SACD Reviews Carole King-Tapestry & Billy Joel-52nd Stre

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

timbre4

Administrator
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
QQ Supporter
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Oct 18, 2002
Messages
8,533
Location
College Grove, TN
First off, I've been hearing Tapestry songs since the AM clock radio and the stereo eight-track, right from the beginning. Imagine my disappointment with the Q8 "quad" mix that was smeared in reverb like Vick's Vaporub. Even at 14, I knew it was a disaster.

Holding my breath, I played the Tapestry SACD multi-channel mix and it was a pleasant surprise. It sounds like properly implemented quad that I should have heard in 1972 with the Q8 debacle. Always full, never obvious, should please most folks into surround music.

52nd Street was one of those records that was so popular(or so I was thinking at the time). So I was very familiar with the nice hits and pleased with the balance of tracks that were unfamiliar (thus new to me).

Great mix as was his previous release on SACD, The Stranger. I would say this turned out better than a heyday quad mix myself, plenty of interplay, solid placement, great engineering.

This brings my total SACD count to five, which fills up my SACD changer. So now Sony just needs to get on the ball with more multi-channel SACDs, then a Mega-Changer. Oh and then a head unit for vehicles. And then a Walk-On-Clouds-Man for portable SACD listening........
 
I never heard the Q8 mix of Tapestry. But the Multichannel SACD mix is good.

On the Billy Joel Multichannel SACDs, the vocals are mixed to the center channel speaker which really makes them stand out in Multichannel.


 
I really enjoy both of these titles. I especially like 52nd Street and think it is a wonderful mix. I wish all M/C mixes employed a discrete, center lead vocal. I could quite happily live without a center channel at all, but a discrete vocal center channel really does it for me.
 
Agreed on the Center Front vocals with Multichannel SACDs.

Speaking of which, be sure to check out the new "Grace" gospel Multichannel SACD on DMP by the Broadway Inspirational Voices.

Very clean and clear center front vocals - Wow !


 
Yes I agree Tapestry sounds amazing in Multi Channel.
I was very pleasently surprised.
 
Yes, the new SACD surround mix is good. Breathes some new life into a classic album.


 
Back
Top