Just got through listening to “Fragile” by Yes on DVD audio. (Yes I am a child of the 70s) Having heard this album on vinyl, 8-track and cassette, I was blown away by the music mix and clarity. This is my first foray into the world of multi channel music and so far so good.

I’ve read a number of posts about how music is mixed and the quote about “you can’t polish a turd”. As the resident expert on music mixing I was hoping you could help me out.

In 2-channel music, it is annoying to me that there seems to be a loss of stereo in many recordings. The same instrument is playing at the same level out of both speakers with a hole in the middle. Vocals and other instruments are fine; it’s just one instrument that is off. I have moved my speakers a million times (slight exaggeration) trying to remedy this.

Questions 1 and 2:

Is this a result of the processor, the speakers or just a “turd” recording?

If not the recording, then what is the solution?

The DVD-A mix that I heard tonight was seamless, except that too much was mixed into the side speakers. But the front soundstage was wide and very seamless.

Questions 3 and 4:

And do I understand correctly that the DVD-A and SACD data remains untouched by any processing? It is straight analog from the DVD/CD player and there is nothing the processor does except pass the signal to the amp?