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zinc Group: Members Posts: 99 Joined: Sep. 2000 Posted: Feb. 15 2001, 11:30 I'm just listening to the SACD version of Tubular Bells on my normal hi fi. It does sound really great even though i don't have a SACD player. Am i just imagining it though-can anyone work out from the complicated sleeve notes which version this is. Is it Quad from Boxed,or 25th anniverary or HACD or what. Whatever it sounds pretty impressive to someone with cloth ears lke me. Zinc Back to top

Cipher Group: Members Posts: 67 Joined: Mar. 2000 Posted: Feb. 15 2001, 12:59 I have it also and yes, it's true, it sounds fantastic, even better than 25th anniversay or HDCD edition! Just one question, does it works in a DVD with Dolby Digital 5.1 or I must play it on a SACD player? Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Feb. 24 2001, 12:14 As far as I know (as I don't actually own it)... The 4 channel mix (yes, 4 channel...it may play back as 5.1 or whatever but its come from a 4 channel master) you'll hear on an SACD player is the quadrophonic mix found on Boxed. The mix you hear when playing it on a standard CD player I have no idea about...Like zinc already said, it could be anything. It will play in a DVD player, but you'll only get the same stereo mix that you get from a standard CD player (assuming your DVD player handles CDs...I think at least the majority do). To get the multichannel sound, it has to be played in an SACD player. Back to top

Vill Group: Members Posts: 16 Joined: Mar. 2001 Posted: April 14 2001, 16:34 Woah! What's SACD? What's HACD, come to that? Technically talking, what's a DVD. All these modern things are too much for me - and I'm a teenager! And how come this version has four tracks to it? http://db.widescreenreview.com/weeknews/FMPro?-db=webnewsearch.fp5&-format=detailwk.htm&-lay=layout%20%231&-sortfield=Rank&-op=cn&Year=2000&Month=12&Day=13&-recid=37881&-find= Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: April 14 2001, 19:28 Tracks...one of those terms that means several things and causes confusion because of it... This edition has two CD tracks - part one and part two, like every other release of Tubular Bells. It uses, however, four channels instead of the two you have in stereo (meaning instead of Left and Right we have front left, back left, front right and back right). These have come from a four track master, with the word track in a different sense - the tracks on a multitrack tape are like lanes on a motorway, so on this four track master tape there will be four things playing alongside each other. I'd be interested to hear how this album works on a 5.1 system...there are differences between that and quad (mainly that the separation between quadrophonic channels wasn't too great, so even something panned hard into one corner would be heard in the other speakers) that might mean it doesn't end up sounding how it was originally intended to (another reason is that most people's rear speakers are lower quality than the front ones and sometimes a different make, as they are intended for a different purpose). Back to top

Man_in_the_Rain Group: Members Posts: 36 Joined: Aug. 2000 Posted: July 22 2001, 13:28 Is the CD stereo mix on the SACD SQ quadraphonic encoded? -Man_in_the_Rain Back to top

sgraham33 Group: Members Posts: 3 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 04 2002, 13:19 I would also like to know which mix is used for the 2-channel version. I bought the Boxed set and the CD-4 LP way back when (still have Boxed, ditched CD-4) but didn't like either of those quad mixes much. I understand that the four channel mix on the SACD is not a new mix, and thought to be the one from Boxed, but it'd be great if the original stereo mix was included on the 2-channel portion of the disk, particularly if the excesses (bloated bass, etc.) have not been "fixed". Does the acoustic guitar at the end of part 1 collapse into a single speaker? (If so it's probably "Boxed".) Or does the opening fade in, starting extremely quietly (which the CD-4 mix did)? (SACD: Super Audio CD, a new system devised by Sony and Phillips. Same size/appearance as standard CD, but not the same thing. Some have "two layers", one of which plays on standard CD and DVD players, like normal CDs, but not all disks do. Those that don't can only be played on SACD players.) (CD-4: an attempt at getting "discrete" four channel sound on an LP. Used ultrasonic carriers, made for noisy and distorted disks that did not hold up well. This approach is fundamentally different from SQ and QS quad, which bear some relation to Dolby Surround.) Back to top

sgraham33 Group: Members Posts: 3 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 04 2002, 13:26 About Quad: Someone wrote: Quote: I'd be interested to hear how this album works on a 5.1 system...there are differences between that and quad (mainly that the separation between quadrophonic channels wasn't too great, so even something panned hard into one corner would be heard in the other speakers) Endquote "Quad" just means four speakers. In the days of Quad LPs various schemes were used. The most popular were called "matrixed", and these did inherently suffer from crosstalk, as you described. (SQ, QS, Matrix-H, Dynaquad, etc. "Boxed" was issued, if I remember rightly, in QS. I think there was an SQ version of Ommadawn.) But the master tapes from which the quad LPs were cut did not have this problem, so a modern multichannel SACD made from these quad masters would not suffer from this effect: something intended for only one speaker would be heard only from that speaker. The difference between quad and 5.1 is that 5.1 adds a front-center speaker and a subwoofer channel. A 5.1 system should be able to play a quad recording just fine. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: June 04 2002, 16:35 It was me writing that about crosstalk (and yes, saying 'quad' was using the wrong term really)...what I was wondering was how the more clearly defined imaging of a newer system would affect the blend of instruments in there. Certainly from what I've heard of the SACD one, it seems that a lot of the rougher elements of the album are far more exposed, which I imagine wouldn't be so much the case if heard on one of the matrixed quad systems, where things would tend to be blurred together more...if you know what I mean. The ordinary CD mix, and the SACD 2 channel mix are both the original mix of Tubular Bells, taken from the tapes done for the 25th anniversary remaster. I believe that Boxed was released in both SQ and QS (I think I have the SQ version, if I remember rightly...) Dolby Surround evolved from SQ. Dolby bought the rights to it from CBS just as the format was dying - they got it fairly cheaply and easily, as CBS couldn't see what anyone could possibly want with it. After some tweaks to tailor it to their needs, Dolby surround was born... Back to top

maria Group: Members Posts: 928 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Jan. 19 2003, 14:47 i recently bought a sacd copy of tb and apart from the clearness of every note and instrument, i also found an annoying sound that lasts the whole 50 minutes (yes... 50 because it even lasts for a while after finished the sailor's hornpipe... it's odd, the same as when u listen to a vinyl and after the last track u listen noise until the needle goes up) , though its presence is heavier in the quieter moments. it’s like the sound of an insect… a fly or something… it only happens with this cd, i tried others even at a high volume to compare. and my question is if this could be caused just by the cd itself or if the problem is that i’m not using a sacd player. for what i read here it may be due to a mistake in the cd... anyway, i didn’t want to come back to the records shop until i check it. it’s a pity… imagine that moment around the sixth minute in second part… organ and guitar… and a fly behind… ps. btw… in that mentioned bit, is it possible to hear someone breathing along with the organ, the guitar (and the fly behind)? i never noticed that before getting the sacd. -------------- ...morning and evening i'm flying, i'm dreaming... Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Jan. 20 2003, 10:27 It's long been a complaint of Mike's that there's a 100Hz hum running all the way through Tubular Bells - my first instinct would be to say that's what you're hearing, though I've never heard of anyone else complain of hearing it on the SACD, or any other of the remastered versions of Tubular Bells, for that matter (the CD compatible layer on the SACD should be the same as the 25th anniversary remaster). It's quite possible that it's something completely different, though I don't really know what... I think that there is the sound of Mike breathing in the section you mention - certainly it's possible to hear him breathing in a lot of the quieter sections with acoustic guitar. Back to top

maria Group: Members Posts: 928 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Jan. 20 2003, 16:14 i’ve been checking again listening to other cds with quiet music in the cdrom and at a high volume it’s possible to listen a bit of noise in the blank between tracks that stops  when the music begins, but it’s different to what i listen in the other, in this it’s more tough… as a line of noise that sometimes stops for just one second, like a dot and comes again along the two parts of it… don’t know… i think i’ll go to the shop and ask them to check it. anyway, thanks a lot. ps. it's strange now listening to the acoustic guitar bit since the breathing appears to me like another instrument... quite odd... i think it would be good if this remained in the re-recording... -------------- ...morning and evening i'm flying, i'm dreaming... Back to top

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