel ID-ing for all channels; rattle test; several various tests of the bass and sub; comparison of stereo & 5.1; AND..... get this.... a 5.1 recording of a NYC subwayride!!

I'll give another post when I get the Test disk and run it. I have the 17 speaker Lexicon so if the player will handle it, I'll also try the 6.0

Got this straightened out. In the process, I've learned a LOT about DVD-A, the Lexicon, "Groups" and a lot more.

First, here's the link to the DVD on Chesky's site--
http://www.chesky.com/core/details.cfm?productcode=CHDVD221&productcategoryid=2

There is no '2nd disk'. EVERYTHING is piled on one DVD. When you start the disk in the Lexicon, it goes right to the sample music. You then press the knob to the right and choose "GROUPS". The little book that comes with this DVD explains everything (had I taken the time to read it). Selecting the various groups puts you into a total of 80+ additional tracks with everything from test tones to riding the NYC subway in 5.1. It is AWESOME! It also goes through many speaker phasing tests. For the Lexicon this is not really needed, but if you are checking your home 5.1, it is invaluable to make sure you have all of the wiring correct. The 'narrator' walks you through in friendly detail.

Probably the most INTERESTING test that I came across was the Rattle Test. It's two parts. Basically, they slowly sweep a tone from 20Hz up to about 120Hz. As the tone slowly moves, items in your car (or home of course) becomes 'sympathetic' with the tone. They vibrate and rattle. My biggest rattle was the empty CD/DVD cases I have stored in the passenger door. BUT... I also found one in the back deck area. I mention this because I know we've had some complaints about various rattles and not being able to find them. In normal cars they get masked by road noice, but in the Genny, they stick out. THIS tool should help to easily identify where a rattle is coming from. You can, of course, have that track repeat and keep hunting for the source of a rattle.

I do find that the frequency response of the center channel (it's the elongated speaker on the dash) is not as good as the door speakers. The highs are missing. Before I call that a fault, it might be by design in that typically as we listen to 5.1, the sound designers try to expand the 'spacial' nature of the sound and thus reasonably little goes to the center speaker.

And did I mention how realistic and AWESOME the NYC subway ride is? Having ridden it many times in my life... all that was missing was the smell. Now if they can figure THAT out... (then again maybe not)

 

[gerryb]

Hyundai (Or Lexicon) should really include this type of disc with the system. I was surprised to not see any sample disc. Even my 1990 Thunderbird SC with JBL system had a demo TAPE to show off the acoustics!

Update on my music. Received Roy Orbison's DVD_Audio yesterday. Very nice Sound Quality. So far, from an audio separation perspective, it is 'better' than the Eagles DVD Video w DTS, and my Marvin Gaye DVD_Audio.

 

[BacktoHyundaibychoice]

I do find that the frequency response of the center channel (it's the elongated speaker on the dash) is not as good as the door speakers. The highs are missing. Before I call that a fault, it might be by design in that typically as we listen to 5.1, the sound designers try to expand the 'spacial' nature of the sound and thus reasonably little goes to the center speaker.
QUOTE]

Isn't the center speaker usually used for dialogue in a movie? That might explain the flatter response.
As for the rattles, I don't want to find any!!!! (So far, so good!)

 

[BacktoHyundaibychoice]

Update on my music. Received Roy Orbison's DVD_Audio yesterday. Very nice Sound Quality. So far, from an audio separation perspective, it is 'better' than the Eagles DVD Video w DTS, and my Marvin Gaye DVD_Audio.

Thx for the update. I have Black and White Nights ordered, so that's good to hear (no pun intended). It sounds great on the iPod/Lex combo, can't wait to experience the DVD-A.

 

[elshagon]

For those who are curious/interested, there are ways to rip the individual songs off of dvd-audio discs and re-author your own mixed dvd-a disc. This allows you to have a dvd with songs from multiple albums, much in the way you make a mixed cd of music. It's not as easy as doing a cd, but dvd-audio ripping has come a long way, and is not difficult as it once was. If there's interest I will start a thread with a tutorial. Also if anyone is interested I could do a test disc to send to someone to make sure it works with the lexicon system. I don't have the Genesis myself, but hope to sometime this year.

 

[gerryb]

My 4th DVD-A came in today - Olivia Newton John live in concert in AC a couple of years ago. I'm not a big fan but she does have a nice harmonic voice and some of the tracks really sound great with clear 5.1 separation. I have decided to take the CDs out of the car and just use the USB stick drive for all the cds I want to listen to. I've burned tham at 192 and I can't notice a significant difference between the ripped music and the actual CD. DVD-A are totally different - much more richness and depth than the CDs so I'm going to use the 6 slots for DVD-A exclusively.