re you 'sure' that there's even any center chan. recorded? Yes, for all of this testing, because I have tried to determine what’s recorded in each channel, I have been walking over to the speakers and putting my ear up to them to hear what’s coming from what. This guy just doesn’t like the center, but uses it for a quick ‘run’ of notes once in a little while with no rhyme or reason. (PS. I got excited over this for a sec, cause I thought OKAY he popped into the dead quiet center channel for a sec, surely this will only be in the center channel, but when I moved to the FL/FR, the little bit he popped into the center WAS repeated in the FL/FR....urgggg.)

Have you tired some scenes of the Matrix yet? Not yet, somebody borrowed and it has not found it’s way home, (Lost many DVD’s this way, I’m starting a ‘checkout’ list, so we can track who took what in future this gets expensive!)

The sound doesn't change at all as it goes from right to left. No, NO I don’t mean chopping out of one speaker and popping into another distinctly, that would be distracting! I do mean the seamless pan…
But as far as what I trying to word on why I like having a center. I’ve just always had one in the mix since I started paying attention to all this and am used to it. I guess I just think its more ‘fill’ like adding BS’s into the back of your mutli-channel system. But I really do understand your great passion for the seamless front stage 2-channel creates, (only just now after purchasing the new FL/FR) which could also bypass any extra issues with matching your center into the blend. When I’m listening to my 2-channel and it’s a ‘great’ recording there’s nothing better! So I should give it some time to play with this on some DVD’s.
But since I paid so much for the damm thing (center).and like it. I intend to ‘use’ it, (most of the time)

Now on to the nitty gritty. I have not run Sanjays latest experiment yet. Maybe tonight, BUT I may have confirmed (for myself) that neither the Panny or the Law are downmixing. Sanjay or Azrayan, either of you would have been quicker to pick up on this than I. But the reason for changing my stance suddenly at this point hinges on a tiny section in ‘Under Rug Swept” Track #4 “Flinch”. Yesterday AM, I was waiting for my ride to the barn and she was running late, did not think I had time to run the ‘test’ so just ran the DVD URS to better familarize myself with it. On all the prior tests, due to time contraists, I never played these DVD’s through, I was skipping forward each track/ each disc for about 1 min of play looking for ANY disc that had exculsive center channel info. and could not find ANY that was not reapeated to one extent or the other in the FL/FR. Without playing every one of my DVD-A’s straight through and standing at speaker fabric the whole time it has been amazing that I could not find any infor that was in center that was not repeated in the FL/FR. The reverse is much more common in these recordings where you can find information in the surrounds which is not in the mains, but that’s not what we needed.
Because the stage is seamless in the past I would hear what I thought (hoped) to be stronger center infor and walk over to the speakers, and each time what I heard which I thought might be a section recorded in center only was always repeated in the Fronts. But while letting it play I ran into some tiny moments on this track (if memory serves) around at .50 sec.. Where Alanis sings a line…..So ….The one tiny word ‘So” is repeated as an Echo or reverb effect either recorded by her and added in by the mixer, or it is her backup singers. Later at 1 min + you hear the backups faintly echoing one word here and there but this is ONLY in the surrounds so it gets confusing. Then in around the 3-4 min mark. Again there is a whole refrain where a faint echo repeat of one or more of her words is sung in the background very faintly I believe that this part of the recording (not to be confused with every other time it is also in the surrounds) and IS recorded ONLY in the center channel.
So at .50 sec. The one word ‘So” and a few instances at the 3-4 min range, a few more individual ‘echo’ words. Appear to truly be recorded only in the center channel. When I quickly ran through this several times setting the Panny to no center or the Law to no center. I could not hear the one word ‘So’. It was gone. I’ll play with all this some more and run Sanjays test especially on this portion of URS I just found.

I never would have dreamt that on these several DVD’s so much in the center track is also in the FL/FR. When you disable center, they pick up the slack so perfectly throwing a phantom center up out of the same info in FL/FR it is really hard to determine whats going on. If any one has a DVD-A title they can ‘CONFIRM’ has heavy exclusive center channel, I’ll buy it if I can find it. This has been very enlightening as regards the way most DVD-A are mixed.


[This message has been edited by Smart Little Lena (edited November 20, 2002).]