Lord British
Well-known Member
I'm writing to pick the forums' brains about a specific recording of Camille Saint-Saens Symphony NO. 3, the "Organ" symphony released by Reference Recordings in 2015 (Catalog #RR-136). Throughout the recording, there is a low frequency rumble around 20hz and maybe lower that pervades the entire disc. Even on the tracks that don't feature the organ, the rumble is there when the volume is turned up. When I wrote to Reference regarding this, this was their reply:
Dear Mr. Kalinowski,
We are sorry you are not happy with your Saint-Saens Organ Symphony SACD. It is not actually defective, and if I sent you another disc it would be the same.
We have sold large numbers of this title, usually all is well but very rarely someone has this problem. The low bass on this recording can cause resonating in some audio systems. Usually the problem is that there is a subwoofer in the system that is turned up too high. When it was mastered, the engineer did not roll it off at the very low frequencies, but let it go all the way down to the infrasonic bass frequencies that his special handbuilt microphones captured, as low as 10 Hz. Most commercial recordings roll off the very low bass for this reason. It did not show up in our test playback systems as a problem. But, some systems can't handle it and will rumble or buzz especially when played loud. The sound may be perceived as a little higher frequency, 20 Hz or so.
If you can't make it work, we will be happy to refund your payment.
Please let us know what you would like.
Sorry for the problem,
Marcia Martin
Reference Recordings
My system sounds great with all other recordings, so I don't think its system specific. You can't perceive it at normal volumes, but my question is, why would they not filter or get rid of it somehow? It's a great recording, and I want to play it LOUD, but when I turn up the volume it almost makes it unlistenable, as there is also a slight physical aspect of being able to "feel" the rumble while I'm listening rather than hearing it. I do have 2 SVS subs in my system that really delve deep.
Dear Mr. Kalinowski,
We are sorry you are not happy with your Saint-Saens Organ Symphony SACD. It is not actually defective, and if I sent you another disc it would be the same.
We have sold large numbers of this title, usually all is well but very rarely someone has this problem. The low bass on this recording can cause resonating in some audio systems. Usually the problem is that there is a subwoofer in the system that is turned up too high. When it was mastered, the engineer did not roll it off at the very low frequencies, but let it go all the way down to the infrasonic bass frequencies that his special handbuilt microphones captured, as low as 10 Hz. Most commercial recordings roll off the very low bass for this reason. It did not show up in our test playback systems as a problem. But, some systems can't handle it and will rumble or buzz especially when played loud. The sound may be perceived as a little higher frequency, 20 Hz or so.
If you can't make it work, we will be happy to refund your payment.
Please let us know what you would like.
Sorry for the problem,
Marcia Martin
Reference Recordings
My system sounds great with all other recordings, so I don't think its system specific. You can't perceive it at normal volumes, but my question is, why would they not filter or get rid of it somehow? It's a great recording, and I want to play it LOUD, but when I turn up the volume it almost makes it unlistenable, as there is also a slight physical aspect of being able to "feel" the rumble while I'm listening rather than hearing it. I do have 2 SVS subs in my system that really delve deep.