Multi Channel Analogue vs. hdmi

[Big Daddy]

If bass management and room equalization is good for movies, it is definitely good for music (2 channel or multi-channel SACD/DVD-A). Your equipment, speakers, and room do not understand movies or music. They only deal with frequencies and screw them up to the best of their ability. You need bass management, room treatment, and equalization for all rooms and equipment under all situations (2 channel music, multi-channel music, movies).

Any distinction between music and movies is totally meaningless and absurd. If you think that music is somehow pure and the movie soundtrack is impure, you really need to do some reading and understand how different frequencies interact with the room boundaries and contents differently. Sound is not about music or movies. Sound consists of audio frequencies.

The most leading authority in the field of audio research is Dr. Floyd Toole, formerly of the National Research Council of Canada and recently the Vice President of Audio Research at Harman International. These are a few quotes from him:

http://www.sonicdesign.se/tooleinw.htm

The idea that two-channel stereo is somehow more "pure" than multichannel audio is misguided. In spite of some examples of very bad taste in the days of quadraphonic audio, and now, the benefits are there, and gradually recording engineers will learn how to use the new medium. It is the better solution. However, I feel that more than five channels are needed. I live with the Logic 7 system in its 7-channel mode, and I cannot now go back to 5.1. The sense of envelopment and space is much more realistic with the additional channels (two sides and two rears), and it remains so even when you turn your head or move around the room. Remember, multichannel audio is a social experience - more than one person can enjoy it.

http://www.infinitysystems.com/home/...nf-rooms_1.pdf

In music recording, it is assumed that all monitoring will be done with conventional forward firing systems in all five locations. But what of the persistent assertion that some speakers are better for movies than they are for music? The implication often is that we can get away with less ‘refined’ sound in movies than we can in music. But . . . there is music in movies – sometimes a lot of it. Sometimes, as in a concert video, the music is the entire point of the production. The assertion is silly. Good sound is good sound, whether it is in movies or music -only performances. The only special considerations for film sound are maximum loudness and power handling. In films, things occasionally can get very loud, especially in the low bass.