Carpenters The Singles 1969-1981 in Multichannel SACD

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Having gone for a US import I had to turn bass down on my system - loud or what! Thought the mix was a bit understated - but probably appropriate for the music in question. Now when they remix Joy Division and New Order.....

H
 
Demolition Man said:
Has anyone figured out how to tell which one is the real SACD and which one is not? I'd hate to order one online only to get the wrong one. Thanks. :phones

I recently ordered from yourmusic.com and got the SACD, there is only one option for this SACD listed on yourmusic.com. Nothing you can do but order it there and I am sure all other online sources are the same and none of them list the SACD as option one, real SACD, and option two SACD case with redbook CD. It was apparently just a goof and ordering from an online retailer that will accept a return if one of the mixed up lot are still available and you get unlucky is the best you can do.

Chris
 
Is this the only surround SACD from The Carpenters? I heard that it will be re released in 2016 but found nothing yet.
 
Is this the only surround SACD from The Carpenters? I heard that it will be re released in 2016 but found nothing yet.

Yes, this is the only Surround SACD of The Carpenters.

There were several Quadraphonic albums from The Carpenters in the 1970's, none of which have been reissued in the years since
(1.) A Song For You, 2.) Carpenters, 3.) Close To You, 4.) Horizon, 5.) Now & Then, 6.) Singles).
 
Is is really hard being an Quad/SACD Surround lover! For quad you need expensive receivers, tunrntables and records and if you like SACDs you have to pay over $100.00 for deleted SACDs or your favorite album will never come out on that format. :(
 
Is is really hard being an Quad/SACD Surround lover! For quad you need expensive receivers, tunrntables and records and if you like SACDs you have to pay over $100.00 for deleted SACDs or your favorite album will never come out on that format. :(

Yes it is! :(

It is a strange thing because Quad was always very expensive back in the 1970's from what I can gather.. but most music was expensive relative to what we are used to paying nowadays.. and yet music may now be relatively cheaper by economies of scale compared to the 1970's, still Surround music software and the equipment necessary to play it is often as expensive as ever.

To my mind, two developments that could help surround's fortunes somewhat right now:

1.) A manufacturer (such as Oppo) to corner a part of the surround market with an affordable hardware swiss-army knife surround playback solution, in the form of an "All-in-One" unit, that incorporates universal disc and download player and AV receiver all in one.

a.) = a universal player that handles all disc formats SACD/DVD-A/V/DTS CD/Blu-ray Audio and all download file variants,
lossless and gapless Hi-Res Multichannel file playback, streaming from a Network, etc
b.) = with multichannel amplification
c.) = and preamp/decoding capabilities including all variants on the DTS & Dolby codecs, plus Surround synthesis modes, maybe even incorporating Surround Master technology licensed from Involve..

..all built into one piece of electronic equipment, at an attractive price point.

(such units have existed in the past - "all in one" units with player, decoding and amplification in one box - that could handle DVD-A/V, SACD and DTS CD but they could not handle FLAC etc nor streaming or Blu-ray as they were mostly made before any of those technologies existed or had matured, these old all in one units from manufacturers such as Rotel, Arcam, Cambridge Audio, Nad, etc were mostly premium products, expensive and none of them are in any of those marques' ranges at this point)

and

2.) An online store with choice Surround titles on disc from labels such as Audio Fidelity, Panegyric etc and then license a slew of out of print 5.1 mixes and Quads and make them available for purchase via download.
 
There were several Quadraphonic albums from The Carpenters in the 1970's, none of which have been reissued in the years since
(1.) A Song For You, 2.) Carpenters, 3.) Close To You, 4.) Horizon, 5.) Now & Then, 6.) Singles).
That would make a great box set!
 
That would make a great box set!

Absolutely! Bundle them in with a reissue of the Carpenters Surround SACD (on Blu-ray Audio maybe?) and it'd be a sure fire hit, I'm certain.

There may be a slight issue obtaining the Quad master tapes for some of those albums (similar situation to the Rick Wakeman A&M Quads, possibly?) but all of The Carpenters Quads were released in a Discrete Surround format at the time (and some of them were on Q4 Reel To Reel, so they should sound especially superb to this day and be perfectly upto the job!)
 
Absolutely! Bundle them in with a reissue of the Carpenters Surround SACD (on Blu-ray Audio maybe?) and it'd be a sure fire hit, I'm certain.

There may be a slight issue obtaining the Quad master tapes for some of those albums (similar situation to the Rick Wakeman A&M Quads, possibly?) but all of The Carpenters Quads were released in a Discrete Surround format at the time (and some of them were on Q4 Reel To Reel, so they should sound especially superb to this day and be perfectly upto the job!)

Yes, a box set of the best albums in SACD would be great. But I think only Richard could do that because he wants to controll the mix. But I am not sure if he has any interesting in further CARPENTERS releases. Nothing is going on on his homepage.

I just ordered the "Live in Japan" CD in Japan. This recording is superb and would also give a good SACD. http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-in-japan-mw0000456335
 
Yes, a box set of the best albums in SACD would be great. But I think only Richard could do that because he wants to controll the mix. But I am not sure if he has any interesting in further CARPENTERS releases. Nothing is going on on his homepage.

I just ordered the "Live in Japan" CD in Japan. This recording is superb and would also give a good SACD. http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-in-japan-mw0000456335

Its a wee 1st world dilemma in a way because as much as we may want these vintage Quad mixes reissued now, if the artists involved have control over their catalogue and what happens to it and do not want the Quads to be released again, then we have to respect their wishes, even if we wish things were different..
 
Hey guys, can we please get back on-topic to discussing this particular disc?
You can take the other discussion to other threads on this forum.

Please and thank you.
 
The debate of Richard's control is a moot one, anyway, since he obviously has it all.

But the Carpenters are the kind of pop act I've always found people either liked or just didn't...it's as sweet as corn syrup sometimes, but seldom as noxious. I think Mr. Carpenter supervised a quality, sensible remix of the tracks on this disc, and I don't remember hearing anything untoward about the sonics, either.

It's also not the kind of disc I'd use to showcase surround, necessarily, since this kind of music doesn't offer much in the way of mix creativity or (as some would put it) gimmickry. I like a little of both on occasion but, like most country music quad's, the Carpenters' Q8's and this disc are not what you choose if you want to convert people, but is enjoyable to those already converted.

ED :)
 
best recorded album ever (fidelity)

best highs, mids, lows and mix of the three

God, I miss Karen

It's also not the kind of disc I'd use to showcase surround, necessarily, since this kind of music doesn't offer much in the way of mix creativity or (as some would put it) gimmickry. I like a little of both on occasion but, like most country music quad's, the Carpenters' Q8's and this disc are not what you choose if you want to convert people, but is enjoyable to those already converted.

but that's just it, it's what I would call a "seamless" 5.1 and on a 5.1 system the enveloping seamless surround sounds like ONE large sound which is the greatest SINGULAR largest sound you've ever heard, no gimmickry fake separation.

Is it me or is Karen in the MIDDLE of the mix? (on all 4 corners)

Karen is just as prominent in the center as in the FR and FL, just like I remember in the 70's

Now that's old school engineering, and I like it.
 
That's a little over $2 per songs which is not that bad considering how seldom the prices drops on this one.
 
That's a little over $2 per songs which is not that bad considering how seldom the prices drops on this one.

And to think that a scant few years ago, Columbia House was selling this and many other Universal/Columbia SACD titles for $6 when they had their frequent sales.
 
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