Do some not hear surround?

[mandrix]

Some point after getting out of the military, and starting to collect surround again (no internet of course, small town so mail order everything) I remember playing The Best of The Doors CD4 for a good friend...when Riders on the Storm played, I asked him; Hear Morrison whisper "Riders on the Storm"?
All throughout he was unperturbed, asking fairly at the end, so what's the big deal? yikes...a refrain I was to hear a lot until Quad drifted from my mind with lifes' problems...

btw as kap'n said....I feel blessed to be part of this group here. Sorry I spread things (yak!) out so much, but personalizing helps my memory these days.

 

[atrocity]

I can imagine some people would have the same issues with sound that I have with vision.

FWIW, I used to work with someone who only had one truly good ear. She had no problem following conversations or anything like that, but she had trouble determining where a sound was coming from.

 

[leevitalone1]

Some humans have poor spatial cognisance; walking around bumping into things; unaware of their surroundings or even people standing right next to them.
These people also tend to be poor drivers as they are seemingly unaware of curbs, signs, other vehicles, etc. surrounding them

I'll go out on a limb and say these are the very same people who are probably not capable of hearing things behind them. We should do a study. I bet there's some kind of correlation.

I am not one of those people. You can't sneak up on me. I'm convinced it's impossible and I love surround sound/Quad.

like walking and chewing gum at the same time?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

If, for example, the music industry decided to get rid of producing surround music and instead only sold mp3 stereo music the human genome would evolve to favor mp3 stereo because it would be an evolutionary advantage to be able to respond to one's environment better than someone else who is constantly using their "old" genes to try to listen to their environment in surround.

Technical advances/changes in sound reproduction and evolutionary change operate on vastly different time scales and are unlikely to interact.

In other words, evolution has no master plan, it's literally just genes adapting to a changing environment.

Genes are not adapting to anything. They mutate randomly and successful mutations tend to be selected if they offer a competitive advantage.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Some point after getting out of the military, and starting to collect surround again (no internet of course, small town so mail order everything) I remember playing The Best of The Doors CD4 for a good friend...when Riders on the Storm played, I asked him; Hear Morrison whisper "Riders on the Storm"?
All throughout he was unperturbed, asking fairly at the end, so what's the big deal? yikes...a refrain I was to hear a lot until Quad drifted from my mind with lifes' problems...

btw as kap'n said....I feel blessed to be part of this group here. Sorry I spread things (yak!) out so much, but personalizing helps my memory these days.

I had a friend over a few years ago, sat him in the sweet spot and played all 81 minutes of the LOVE album which sounds spectacular in surround on my system and when the album ended he stood up and proclaimed [paraphrased] "well you could enjoy this album just as much on a cheap stereo system......." I just shook my head and had NO response.

I once compared love of Surround music to stamp or coin collecting.........Just as I have NO interest in stamps nor coins, one has to accept the fact that 99.9% of the population has NO interest in listening to music IN SURROUND!

To 'coin' a phrase: Save your preaching for the pulpit!

 

[ar surround]

I had a friend over a few years ago, sat him in the sweet spot and played all 81 minutes of the LOVE album which sounds spectacular in surround on my system and when the album ended he stood up and proclaimed [paraphrased] "well you could enjoy this album just as much on a cheap stereo system......." I just shook my head and had NO response.

I once compared love of Surround music to stamp or coin collecting.........Just as I have NO interest in stamps nor coins, one has to accept the fact that 99.9% of the population has NO interest in listening to music IN SURROUND!

Sadly yes. My wife even admits that stuff sounds better on my system than her boom box, yet claims that hi-fi, surround, etc. is unnecessary.

Everyone I've had over to specifically show off my surround sound music system has been impressed...They hear the instruments coming from all around, the added ambience and the big sound. But they won't go for a surround system at home...No place for all those speakers; not enough time to sit down and listen to music. And as for the women, well they see the 53" tall front towers and it's already over for them before I even start playing something.

 

[jimfisheye]

...99.9% of the population has NO interest in listening to music...

You could stop right there I think.

They want to have the popular background pop noise on to fit in and make the correct appearance. Then they might associate memories with a song at the most.
Surround - heck even stereo or high fidelity in general - is only interesting if you actively listen to music. Most people listen in mono to the remains of a stereo mix (because they never set up speakers properly or listen on super grungy portable thingies or very low digital resolution). I've tried giving tips to a few people when I noticed their cobbled setup. Tried to make a visual analogy to watching a movie on a screen turned almost to the side from them: You still see light coming out but it's aimed at the side wall and your off axis viewing angle doesn't let you take in the visuals very well. You still hear sound but it's the reflections off your walls and the stereo field is smeared or collapsed. Even when I get such a person's attention long enough for the explanation to stick, it just really doesn't matter to them. You literally can't get some people to place their speakers even semi properly for stereo even though it literally costs zero money to do so and actually realize what their equipment is capable of.

Sorry, kind of negative there! Coffee is starting to work and better attitude coming back online. Yeah, um, thanks everyone and this website for being here with the polar opposite of that crap I just wrote!

 

[mandrix]

There goes Kal, speaking logic again. dammit man! lol.

Many folks just make the argument that headphones make stereo sound just as good. My thinking is; yeah, my hearing isn't good on the high end and theirs probably sucks even more!

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Many folks just make the argument that headphones make stereo sound just as good. My thinking is; yeah, my hearing isn't good on the high end and theirs probably sucks even more!

Agreed.

 

[Cibola]

Had to find a place to put this. After listening to samples from SW To The Bone, bits of a PT song started jumping around in my mind. It had a surround as well as a visual component but I just couldn't come up with the name, irritating. Finally figured it out, Dark Matter from Signify, nicely done on Anesthetize.