Honeck's Beethoven 5 & 7...

[jayne lee wilson]

Oh dear. Listening just now. Still a couple of dodgy moments...

Yeah, this plays-when-it-wants happened with that Berlin Classics issue I mentioned...
Tried powering up from standby with CD in place? It may reset the transport for that one play. Or it's back to the green disc idea...

Or...
turn your attention to Harnoncourt's cat-among-the-pigeons VCM 4 and 5, out in a few days....

[pastoralguy]

Yeah, this plays-when-it-wants happened with that Berlin Classics issue I mentioned...
Tried powering up from standby with CD in place? It may reset the transport for that one play. Or it's back to the green disc idea...

Or...
turn your attention to Harnoncourt's cat-among-the-pigeons VCM 4 and 5, out in a few days....

Morning, Jane. I'll get a friend to make a copy. I do fancy that Harnoncourt cd...

[pastoralguy]

And now, having played it 'cold', it's working fine!

Ah well.

[HighlandDougie]

They must be amazing considering how good the Soundmirror recordings of the Beethoven 5 and 7 are

Maybe I'm in a minority of one on the question of the supposed excellence of these Soundmirror recordings - they're certainly clear (they pick up what I assume is Manfred Honeck's breathing in quieter moments) but the close-miking results in congestion in tuttis and some oddities of balance. I've been listening to them again in 5-channel mode and find that the shortcomings of the recordings detract from my enjoyment of the performances (the scoring of the music means that the 7th is less uncomfortable than the 5th). I love Honeck's Dvorak 8th, also recorded by Soundmirror, so I'm not quite sure why they've gone for such an in your face approach with this disc. In the discard pile, I fear.

[Barbirollians]

Sorry you feel that way HD - horses for courses I suppose . I love the fact that so many inner parts of these works are revealed in this recording . RO certainly loved it in Gramophone and that is how it comes across to me too .

[mahlerei]

I'm with HD on this one. The high-res stereo downloads of most Soundmirror recordings reveal the shortcomings he identifies in the surround mixes.

[pastoralguy]

And now, having played it 'cold', it's working fine!

Ah well.

Well, until tonite when it stopped for a couple of seconds during the allegretto of the 7th symphony.

[Petrushka]

Well, until tonite when it stopped for a couple of seconds during the allegretto of the 7th symphony.

[richardfinegold]

Maybe I'm in a minority of one on the question of the supposed excellence of these Soundmirror recordings - they're certainly clear (they pick up what I assume is Manfred Honeck's breathing in quieter moments) but the close-miking results in congestion in tuttis and some oddities of balance. I've been listening to them again in 5-channel mode and find that the shortcomings of the recordings detract from my enjoyment of the performances (the scoring of the music means that the 7th is less uncomfortable than the 5th). I love Honeck's Dvorak 8th, also recorded by Soundmirror, so I'm not quite sure why they've gone for such an in your face approach with this disc. In the discard pile, I fear.

I have to say that after a few listening since on various 2 channel and surround sound SACD systems I was also sonically disappointed with this disc, especially in comparison to Honeck's Dvorak 8. Bad engineering can't be improved by good playback equipment.

[Stanfordian]

I have to say that after a few listening since on various 2 channel and surround sound SACD systems I was also sonically disappointed with this disc, especially in comparison to Honeck's Dvorak 8. Bad engineering can't be improved by good playback equipment.

Hello richardfinegold,

You shoud let the label know. The label publicises sound quality enough.

[pastoralguy]

Well, I've tried playing it again and it's completely unplayable. This is very odd since it was playing fine when I tried it a few weeks ago. It's now passed the Amazon 'return window' so I'm stuck with it. I'll try doing a PC copy and see if that's any good.

Ah well.

[Nick Armstrong]

Well, I've tried playing it again and it's completely unplayable. This is very odd since it was playing fine when I tried it a few weeks ago. It's now passed the Amazon 'return window' so I'm stuck with it. I'll try doing a PC copy and see if that's any good.

Ah well.

If the thing won't work, I think you should still be able to do something. You played it before and it was fine - but now it's not. I've returned things outside the 'window' by invoking this paragraph

"If a product becomes defective after 30 days you won't be able to create a returns label using our Returns Support Centre - you'll need to Contact Us."

That wording, esp. the live 'Contact Us' link, can be found here.

I would definitely give it a go. I've found amazon take a surprisingly personal approach to issues like this - I was having email exchanges with named individuals at their service centre who really took responsibility and fixed the problem.

[pastoralguy]

Many thanks indeed, Cailban. I've emailed Amazon so let's see what happens. I noticed their address is close to where I live in Edinburgh so I could always pop in!

I remember buying a cd that mis-tracked from my local cd shop shortly after the medium was launched. The assistant, who was always pleasant, turned very nasty and said it was 'too bad' and I had I tried it on another player? Bearing in mind that it had taken me long enough to get ONE CD player I was hardly likely to have a selection at home in case one didn't work! As it turned out, the disc was fine when I tried it on the university machine and has subsequently played fine on all the many players I've had since. (It was cd 2 of Guilini's 'Falstaff' on DG).

That's the only occasion where I can remember a 'factory fresh' cd not working until this Beethoven occasion.

[Petrushka]

I think this needs to be looked at more clinically than making yet another return to Amazon.

Is it only this disc that is a problem?

Common sense must say that this can't continually be faulty discs otherwise buyers all over the world would be reporting problems and manufacturers would be aware of an issue.

Have you tried the disc/s in any other player? Same problem or no problem?

If no problem on any other player then your CD player must be to blame.

The odds on this being a faulty disc issue all the time are remote. I'd be asking some searching questions of the CD player. Have you been in touch with the manufacturer of your CD player?

[pastoralguy]

I think this needs to be looked at more clinically than making yet another return to Amazon.

Is it only this disc that is a problem?

Common sense must say that this can't continually be faulty discs otherwise buyers all over the world would be reporting problems and manufacturers would be aware of an issue.

Have you tried the disc/s in any other player? Same problem or no problem?

If no problem on any other player then your CD player must be to blame.

The odds on this being a faulty disc issue all the time are remote. I'd be asking some searching questions of the CD player. Have you been in touch with the manufacturer of your CD player?

Hi Petrushka. The disc plays fine in all my other CD players which includes the car, the little cheapie machine in the kitchen, the bedside cd machine, (which I got from writing a 'letter of the month' in Gramophone!) and two other Sacd machines including a £7,000 Macintosh which belongs to a (rich!) friend.


So yes, obviously, my main Quad machine would appear to be at fault. However, the Quad machine is only 14 months old and has already played hundreds if not thousands of CDs with no problem at all. This includes charity shop CDs which are not always in the best condition. (Although I always clean them before use). This Honeck cd is the ONLY cd it's rejected. The Quad is not an sacd machine but happily plays the other sacds I have.

It's very peculiar.