Quote Originally Posted by nightflier

Kool in the Gang was pretty awsome in concert, and so was Zapp, Grandmaster Flash, and the elements known as Earth Wind and Fire (to borrow from a movie that really does need to be heard in surround sound...). I think I'm going to pull out my old LP's tonight and see if this 2.0 vs. 5.1 debate is really all that meaningful. I can tell you this, and maybe it's just pure psychology, but I enjoyed my crappy LP's and my Cassettes on a $50 JVC player so much more than I now enjoy my current all-digital-gazillion-buttons-hi-res system. Perhaps I'm just trying to capture that feeling again...

I think we're all loosing sight of the fact that to make a true comparison on the musical qualities of each format, we would have to spend about 2-5 times as much as we spent on the 2.0 system. The fact is that most of us might just barely be able to afford a pair $3K mono amps to squeeze just the right amount of performance out of our self-titled hi-fi stereo rigs, but if you were to ask us to do the same for a 5.1 or even 7.1 system, we'd balk at the extra cash outlay. For most of us, we're just no going to be able to compare a quality seperates stereo setup with a receiver-based 7.1 configuration, never mind all the painstaking setup and fine tuning required along with it.

Also, if we're still talking about music and not movies, we should differentiate between concert recordings and studio recordings. Of course, there is extra value in the "concert experience" but is there the same value in a studio recording in 5.1 surround? This is not to say the studio recording can't be a phenominal recording, but we have to ask ourselves why a studio recording has to have ambiant or even full sound behind us. Maybe it should, I don't know, but we still have to ask ourselves that very question.

Now off to find my old LP player. Last I remember, the tonearm was held in place with a roachclip... 'hope it's still attached.
now go pull that roachclip and let...boogie-nights...

Pogue