[John Doe]

About 10yrs ago, I read an editorial in Fi magazine (remember them ?)
concering multichannel (mc) vs 2ch reproduction. The gist of the
article was that mc audio was (at the time) based on the audio standards
established for the movie industry, which are vastly different from the
needs of audiophile listeners. Video is about recreation of an
artificial event; audio is about the recreation of a natural event- 2
different needs. The article went on to say that the audio industry
should create its own audio reproduction standard for mc that can be
incorporated into the video mc standard so both sides win.

JGH was an original proponent of mc for audio, but with the surround
channels set up to subtly enhance the sound coming from the main
channels rather than trying to use mc to recreate the sound of
thunderstorm behind the listener. Used as JGH proposed, mc can be a
valuable addition to audio reproduction. Used to recreate a T-Rex
attack behind the listener and we are left with the current situation,
which is really of no use to the serious listener.

Best,

Ross

FiveDotOne wrote:
Hi,

I had to buy the latest HIFI+ (Issue 47) because it had an interesting
POSITIVE article about how to build a multi-channel system using Arcams
electronics and KEF speakers:

Searching For A Multi-channel Standard
the Arcam/KEF Reference system

The "high end" press has been very quiet about multi-channel (except
Stereophile / Music in the Round by KR). They seem to have wanted to
forget this advancement in audio reproduction completely ... but is this
going to change?

best regards,

Esa

PS. The English Hifi News is a good example of this kind of a stupid
attitude. But they still sometimes test and compare iPOD to other MP3
players that to me is somewhat weird ... but maybe they want to look up
to date to the general public ... and multi-channel is not in.

The Swedish Hifi&Music also took up multi-channel in one issue (the
excellent Swedish multichannel record companies BIS and Opus3 have shown
m-c capabilities lately) but after making a reader inquiry they found
out that stories about multi-channel are not expected ... so that
possibly was the end of that interest.

German Stereoplay has no interest in m-c but Audio has at least
installed some equipment to their readers for equipment comparison. They
are not clearly showing interest in m-c but you can read their passive
enthusiasm in the articles. And Audio even had a section for SACD and
DVD-A record criticism but now it seems to be gone ....

So what is wrong?

The most active audiophiles are retro audiophiles that hate CD, digital
audio in general and want to go back to the golden 70es and their youth.
Extremely conservative gang that controls opinions of those younger
audiophiles that for some strange reason have taken up hifi as their hobby.

How do I detect a retro audiophile:

1. He/she typically hates

.. CD and all digital audio ... sometimes SACD is OK
.. multichannel audio
.. active loudspeakers

2. He/she typical thinks that
.. mechanical sound reproduction is state of the art forever (i.e. LPs)
.. tube amplifiers rule
.. cables are one of the most important factors of audio reproduction
.. there are magic tools that can improve audio reproduction of
equipment (like mats under your equipment or Golden Sound DH Cones,
Squares, and Pads that even Ken K recommended in Hifi News one year ago).
.. when the equipment costs outrageously much it just cannot be bad!!!
.. I have "golden ears" that can detect even ultrasonics
.. mass market products are inherently poor

And typically he/she does not understand much about acoustics,
mechanics, signal processing, electronics design etc. at all.

Well ... this actually also goes very well with the market situation
that is not improving (hifi is not a growth market) and but on the other
hand

.. outrageously priced items produce high margins for manufacturers and
sales chain (even if the quantities are small)
.. there is something to write about for the audio magazines (if all
properly designed amplifiers would sound the same, Atkinson would not
have anything to write about)
.. small European and Chinese manufacturers have niche market for their
products.

PS2. sometimes it even seems to me that "High End" is about worshiping
all sorts of audio anomalies ...