Wise Words - Audio Fidelity Moves to Selective Multichannel SACD Releases

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I just ordered six titles from there. I hope the quality is as good as Audio-Fidelity. The prices are excellent!

I have just about ALL of Dutton Vocalion's QUAD/MULTICHANNEL releases and the quality control and mastering is definitely on par with that of Audio Fidelity.

And, as you said, the prices, especially for the two~fers, represent exceptional value!
 
FWIW : I'm still holding out hope for more AF quad or 5.1.

Perfectly normal they should take a break in those releases. For my opinion I though they issued too many too soon for the average joe like me.
Like others I'm certain, some titles did not impress me while others did, so probably only 50% of those titles were on my want list and all but 2 I've aquired, to date.

So looking fwd to the FUTURE---hopefully near.:sun
 
From the horses' mouth:


Hi Q-Eight, well over a year and a half ago we discontinued working with multi-channel. We gave it a good go but just didn't work for us.

Marshall Blonstein - President
Audio Fidelity-Morada Music



I got this email the other day after asking if there was anything in the works in regards to multichannel. I'd take this as the fork being officially stuck in.
 
From the horses' mouth:


Hi Q-Eight, well over a year and a half ago we discontinued working with multi-channel. We gave it a good go but just didn't work for us.

Marshall Blonstein - President
Audio Fidelity-Morada Music



I got this email the other day after asking if there was anything in the works in regards to multichannel. I'd take this as the fork being officially stuck in.
Holy crap......damn. Well, we all surmised this to be the case. I just hate reading this...
 
From the horses' mouth:


Hi Q-Eight, well over a year and a half ago we discontinued working with multi-channel. We gave it a good go but just didn't work for us.

Marshall Blonstein - President
Audio Fidelity-Morada Music



I got this email the other day after asking if there was anything in the works in regards to multichannel. I'd take this as the fork being officially stuck in.
Damn!
 
From the horses' mouth:


Hi Q-Eight, well over a year and a half ago we discontinued working with multi-channel. We gave it a good go but just didn't work for us.

Marshall Blonstein - President
Audio Fidelity-Morada Music



I got this email the other day after asking if there was anything in the works in regards to multichannel. I'd take this as the fork being officially stuck in.

I even think Audio Fidelity, MoFi and Analogue Productions are moving away from Stereo SACD production. AP and MoFi only have a couple STEREO SACDs in their pipeline: i.e. Hendrix and Simon and Garfunkel, respectively.

Our VERY last bastion of hope is UK's Dutton Vocalion. Really hope they continue their QUAD SACD Production. Even SONY Japan, which was good for a couple of surround SACDs a year, has no announced titles [remember when Bridge Over Troubled Water was announced with much fanfare/excitement, then canceled]?
 
From the horses' mouth:


Hi Q-Eight, well over a year and a half ago we discontinued working with multi-channel. We gave it a good go but just didn't work for us.

Marshall Blonstein - President
Audio Fidelity-Morada Music



I got this email the other day after asking if there was anything in the works in regards to multichannel. I'd take this as the fork being officially stuck in.
A pity. It was good while it lasted. I didn't buy all their multichannel disks, but I did buy quite a few which I am glad I did. Probably no more AF disks for me in the future though...
 
I even think Audio Fidelity, MoFi and Analogue Productions are moving away from Stereo SACD production. AP and MoFi only have a couple STEREO SACDs in their pipeline: i.e. Hendrix and Simon and Garfunkel, respectively.

Our VERY last bastion of hope is UK's Dutton Vocalion. Really hope they continue their QUAD SACD Production. Even SONY Japan, which was good for a couple of surround SACDs a year, has no announced titles [remember when Bridge Over Troubled Water was announced with much fanfare/excitement, then canceled]?
I bought 6 DV surround SACDs earlier this year and was pleased with them all. Time to order some more. :)
 
A pity. It was good while it lasted. I didn't buy all their multichannel disks, but I did buy quite a few which I am glad I did. Probably no more AF disks for me in the future though...

I JUST visited Audio Fidelity's website and they have NO new SACDs [stereo] on their upcoming agenda. They even canceled Quincy Jones The Dude [Stereo SACD] which I pre~ordered some months ago. They'll probably stick to just releasing vinyl.

As previously mentioned, with AP and MoFi 'severely' curtailing their SACD releases, I fear the writing is on the wall for the future of SACD releases. Whether Analogue Productions releases all their pre~announced SACD titles remains a mystery.
 
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I JUST visited Audio Fidelity's website and they have NO new SACDs [stereo] on their upcoming agenda. They even canceled Quincy Jones The Dude [Stereo SACD] which I pre~ordered some months ago. They'll probably stick to just releasing vinyl.

As previously mentioned, with AP and MoFi 'severely' curtailing their SACD releases, I fear the writing is on the wall for the future of SACD releases. Whether Analogue Productions releases all their pre~announced SACD titles remains a mystery.
I also had that Quincy Jones title pre-ordered, had no idea it was cancelled.
 
I'm happy he was honest with me. It's closure and I can move on.
I needed this closure as well. The previous statement was that they were slowing down but not stopping surround SACD releases.

But I thought that they sold out on many titles and sold off al stick on others, in other words there was very little wasted pressings.

Oh well. D/V we are counting on you!!!
 
I needed this closure as well. The previous statement was that they were slowing down but not stopping surround SACD releases.

But I thought that they sold out on many titles and sold off al stick on others, in other words there was very little wasted pressings.

Oh well. D/V we are counting on you!!!

Marshall Blonstein, CEO of Audio Fidelity is a class act. He was truly invested in releasing classic albums in Surround and unlike MoFi, AP and even SONY Japan, didn't step on toes....meaning if the other companies released albums [even in stereo] he didn't try to compete by releasing those same albums in QUAD.

And yet, none of those companies respected his efforts. AF released Santana's LOTUS as a 2 disc Stereo SACD because they valiantly tried, but couldn't locate the QUAD masters and yet within a month or two, not only did SONY Japan [miraculously?] locate those 'elusive' QUAD masters but even added a third bonus disk thus eclipsing AF's efforts. And the same happened with a Jeff Beck title. AF tried to unsuccessfully locate the QUAD masters and released the album as a Stereo SACD and within a month [or two] SONY Japan miraculously located the QUAD masters and released it as a QUAD SACD, thus diminishing AF's efforts [once again].

This rigamarole happened more than a few times to gentlemanly Marshall Blonstein and coupled with the excessive licensing/royalty fees was a bit too much for AF's QUAD/5.1 SACD enterprise to turn a profit. Unfortunately, the reissue business is somewhat cutthroat and AF was the recipient of trying to survive in this negative environment.

Thankfully, AF did manage to release 30+ classic 4.0/5.1 titles which we probably wouldn't have without their hard work and diligence.
 
AF did not issue a Stereo Jeff Beck title only to later see it released with quad layer.

But regardless, AF should have stepped up with the Edgar Winter Group and not been so threaten by the previous MFSL SACD issued a decade earlier. Same with Nilsson, and tons of other titles MFSL had already had a crack at. There is a reason a title is called an "evergreen" which means it stays fresh as a retail item.

Anyway there is still super deluxe box sets on the horizon from the majors. D/V are about to blow my mind with a killer title or two. Doobies x 4, Animals, etc.

It ain't over yet kiddies.
 
AF did not issue a Stereo Jeff Beck title only to later see it released with quad layer.

But regardless, AF should have stepped up with the Edgar Winter Group and not been so threaten by the previous MFSL SACD issued a decade earlier. Same with Nilsson, and tons of other titles MFSL had already had a crack at. There is a reason a title is called an "evergreen" which means it stays fresh as a retail item.

Anyway there is still super deluxe box sets on the horizon from the majors. D/V are about to blow my mind with a killer title or two. Doobies x 4, Animals, etc.

It ain't over yet kiddies.

You're correct about the AF Beck SACD. I was confusing that with Analogue Production's Stereo SACD release of WIRED which I purchased only to have it reissued shortly thereafter by SONY Japan as a 4.0 SACD in their special 7" packaging.

AF did release Beck's TRUTH recently [excellent STEREO SACD reissue] which their website is currently showing as OUT OF STOCK: https://audiofidelity.net/product/jeff-beck-truth
 
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I'm still in a state of euphoria over my stack of AF quadraphonic SACDs or 4.0 for the modern listener.

I have two or three copies of the heavies. Extra additional copies just seems like a no-brainer if it's doable financially. Such a high quality line of vintage surround. AF were only 4 or 5 releases from me being completely satisfied with the entire run. So close that they get the trophy for best surround series since DTS got going with Wings, Moodies, BTO, Steely Dan, and Ohio Players.

We've been fortunate, really lucky for all this action.
 
Marshall was very pro-surround and he gave it one heck of an effort. Not every release turned out to be a great decision, but on the whole that stack of AF SACDs is pretty damned impressive. The writing was on the wall when the BS&T GH SACD ended up as being stereo only. That was a shot to the heart, and although it was not immediately announced, and the BOC came out afterwards, I knew that was the end. Why would you not include the quad tracks on a title that was a GH release with quad songs that were never released digitally in the past?

You cannot kill Marshall for this program tanking. He is responsible to his investors, and that company has to make money to survive. Since the did not charge more for the M/C discs, the sales of those discs had to increase to cover the cost of the extra material. Unfortunately, title like "Colors of the Day" and "Birds of Fire", while meaningful to surround fans, don't have a big draw to the ever shrinking CD/SACD buying market.

You can observe that AF has curtailed it's frequency of SACD releases in stereo, and cut back on CD releases as well. One has to hope that the company can continue to exist in this world of Spotify and downloads. I sincerely hope that Marshall's foray into surround SACDs did not injure that company to the point that they cannot recover.
 
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