The 10 best-of-class multichannel discs.(THE MUSIC)

A brief update of the current multichannel situation: DVD-A material of merit for five-channel may be difficult to find. New releases in the DVD-A format are dwindling, but SACD still offers a reasonable selection. Some labels continue to sell SACDs for around $20-$24 in a dual-inventory mode (LSO Live, Channel Classics, Hyperion, Telarc). Making the price difference even bigger, a CD stereo version could drop below $13 when on sale, though the SACDs may hardly move. Among the big four, Sony/BMG and DGG/Philips/Decca are issuing SACDs for their limited catalog of new classical releases, although I see no releases for January and February. Warner exited the new recording market for classical music last year, while Naxos ceased production of DVD-A and SACD formats, although they may still be recording in it..

On a more hopeful note, the core classicists such as Albany, BIS, CPO, and Dacapo have retained their single-inventory SACD distribution channels with no price increase. Many single-inventory labels are available for $13-$16 on sale and in multiple sets or reissues; prices can dip to $10 on SACD. It was reported that new manufacturing processes have been developed to cut production costs (http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=2219) although it is not clear from the article what percentage of CD production is at the new plants.

Other labels are single-inventory, but they charge a price surcharge for a new SACD over a CD release from the same month's release list. Harmonia Mundi and Ondine charge $2 more and Chandos, charges, believe it or not, $9 more. As reported in Stereophile, high SACD overseas demand has been the catalyst (http://stereophile.com/news/012907harm/) for the continued production of SACD. The article stated that 15 to 20% of Harmonia Mundi's total sales were of SACD, although it is not clear how many of those sales were by people who would have been just as happy to have a CD and save $2.00. The article also reports that the UK and USA are not places that have high SACD demand. It is also not clear how many people purchase a SACD to play in two channels because they believe it sounds better as opposed to how many people actually use the multichannel tracks.

Correct setup of an SACD-based system continues to be very problematic. Few know that they must set the primitive bass management inside the universal player manually and using the numbers for distance determined by the automatic adjustment systems (or old-time measuring tape) of their new AV receiver. While it is possible to adjust the crossover frequency to a subwoofer on a modern AV receiver, you are likely stuck with 80 Hz on your SACD player. Also note that some older AV receivers require you to adjust the gain offset separately for the six analog inputs and the multichannel inputs coming off the digital SPDIF cable. The six-cable analog lashup presents further problems given that the eight outputs (including the two-channel mix outputs) are at the back of the player. I doubt whether even 30% of the systems set up to play SACDs are actually set up correctly.

Technology incorporating HDMI 1.2a (or HDMI 1.3) eliminates all these problems with SACD with one digital cable, but as I write this only a few AV receivers have the HDMI 1.2a input and no SACD players have the HDMI 1.2a output. Large-scale production of equipment that can deal with SACD digital data streams may not be out to the 3rd quarter.

Even if the SACD player is connected correctly, reproduction of five-channel sound is a murky affair. The ITU configuration is the sole viable conduit for listening to these disks until Trinnov's technology gains affordability. Furthermore, excellent equalization is needed even when the speakers are in ITU. Of the equalization systems I have examined, only the Audyssey Sound Equalizer ($2000) is satisfactory. I have yet to test a receiver that can control the low-end with the aplomb of the Audyssey while doing as little harm as possible above 400 Hz (a full test of the Audyssey on the way). After the Trinnov left my lab, I worked hard to recreate a facsimile with an AV receiver and optimal speaker placement, but was disappointed with the results--you have to follow the rules exactly to achieve the performance described below. Only when the Audyssey came in was I satisfied that the system was good enough to review the sound of the SACDs and DVD-As with the speakers in the ITU position.

Including the price of the Audyssey, I have a hard time coming up with a complete five-channel ...