Ultimate test of your system image


Just when I thought my systems were set up correctly, a friend suggested that I should get this CD to verify. This CD is Amused to Death by Roger Waters. After a lot of tweaking, my main system can finally do it! You may get a lot of fun out of it too.

If your system is set up properly, you should be able to hear surround sound effect throughout this CD, with music from 90 degrees to your left to 90 degrees to your right! It is like a 5.1 system but with only 2 speakers. Pay particular attention to the following:

1. On track 1, in the beginning (you need to crank up the volume a bit for this one), you should hear dog barking 90 degrees to your right and the dog runs away from you. Then the man-woman speech should be 90 degrees to your left!

2. On Track 4, you should hear a male speech 90 degrees to your left and he yelled "And here come the players. As I speak to you now, the captain sas his cross hairs zeroed in on the oil rig. ..."

3. On Track 6, you should hear water drop sound 90 degrees to your left.

4. On Track 8, you should hear horses running from 90 degrees to your left to in front of you and then go further away.

5. On Track 10, you should hear phone rings 90 degrees to your right.

Hope you get as much fun out of it as I did. Let me know if your system can do it too.
vett93
When I first got this CD and played it I got up and looked out the livingroom window to find out what the neighbor's dog was barking about. It really sounded like it was coming from across the street.

Fun CD. Gotta love Ambisonics for things like this.

Bob
My experience is that the hardest test is to get these 90 degree sounds L and R AND ALSO get a perfect centralized tightly centered vocals from Roger Waters and the woman singing on Track 3. The centered vocals should appear small and natural - not big and vague. If it is big and vague then you may have slight phase irregularities between channels across the frequency response (or you may have speakers spaced way to far apart).
My son's 'Amused to Death' is an excellent copy, and both of our systems cast the images/info contained way beyond normal soundstage parameters. ie: The horse/wagon effect begins at about 7 o'clock(behind the listener's left shoulder), and ends at 2 o'clock(beyond the right speaker). The radio broadcast: just about 10ft to the listener's left. I purchased a copy for myself(Columbia label, and exact product code), and the effects were completely non-existent, dead flat with no soundstage what-so-ever(on either system). So much for disc to disc consistency. If you purchase the CD to test your system, and get no outrageous images: It may not be the system's fault. CAVEAT EMPTOR
I'm so glad someone else mentioned this! It's been my image test CD ever since I first got it. I had a friend over who did not believe me there were no surround speakers, was sure there are hidden speakers in the wall!! That dog barking on track one is just freaky!
I just bought it stock I don't remember where, may have been Amazon, and it's great. Wasn't aware there are bad copies out there, thanks for the warning.
I got mine from Amazon too and paid less than $15 for it. I ripped the CD to my PC and use Logitec Transporter to play it. The surround sound effect is still there.

It is really a fun CD to own. Nice music too.

Rodman, ask for a replacement!
Vett: That was a few years back. Bought it from Caiman(great people) on Amazon. They refunded the $$. Now I just borrow my son's occasionally, for the kicks it provides.
I can go the 10$
Sounds like a kick.
I still remember the ping-pong recordings that came out when stereo was new.
Here's a bit more info on the system the used to get those effects: (http://www.infinitesound.com/qsound.htm) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QSound) (http://www.qsound.com/products/technology.htm)
Sbank- The UPC was identical on both my son's, and my copy of Amused to Death. Possibly they came from different stamping plants, or mine was produced from a 15th generation(degraded) master. Who knows?