Where to buy Surround Sound 5.1 discs

[shagnat]

I have searched and searched (maybe I'm stoopid) and unable to find much at all (if anything) in the way of 5.1 surround sound DVD A discs.

Anyone have some leads they could share so I can buy a few.

If anyone has Hotel California in 5.1 I'd love to have it. Can only find it on DVD Video which is NOT in 5.1. *sigh*

 

[Mark_888]

Music has to be recorded in 5.1 discrete surround sound in order for them to release a recording in DVD-A with 5.1 discrete surround. Very few music recordings were/are made that way, unless maybe they happen to be movie soundtracks. But there are some 5.1 music recordings, and I believe some sources are mentioned in other threads on this forum.

Of course, it is possible that a recording engineer can take a 2-track stereo and synthesize 5.1 surround sound and release a DVD-A disk that way, but your Lexicon can already do that with any stereo source.

 

[nfetterly]

pm sent - available from "other sellers" on amazon ($$$)

 

[shagnat]

Music has to be recorded in 5.1 discrete surround sound in order for them to release a recording in DVD-A with 5.1 discrete surround. Very few music recordings were/are made that way, unless maybe they happen to be movie soundtracks. But there are some 5.1 music recordings, and I believe some sources are mentioned in other threads on this forum.

Of course, it is possible that a recording engineer can take a 2-track stereo and synthesize 5.1 surround sound and release a DVD-A disk that way, but your Lexicon can already do that with any stereo source.

My audio system does not play 5.1 surround sound from a stereo source. I have a few 5.1 DVD audio discs and there is a world of difference in the sound (even with the same album/cd or whatever you want to call it. Stereo is 2 channel as you know and cannot be decoded by our Lexicon system into 5.1. At least not my 2010 w/Tec. Maybe you got one that can....... lucky you if that's the case.

 

[Mark_888]

My audio system does not play 5.1 surround sound from a stereo source. I have a few 5.1 DVD audio discs and there is a world of difference in the sound (even with the same album/cd or whatever you want to call it. Stereo is 2 channel as you know and cannot be decoded by our Lexicon systems. At least not my 2010 w/Tec. Maybe you got one that can....... lucky you if that's the case.

Perhaps you didn't understand what I was trying to say, because your system can synthesize 5.1 surround sound from a stereo source. Both the 14 and 17 speaker Lexicon systems on the Genesis can synthesize 5.1 surround sound (2 front, 3 rear, 1 subwoofer) from a stereo input. Only the 17 speaker system can play 5.1 that was recorded as 5.1 discrete surround sound. 7.1 surround if desired is achieved by just creating 2 additional rear/side channels from the original 3 rear channels.

Synthesizing 5.1 surround sound from a stereo source on the 14 or 17 speaker Lexicon is done by taking the stereo source material and introducing a delay to create the 3 rear surround channels (a listener in a concert hall receives sounds that bounce off the rear walls somewhat delayed from the original direct frontal sound). The Lexicon can synthesize the subwoofer output by crossover filtering of the stereo signal and feeding a separate low frequency signal to your subwoofer. The magnitude/type of rear channel delay can be altered to simulate different size listening halls/venues, anywhere from a small room to a large concert hall. Usually the type of music determines what kind of concert hall re-enactment is appropriate for a particular audio recording.

 

[shagnat]

Perhaps you didn't understand what I was trying to say, because your system can synthesize 5.1 surround sound from a stereo source. Both the 14 and 17 speaker Lexicon systems on the Genesis can synthesize 5.1 surround sound (2 front, 3 rear, 1 subwoofer) from a stereo input. Only the 17 speaker system can play 5.1 that was recorded as 5.1 discrete surround sound. 7.1 surround if desired is achieved by just creating 2 additional rear/side channels from the original 3 rear channels.

Synthesizing 5.1 surround sound from a stereo source on the 14 or 17 speaker Lexicon is done by taking the stereo source material and introducing a delay to create the 3 rear surround channels (a listener in a concert hall receives sounds that bounce off the rear walls somewhat delayed from the original direct frontal sound). The Lexicon can synthesize the subwoofer output by crossover filtering of the stereo signal and feeding a separate low frequency signal to your subwoofer. The magnitude/type of rear channel delay can be altered to simulate different size listening halls/venues, anywhere from a small room to a large concert hall. Usually the type of music determines what kind of concert hall re-enactment is appropriate for a particular audio recording.

You're correct. I didn't understand what you were saying. However, if synthesized sound is supposed to sound anywhere close to the real deal, then it falls waaaaay short, at least in my Genny (17 speaker). I use CDs (very few) 5.1 surround sound DVD-A, a flash drive, also my iPod.
Of those sources, the DVD-A 5.1 sounds best by a big margin. Next is the iPod. After that comes CDs, and lastly is my flash drive. The flash drive sounds equivalent to XM radio. It's noise, and it has a beat and song, but, sound quality isn't worth the time of day. My radio in HD sounds better than my flash drive. Dunno why as I'm not a recording engineer, just a used-to-be self-professed audiophile in the 70s-early 2000s when everything went to CD and lost the warmth and naturalism of black vinyl.
I firmly believe the flash drives and/or SD cards have a lot to do with sound quality. No proof, just my own ears, but, thanks for going into such detail to explain what these systems are capable.

 

[Mark_888]

You're correct. I didn't understand what you were saying. However, if synthesized sound is supposed to sound anywhere close to the real deal, then it falls waaaaay short, at least in my Genny (17 speaker).

I am not a big fan of surround sound, but you might want to experiment with the synthesized surround sound settings of your system to see if you can get it sound better. I am not even sure if it is on by default if you play stereo sources.

 

[rhubarb9999]

You're correct. I didn't understand what you were saying. However, if synthesized sound is supposed to sound anywhere close to the real deal, then it falls waaaaay short, at least in my Genny (17 speaker). I use CDs (very few) 5.1 surround sound DVD-A, a flash drive, also my iPod.
Of those sources, the DVD-A 5.1 sounds best by a big margin. Next is the iPod. After that comes CDs, and lastly is my flash drive. The flash drive sounds equivalent to XM radio. It's noise, and it has a beat and song, but, sound quality isn't worth the time of day. My radio in HD sounds better than my flash drive. Dunno why as I'm not a recording engineer, just a used-to-be self-professed audiophile in the 70s-early 2000s when everything went to CD and lost the warmth and naturalism of black vinyl.
I firmly believe the flash drives and/or SD cards have a lot to do with sound quality. No proof, just my own ears, but, thanks for going into such detail to explain what these systems are capable.

If you think that HD radio sounds better than the files on your flash drive, then you have some crappy MP3 files on your flash drive. It has nothing to do with the format of the media.

Try ripping some CDs at 320Kbps using Constant Bit Rate. They will sound delightful in the Genesis.

Turning on the Surround mode for stereo sources not only adds delay but it also extracts phase and difference information from the two channels and moves them to the back. If a sound (say a guitar part) is panned hard to one side or the other, it will be louder in the rear channels. I have a Lexicon theater processor at home and it has the same algorithms in it as the Genesis. It can do some pretty special things with good stereo sources.

Also keep in mind that DVD-A 5.1 audio discs do not automatically 'sound better'. They are usually better because an engineer has gone back to the original multi-track tapes and remixed the album using modern equipment. Now they have 5.1 channels to move sounds into instead of just 2. There are some 5.1 mixes that are excellent (all the early Elton John albums for instance), and there are some that are horrific (Steve Miller's Fly Like an Eagle).

How the engineer chooses to utilize the extra channels can be different as well. For example, on Donald Fagen's first two solo albums, 'Nightfly' and 'Kamakiriad', the back channels have almost all of the horns and background vocals. Some people like this effect, some don't. On an album like the Eagles 'Hell Freezes Over', the back channels are mostly ambiance and reverb, simulating the bounce from the back of the concert venue.

For older albums, the quality of the original multi-tracks may not be very good .. or in some cases, the multi-tracks are lost or damaged. Therefore, there will never be a 5.1 mix available (Steely Dan's 'Aja') or the 5.1 mix will suck (Meat Loaf's 'Bat Out of Hell').

I won't get into the concept of 'remastering' now .. that's a whole different enchilada.

I am an audio engineer and have a large collection of both DVD-A and SACD multi-channel mixes, as well as some older quad mixes that have been transferred to surround formats like DTS. I'd be happy to answer any questions about the different formats.

 

[elshagon]

Music has to be recorded in 5.1 discrete surround sound in order for them to release a recording in DVD-A with 5.1 discrete surround. Very few music recordings were/are made that way, unless maybe they happen to be movie soundtracks. But there are some 5.1 music recordings, and I believe some sources are mentioned in other threads on this forum.

Of course, it is possible that a recording engineer can take a 2-track stereo and synthesize 5.1 surround sound and release a DVD-A disk that way, but your Lexicon can already do that with any stereo source.

This isn't accurate at all. Music is recorded in multitracks. Sometimes you have 14-20 different tracks laid down for a song. Several vocal tracks, drum tracks etc. To mix into surround all you need is those multitracks to do so. This is why you have older recordings such as the Beatles "Love" album, The Who, Yes, The Eagles, etc in surround.
To answer the OP's question: You can get some discs still on Amazon. Also check ebay. Some dvd-audio discs are still being released. The Yes Album was just released a couple weeks ago and was mixed by Steven Wilson who has been mixing Jethro Tull, Yes, XTC among others recently. Go to Burning Shed to get some of these discs. Also go to http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/forum.php which is a forum with loads of info on surround discs past and present being released and where to buy. Good luck finding Hotel California as it is out of print and costs way too much on ebay. PM me for info on how to find the "hard to find" discs.