[Bob in St. Louis]

Hmmm. Not crazy about the narrow sweet spot. I worried about that seeing the RAVE photos.
I might limit this to the PC as opposed to the home theater rig.  

If a fella didn't have a couple grand burning a hole in his pocket for a Tact, how would he know if a particular piece would be suitable for multil channel Ambio? I saw the reference Sean made to the "JVC xp1010, a yamaha dsp3000 and a yamaha dsp-a3090" gear. Are there specs we could look for?

Thank you very much for joining in the conversation Ralph.

Bob

EDIT: Just saw the link to Robin Miller. Thanks Sean, I'll check that out.

[Ralph Glasgal]

On the subject of sweet spot or line in the case of Ambio-

In stereo if you move forward you get a hole in the middle.  If you move back you get mono.  If you move sideways you hear only one speaker most of the time.  Of course these things don't happen abruptly so they are tolerated.  Another factor particularly in video is that the sound field is not all that real so if it gets a bit worse it is not so catastrophic.

In Ambiophonics, if you move forward not much happens until you hear normal stereo.  If you move backwards nothing happens until you hit a wall.  The stage might get a bit wider.  If you move sideways you lose the wide stage but you don't localize to a speaker, you just hear mono most everywhere in the room. This because the RACE program actually adds a version of both channels together in each speaker which summation is then undone acoustically along the line/space between them but not elsewhere.   Thus in general, offside Ambiophonics has much better fidelity than offside stereo or 5.1.  This offside problem in 5.1, where only a left or right signal is heard, is why 5.1 needed a center speaker so offside listeners could at least hear the dialog.  In Ambiophonics, offside listeners can always hear the dialog even with no center speaker since left, right, and center are all equal parts of the monophonic soundfield in the room.

[Ralph Glasgal]

On the subject of recordings that don't sound right in Ambio.

Basically all Ambiophonics does is recover all the interaural time and level differences that have been captured on the disc by the microphones or the panning pots of the engineers.  This means the perspective that the mics have picked up.  That is if the mic is above the conductors head then that is where you may seem to be on playback.  Normally, this does not happen since the mics used do not pick up ITD and ILD the way you would if your ears were there.  But sometimes this can happen.  RACE, and all the TacT boxes that use RACE, have adjustments to narrow the stage or widen it when necessary to compensate for freak recordings.  You can also move yourself along the line between the speakers and change the stage geometry somewhat.

Believe me, just like stereo, Ambio is even more tweakable.

However, there will always be some incorrigible discs that one will not like in Ambio.  Ambio is very revealing of record engineering aberrations.  Thus the Ambiophonic team has developed a 2/4 channel microphone called the Ambiophone/Pamambiophone which takes advantage of the fact that reproduction will be Ambiophonic and so is optimized to avoid perspective problems.  The localization you would have heard at the live recording microphone site is what you will hear later on.  You can download a few brief cuts made with the Ambiophone by going to www.ambiophonics.org/Ambiofiles.htm and scroll down aways.

E-mail David Chesky, Chesky Records, and tell him you want Chesky recordings made with the Ambiophone. 

Ralph Glasgal

[Barry_NJ]

What Ralph says is true. Just prior to reading this, I was playing with my seating position while listening to the Ice Age demo on my PC. While centered there is that magic and huge sound field, but once I move off to the side, the sound isn't much different than the regular stereo presentation. I found this interesting, as while the center seat makes huge gains, the others don't really loose anything over good ol' stereo.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Well, I'm still a bit rough on what equipment I can (or have to??) use. Price is a factor and the Tacts are out of the question.
Slightly puzzled at how I can hear Ambio in the Ice Age video on my PC with no special software or hardware involved.

It's good to know that if you get out of the sweet spot things don't fall apart any worse than a typical stereo system.

Bob

[Mariusz]

Well, I'm still a bit rough on what equipment I can (or have to??) use. Price is a factor and the Tacts are out of the question.
Slightly puzzled at how I can hear Ambio in the Ice Age video on my PC with no special software or hardware involved.

It's good to know that if you get out of the sweet spot things don't fall apart any worse than a typical stereo system.

Bob

 I agree to some extend that Ambiophonic is not that much different when it comes to sweet spot as ordinary stereo.
However, you REALLY want to be in Ambiophonic sweet spot to have that kind of experience.

Re:  As to the new TacT Ambiophonic ($1995) preamp/RCS.
     If it can somewhat do what I've heard in Ralph's big rig, it may generate quite a buzz.
     Yes, I know that it is not the same as having 36 channels but if it can replace the 5.1 AC3, DTS and work with standard
     stereo    material.............who knows, you might be on to something. At the end it (your success) all depends on execution and quality
     of the product responsible for Ambiophonic experiance delivery to our listening rooms.

Mariusz

[JoshK]

I've heard Ferenc's setup a few times.  I know it is somewhat different but otherwise similar.  The on/off axis comments are right.  Its like the volume went down a bit and you are hearing a natural reproduction "over there" unlike hearing a one speaker when you get to close to one in stereo. 

With classical music, its a no brainer, once you hear what it does for classical recordings its hard to want to listen to them any other way.  The presentation is really profound, surreal.  Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions is another one that we heard that was quite amazing. 

Then there were a few recordings that we played, that it really didn't do anything special for.  It wasn't like it mucked it up, it was just like it didn't transport you the same way the it did with the others.  That is the best way I can explain it.

Those recordings were all studio recordings.  Most of my collection is studio recordings and I don't know how many of them would be worthwhile.

The $2k Tact seems like a decent price-point/pedigree to get some momentum. 

[Mariusz]

I've heard Ferenc's setup a few times.  I know it is somewhat different but otherwise similar.  The on/off axis comments are right.  Its like the volume went down a bit and you are hearing a natural reproduction "over there" unlike hearing a one speaker when you get to close to one in stereo. 

With classical music, its a no brainer, once you hear what it does for classical recordings its hard to want to listen to them any other way.  The presentation is really profound, surreal.  Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions is another one that we heard that was quite amazing. 

Then there were a few recordings that we played, that it really didn't do anything special for.  It wasn't like it mucked it up, it was just like it didn't transport you the same way the it did with the others.  That is the best way I can explain it.

Those recordings were all studio recordings.  Most of my collection is studio recordings and I don't know how many of them would be worthwhile.

The $2k Tact seems like a decent price-point/pedigree to get some momentum. 

It doesn't make me want it .............. I know what I want and it is not on my must have list but I would like to play with it.

We all like new toys..........

[Barry_NJ]

Well, I'm still a bit rough on what equipment I can (or have to??) use. Price is a factor and the Tacts are out of the question.
Slightly puzzled at how I can hear Ambio in the Ice Age video on my PC with no special software or hardware involved.

It's good to know that if you get out of the sweet spot things don't fall apart any worse than a typical stereo system.

Bob

That Ice Age clip has already been processed with Ambiophonic encoding, that's why nothing else is needed to get the Ambio effect.
Standard recordings need the processing to get them there.

[Bob in St. Louis]

That's what I needed to know! 
Barry, Thank you! 
That answers a lot of questions.

So Ice Age is a "one of a kind teaser" kinda thing. Is there a way to purchase a pre-processed Ambiophonic recording?

Bob

[Barry_NJ]

I'm not aware of any for sale, but there are a few music selections in wav format on the Amboiphonics web site that can be down-loaded and burned to CD...

http://www.ambiophonics.org/Ambiofiles.htm

[jhm731]

If anyone is interested in reading more about Ambiophonic/TacT XTC do a search over on:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/regsaudioforum/


I've tried the TacT 2.2XP XTC function in my 2.2 set up.

It's fun to play with, but I returned to a "normal stereo" set up.

[turkey]

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[Barry_NJ]

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