Jan Templiner wrote:

>I haven't heard those recordings, I don't even have a surround system
>anymore.  I used to have a Dolby Pro Logic system (when I bought it, there
>was nothing else available at reasonable cost), but replaced it a month ago
>by a stereo-only system.  I was distincly underwhelmed both by the titles
>available in surround and by the effect it has.  I found it absolutely
>useless for classical music.  I still don't quite see the point in it,
>aside from some works written for giant forces.  But those aside, does
>the hall ambience really add that much information?

I have a modest 5.1 channel HT system in one room for the purpose
of viewing DVDs.  I don't have a DVD-Audio player therein however I
do have several classical and non-classical 5.1 channel music discs
including the Aix 80006 (Beethoven Pastoral Symphony and the Respighi Pines
performed by Macal/NJSO) providing so stage and hall perspectives.  In
another room dedicated to audio alone I have a pair of Magneplanar Tympani
IVa loudspeakers.  The latter provide a "wall of sound" presumably that
recorded by the wherever the microphones were placed, and the tracks
"mixed" and set down to 2 channels.  With that said, I prefer my 2 channel
audio system.  The speakers radiate a front wall of sound and my listening
room acts like its own environment mimicking that of concert hall or studio
providing its own ambience: top, side and rear walls, which I've adapted
to accept as resembling the original recorded event.  If I had a limited
number of "X" dollars to invest in the best available 2 channel system (2
speakers and their amplification) vs.  a 5.1 channel system (6 speakers and
their amplification), I'd be sticking with the former!  5.1 channels are
more than necessary to suffice for the likes of "I Know What You Did Last
Summer".  I do rent all the new movies released on DVD which interest me
for use on the 5.1 system but my serious music listening (classical, and
"pop") will continue to go on in 2 channels only.

Norman Schwartz
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