Editorial for December 2007

by | Dec 1, 2007 | Editorial | 0 comments






Welcome to Adobe GoLive 6

Mack Avenue Records is providing our December Drawing/Giveaway, which should please Audiophile Audition jazz fans no end. A dozen of our readers will have their registration information drawn at the end of this month and be sent these two Mack Avenue discs: The exciting Gerald Wilson Orchestra’s “New York New Sound,” – in multichannel hybrid SACD – which we raved about here; plus some swinging versions of festive favorites titled “Jazz Yule Love II.”  Its 11 tracks feature such celebrated musicians as the Bud Shank Quartet, The Hot Club of Detroit, Oscar Castro-Neves and Sean Jones. To have your name and address drawn for the giveaway, just Register Right Here. (Please fill out all the fields; we don’t ask for much.)
 
The lucky winner of the Oppo DVD 970 Universal Disc Player – our November Drawing – is Ken Holder of Snowflake, AZ.  Congrats Ken!


Re: Surround Sound for Music 
An opinion from one of our guest reviewers worth being reminded of
 
Over the past year I have learned almost to an incontrovertible conclusion that two channels for classical music are hopelessly inadequate (when there is a multi-channel alternative of the same performance). But it is not always so clear-cut for jazz. But I have found that rear channel intrusion, most of which I don’t particularly care for, that is found in some jazz music is simply because the artist or the engineers or both simply want it that way. An aggressive mix found in some jazz releases, such as Telarc’s “Monte Meets Sly and Robbie” (which I love to death) is an artistic choice, not an insoluble mix of the genre and the technology.

And over the past few years it is clear to me that sound engineers are learning (and it is a learning process) to better exploit the special virtues of multichannel. To be sure, Joe McQueen’s “Ten at 86”, is the quintessential utilization of multichannel in jazz. There is no center channel utilized here, although you would never suspect it by listening. And the surround channels are utilized to an effective perfection. As with the best multichannel SACDs in my collection, to the listener who is not aware that a multichannel source is being played it simply sounds like the best “stereo” presentation that a two-channel system could muster. That is, until you switch to stereo and the acoustic space significantly flattens. In listening to this SACD the first couple of times I don’t recall being aware, even sub-consciously, of the rear channels unless I was intent on making a two-channel/multichannel comparison (which I rarely do anymore because it’s rudely disruptive and almost always a waste of time).

 


 
General Editorial 

 
Welcome to the web publication for audio, music and home theater, emphasizing hi-res, hi-def, and surround sound for music! AUDIOPHILE AUDITION began as a weekly national radio series hosted by John Sunier, which aired for 13 1/2 years on up to 200 public radio and commercial stations coast to coast.
 
December 07 is our 106th issue! and we recently observed our Ninth Anniversary! All reviews – over 100 a month – are added throughout the month as they are written and received. We have reorganized the web site to make it easier to navigate and find content. The most recent reviews appear at the top of each Section Index. To read the full review, click on the headline and you will be taken directly to that review. The Home Page lists the five latest published reviews, the Section Index lists the past two months of reviews, the Archive goes back to June 1, 2005, and for all reviews by month prior to that you need to click on the Old Archive, which goes back to 2001. The Disc Index also lists past reviews in every section.
 
You probably have some friends who would like to know about Audiophile Audition.  Please pass our URL on to them and help expand our elite group of readers and collectors.  It’s easy to do at the bottom of every review, by just clicking on the “Email this page to a friend” link. Thanks in advance for getting the word out!

We welcome your feedback, and we have a Reader Feedback section. Please send us your comments, and we will review and possibly post them to that section. Check back with us frequently for more reviews and news, and be sure to register for our monthly giveaway! When you do, please give us the few requested facts, including a working email and street address – otherwise we can’t send you your winning item!  We don’t share your information with anyone else.

 — The AUDIOPHILE AUDITION staff


 
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STAFF WRITERS:
Dalia
Geffen, Laurence Vittes, Tom Gibbs,
Gary
Lemco, Brian Bloom, Clay Swartz, John Henry, Peter Bates, Ron
Legum, Paul Pelon IV, Calvin Harding Jr.,
Birney Brown, Jeff Krow, Daniel Krow, Hermon Joyner, Bob Moon, Steven Ritter, Randy Haldeman, Max Dudious, Howard Herrnstadt, John Nemaric, John Sunier.


  © John Sunier 2007 


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