Dave Lampson writes:

>But I did hear an outstanding recording of this piece recently.  A friend
>has put together a state-of-the-art home theater system (including a 120"
>projection TV) with some excellent audio electronics (Madrigal, Proceed,
>Revel, etc.), fully capable of getting the most out of Dolby Digital (aka
>AC-3) or DTS (Digital Theater Sound) encoded CDs or DVDs.
>
>As anyone familiar with surround sound can tell you, there are a number
>of perspectives that engineers can take when deciding where the listener
>is with respect to the instruments of the orchestra.  Some recordings put
>you right in the middle of the orchestra.  Some just put instruments as far
>apart as possible, resulting in that annoying ping pong effect common with
>early surround sound.

I don't have anything close to the HTS described above.  However, I
certainly can and do hear perspective effects when listening/watching 5.1
channel DVDs.  I have Delos DVD 7003: "Space Spectacular" which includes
The Planets and Also Sprach Zarathustra conducted by Andrew Litton/Dallas
Symphony Orchestra.  This DVD, in Delos' 5 channel- virtual sound puts me
in "No-Mans Land".  I sure would be appreciative if someone would provide
a list of DVDs of classical music which you place you in one of the
exciting and musically informative perspectives Dave describes, (no
ping-pongs, but in the middle of the orchestra or right above the
conductors head would be most ideal).  I might be asking for too much,
but I would also like those DVDs to include video as well as audio.  I've
reached the age at which I'm beyond the point of being distracted by seeing
the performers.

Norman Schwartz
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