Chicago Symphony to Release More SACDs – The trend with changes in the classical recording world has been for symphony orchestras around the world to produce their own CDs, DVDs, SACDs and digital downloads. We have been covering SACDs from several of the orchestras, but were disappointed that most of the discs from the Chicago Symphony’s CSO Resound label – launched two years ago – have only been standard CDs (and a fine CD+DVD of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony). Now the Symphony has announced more recordings, and that both CD and SACD versions will be the norm for most future releases. The SACDs will only be available at the Symphony’s web site: cso.org or in person at their store in Chicago. The Mahler First and Sixth Symphonies have already been issued in SACD versions and the new release is Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe, scheduled for international release May 25. It will also be available in hi-res lossless format as a download at HDtracks.com beginning July 14. The CSO Resound CD “Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago” won the 2008 Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Classical. The Symphony’s producer James Mallinson produced the first digital recording of Mahler’s Second Symphony with Sir Georg Solti conducting, which won two Grammy awards in 1981. The CSO recorded legacy amounts to over 900 recordings going back to 1916, and includes 60 Grammy awards, more than any other orchestra in the world.
Panasonic Announces Blu-ray Portable – One of the issues that has held back Blu-ray, in addition to cost, is the fact that only standard DVDs have been portable for viewing on plane flights, keeping kids quieter in the van, and the many other uses of portable video entertainment. Well, that just changed since Panasonic has launched an in-car Blu-ray player. It features a 7-inch display, GPS, a DVD/CD player, Bluetooth, a 40GB hard drive and iPod/iPhone compatibility. The price was not announced. Sure, you’re not going to see much hi-def image improvement on a 7-inch screen, but this move should make Blu-ray more attractive to more consumers.
Height and Width Channels Added to 5.1 Surround – Audyssey’s new DSX surround listening mode is featured for the first time in Denon’s new multichannel receiver, the AVR-4310CI. At the same time the receiver also includes Dolby’s new height-enhanced Pro Logic IIz. DSX adds 45 degrees off-center wide and 45 degrees upward height channels to the standard 5.1-channel surround array. Audyssey reports that their research shows listeners are most likely to appreciate the addition of width first, followed by height, with the addition of back-surrounds (normal 6.1 & 7.1) the third choice. They said 75% to 80% of listeners who have 7.1 receivers don’t bother to connect the back-surrounds. Now those are sensible listeners, who obviously don’t feel the results are worth it, or have run into the problem of the speakers needing to be placed right where people normally enter the room. The receiver has seven amplifier channels, so users have to decide if they want the width or the height channels – they can’t have both at once. Denon, celebrating its 99th anniversary this year, has introduced nine new receivers.
