"---MIKE---" wrote in message
...
Since I got my SACD (DVD) player, I have gotten 5 SACDs. I am not
impressed with the surround sound on any of them. Aside from the two
Living Stereo discs, I have the Dvorak 6th (LSO Live), Mozart Requiem
(DHM), and Rachmaninoff 2nd symphony (Channel Classics). None of these
show any rear channel ambience. Can anyone recommend some discs that DO
use the rear channels effectively for ambience? (I know that the Living
Stereos are only 3 channel or 2 channel).


Are you sure you have your rear speakers at the proper level. Classical
ambiance reproduction is very delicate, and there is no uniform level for
reproduction. In general you should turn up the rears until you can clearly
hear the ambience, then back off until it is just barely discernable. It
would help if manufacturers made center-side and front-rear volume sliders
on their remotes, but none do to my knowledge. You should hear it on the
Channel Classics, at least. E. Power Biggs' Bach SACD (Sony) has both
ambience and surroung (3 organs). Try a Telarc disk...they generally have
rear ambience...as do the recent Sony's featuring Hillary Hahn, etc. Also,
the Phillips recordings of Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.