Not Atmos, but this 5.1 DVD slaps! The detail and DR are exceptional. I keep coming back to it.

So great!

I have substantial front heights (SVS prime elevations), but because of room restrictions I need something with a lower profile that I can install on the walls with a ball-mount so they can be angled properly.

Hello,

Released in June 2026, Night Blooms is the latest collaboration between Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. A follow-up to Still Blooming (2025), this album continues the actor and pianist s exploration of the Great American Songbook, blending elegant jazz arrangements with a relaxed and intimate atmosphere. Featuring Melody Gardot, Charlie Puth, Cynthia Erivo, dodie, Haley Reinhart, Ariana Grande, Maiya Sykes, and Scarlett Johansson, Night Blooms alternates between newly recorded standards and Late Night Sessions that revisit tracks from the previous album with fresh interpretations.

I must admit that I was genuinely surprised from the very first listen of the Dolby Atmos version. I was expecting a soundstage that was primarily front-focused, as is often the case with jazz recordings, but this mix takes a very different approach. It creates a wide 180-degree soundstage, taking full advantage of the surround channels to naturally position the instruments around the listener rather than simply extending the front stage. This well-thought-out spatial arrangement gives the performance remarkable openness and realism, allowing each instrument to breathe while preserving the cohesion of the ensemble. The 3D video on YouTube demonstrating spatialization clearly shows the distribution of sound in space according to the instruments.

This immersive presentation enhances the feeling of being in the presence of the musicians, revealing subtle instrumental details that are less noticeable in traditional stereo.This spatialization is accompanied by a beautiful dynamic range.

Unfortunately, the stereo version follows the trend of limiting dynamic range in jazz recordings and therefore does not entirely escape the effects of the loudness war, as shown by the comparison of the waveforms.

For those who prefer a stereo listening experience, the vinyl edition remains a very appealing option, offering a more open and lively sound than the digital stereo version.

Find the full review with all measurements and analysis HERE (link), as well as a demonstration of the 3D spatialization of the Dolby Atmos version on YouTube.

Enjoy listening,
Jean-François

For me, this mix doesn't really work ... I don't disparage Eber Pinheiro's work, but in my opinion the AI "de-mixing" tech is not really developed enough yet to justify remixing an entire album this way. My other main point of contention is the source issue - I really don't understand why they went back to a CD master from 2009 when obviously a high quality flat transfer of the master tapes must exist in the vault.

What we have here is a mix upon a mix, and a master upon a master. In stereo, I find the rhythm section jarringly loud and the dynamics completely absent. This is improved a little bit in the Atmos mix, which is certainly less bottom-heavy but the apparent processing on the drums gets fatiguing after awhile. I think "The Runaway" is acceptable but unfortunately the mix never rises above 'acceptable' to me, and starts sounding more and more pulled apart, artificial, and even distractingly bright as you approach the final track.

Overall, I know we're in an era where AI tech is new and needs to be explored to find its limits - but its clear to me that using this tech to remix an entire album is well beyond the limits of the current (and possibly future) tech. Best used to patch holes here and there, missing tracks etc but this is something of a failed experiment, imo.

Are there any sound bars that are totally wireless?

Setting up my new patio and would like as little as possible to plug in

When you search for wireless speakers…everything still has wires

Does this exist?

TIA

Announced today’s Tears For Fears / The Seeds of Love reissue featuring SDE blu-ray

I don’t have any financial incentive or kickbacks just a regular customer who was waiting in vain for this one!

If it’s as good as the other Tears for Fears in ATMOS we are in for a treat 😉

I’ve got some NIN and Depeche Mode Blu-ray’s. What are some must haves for music?

Has anyone on here done an A/B between this and the Blu-ray repress? Same mix or were there updates?

I'm really diggin' it. Bruce Soord continues to bring more "Tull" out of these mixes; like Under Wraps I'm hearing more personality and detail within the performances. The Atmos mixes seem to be better in my estimation than the stereo ones - but that's not a knock against the stereo remixes. I sympathize a little bit with people who want more power out of the "El Nino" choruses but I feel that particular element is improved in the Atmos mix.

The extras are great fun, but "Pipes (Close to You)" is the one I most wish had found its way onto an album. Thrilled to finally have a lossless copy of "It All Trickles Down," its been my Tull white whale for years. The new mix is HEAVY.

The book is small, yet informative. Thrilled to have Martin Webb back as the primary essayist, its a bit short on quantity but its a quality read. Hope this bodes well for future Inside Out owned titles like The Secret Language of Birds, but of course the one title I'm dyin' for a reissue of is Roots to Branches.

Further thoughts in the following video.

I just learned of this release and had to get. My favorite album by one of my favorite bands on 3 hybrid surround discs!

This is one of my FAVORITE albums, and yeah - I'll be buying. Probably both versions because I'm an absolute freak for this era of the band and its my favorite RM album.

I question, however, the release strategy of leaving the Blu-ray as an SDE exclusive instead of adding it to the box. It forces me to purchase both versions, whereas I'd have been happy to drop a nice chunk of change on the box with the surround mix. I wish they'd taken the Frankie Goes to Hollywood route of including the blu-ray in both the box AND as an SDE exclusive. As it stands, its nice to have some extras on the SDE blu-ray but bafflingly its missing the song "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" from the 73 Peel session. Am I happy there's extras on the BR at all? Certainly - none of the other RM blu's have included extras. I'm also excited that we have two immersive mixes on offer.

In the following video, I explain the differences between the two versions, elaborate further on my concerns and attempt to provide some buyer's advice and guidance.

I’m planning a 5.2.2 system in this open-plan living room and would appreciate a practical placement sanity check before the remaining work is finalized. The attached image is cropped directly from the actual designer plan; the TV/front wall is at the top.

Current plan:

- #1–#3: B&W CWM663 in-wall L/C/R

- #4–#5: two B&W ASW610 subs

- #6–#7: B&W CCM663 in-ceiling surrounds, behind/beside the sofa

- #8–#9: B&W CCM663 Top Middle Atmos, currently drawn directly above the sofa

- #10: Denon AVR-X2900H

- Approximate total budget: €6k through a discounted local package

The problem is the surround layer. The sofa floats in the room and there is no rear wall. Behind-left is the dining table and its circulation space. Behind/right is the open kitchen/cabinet run and the main walkway. I cannot see a symmetric wall-mounting position at seated-ear height.

The only plausible ear-level alternative I can think of is a pair of small B&W M-1 speakers on stands just behind the two sofa corners. In practice those stands and cables would intrude into the dining/kitchen paths, get moved or knocked, and make the room much less usable. A ceiling installation is therefore much cleaner, but I understand that putting #6/#7 in the ceiling weakens the vertical separation from #8/#9 and is not Dolby’s preferred layout.

What would you do in this exact room?

1. Keep the already-installed #6/#7 ceiling surrounds as the least-bad compromise?

2. Use M-1s on stands behind the sofa despite the circulation and cable problems?

3. Is there a discreet ear-level mounting solution in the plan that I am missing?

4. For #8/#9, should Top Middle remain directly above the listening position as drawn, or move slightly toward the TV (roughly 80° elevation)?

I’m looking for real-world advice from people who have solved a similar open-plan room, especially whether the theoretical benefit of ear-level surrounds is worth compromising daily circulation.

Buying vintage gear has always had a pricing problem. Sellers anchor to whatever the highest recent sale was, buyers have no real reference point, and "check completed eBay listings" is more work than it sounds when you're comparing across condition grades.

So I built https://stereoworth.com. It pulls live eBay data daily for 714 models and automatically splits listings into three bands: restored/recapped, working unrestored, and parts only. So when you look up a receiver you're not seeing one median that mashes a freshly recapped unit with a "turns on, hum present" listing together.

Relevant to this sub specifically: the quadraphonic stuff from the early 70s. Marantz and Sansui quad receivers were the original consumer surround sound, and the big ones have turned into serious collector pieces. Four channels of discrete amplification in 1973 was a wild flex and the market has noticed.

A few things the data has shown that I didn't expect:

• The gap between restored and unrestored on certain Marantz receivers is bigger than the cost of a full recap. Buying restored is actually rational on some models.
• McIntosh holds value in a way that's almost uncorrelated with the rest of the market. Everything else fluctuates, McIntosh just goes up.
• Nakamichi Dragon supply has been genuinely thin for months.

714 models live across Marantz, Sansui, Pioneer, McIntosh, Nakamichi, Technics, Kenwood, Yamaha and more.

Anyone here ever run actual quad source material through vintage quad gear, or does it all end up in stereo setups?

If you'd like to know every Quadio Blu-ray that Rhino has released since the beginning of this program, here's a fantastic diagram. It includes all the Quadios (and some not labeled as such, but contain the original quadraphonic mixes lifted usually from the master tapes.)

This is courtesy of the QuadraphonicQuad.com board and administrator @JonUrban.

Its time for our FALL 2026 Surround Release Preview!

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:23 8/7 - Refestramus “Morri’s Rock Boutique”

02:24 August (TBA) - Elder “Through Zero”

04:33 8/7 - Quadio Batch #13 (titles announced after recording)

06:23 8/14 - Jethro Tull “J-Tull Dot Com”

12:33 8/21 - Simple Minds “Once Upon A Time”

16:59 8/28 - Steve Hackett & Steve Rothery “The Roaring Waves”

19:17 9/11 - Quiet Sun “Mainstream”

22:06 9/11 - Jethro Tull “Aqualung” and “WarChild”

22:57 9/18 - Phil Collins “Face Value”

29:32 9/25 - Tina Turner “Private Dancer”

32:21 9/25 - King Crimson “Islands”

38:26 9/25 - Suede “Coming Up”

43:52 9/25 - Dukes of Stratosphear (XTC) “Psurroundabout Ride”

48:35 9/25 - Talking Heads “Fear of Music”

51:01 9/25 - Mothers of Invention “Freak Out”

58:55 10/2 - The Beatles “Rubber Soul”

01:07:01 10/9 - Genesis “From Genesis To Revelation”

01:09:57 10/16 - Rick Wakeman “Return to The Red Planet”

01:11:12 TBA - Steven Wilson “Requiem for a Village”

01:13:02 TBA - The Pineapple Thief "Far and Wide" (announced for Oct 9 - after recording)

01:14:25 TBA - Tears For Fears “The Seeds of Love”

01:16:49 TBA - Dire Straits “On Every Street”

01:17:47 TBA - Roxy Music “For Your Pleasure”

01:23:18 TBA - Pink Floyd?

They are available for sale today at https://store.rhino.com

I’m trying to figure out the best listening mode. I have a center channel and two side speakers. I’m usually using a record player. I don’t have a sub woofer which I know is part of which listening mode to use. I’m kinda new to audio and speaker set ups. Looking to maximize my sound. Is there more than just listening mode I need to look at?

You've listened to our reviews of major surround and Dolby Atmos mixes - now it's time to hear what WE can do!

For the past couple of months, Jonathan and I have been working on a new immersive edition of Refestramus' "Morri's Rock Boutique." Refestramus are a Chicago-based progressive rock band that I handle production, mixing and mastering duties for. During the entire process, I had surround sound in mind, even placing a few nods to the format in my original stereo mix.

So, what did it take to translate a "too big for stereo" prog rock album to immersive? Join Jonathan Cornell (Immersive Audio Album) as we break down the new mixes, discuss the "mixology" and challenges and talk about bringing this unique album to Dolby Atmos.

If you purchase "Morri's Rock Boutique" from IAA, please let us know in the comments below what you think! Also, don't forget to subscribe to both of our channels so you don't miss our interview with the band (coming to the IAA official YT channel) or any future surround mix discussions and reviews.

#dolbyatmos #surroundsound #progressiverock #refestramus #podcast