Kudos and Pictures

From Holger Hoffmann-Riem

Dear Ralph,

I finally managed to install Ambio software and try it out on my stereo system. The difference between Ambio and Stereo is just unbelievable! The music becomes so much more alive. You really don't want to switch back to Stereo. A couple of months ago I bought a rather expensive DAC. With that new DAC, the music became considerably more emotional than without it. However, that effect was nothing compared to switching to Ambio! A few dollars (or Euro) for Ambio software is certainly much better value than buying expensive gear.

I made a couple of interesting observations. I could now hear details that were not available in Stereo. You really had this feeling of "being there", even with only 2 channels. I am sure that ambience channels would make this impression even stronger.

I don't think I have "golden ears". I have two different pairs of speakers. When I listen to them in Stereo mode, they don't sound that different. Comparing them in Ambio mode, however, the difference was much more pronounced! There was also a much greater difference between a reasonable speaker placement and a rather unsuitable speaker placement (next to my TV set).

Best wishes,

Holger

Go to the Tutorials page to see Holger Hoffman-Riem's review of the latest Ambiophonic programs and plugins.

From William Leebens, Loudspeaker Manufacturers' Representative, Florida.

The Stereo reproduction-process that we know and sometimes love is fundamentally flawed. There’s simply no way conventional Stereo can recreate the panoramic spread of sound we hear in concert halls. The best we can hope for is a “they are here” experience, with a scale-model musicalensemble struggling to escape the speakers, to appear in your room. With Ambiophonics, YOU ARE THERE. With Ambiophonics, music has the breadth and depth of a live concert. You are taken to Carnegie Hall or Red Rocks, the sound framed by proscenium or cliff wall--not by two speakers spaced 60 degrees apart. Just as with a live performance, the music will not be ignored.

What is Ambiophonics? Ambiophonics is a process which eliminates the errors found in conventional recordings, allowing you to hear the music in its full scale for the first time. There are no bizarre effects as with processors which synthesize ambience: if you hear a 40-foot-wide piano through Ambiophonics, sorry, that’s how it was recorded. With good recordings, you’ll hear for the first time the true size of the orchestra, the hall, the chorus. Even solo recordings will allow you to hear the musician accuratelyplaced in the hall or studio, the sound dying away naturally. How can I hear Ambiophonics? Go to: http://www.ambiophonics.org/Ambiofiles.htm#Setup --download the files and burn them to a CD. Move your speakers closertogether than usual-- about 20 degrees apart-- then play the tracks through your sound system. You’ll hear the sound of real music in your room, anastonishingly palpable presence unlike any recording you’ve ever heard. That’s just a taste of things to come. Later this year, a DVD-V sampler, “Ambiophonics Evolution”, will become available. Then, TacT Audio will introduce their Ambiophonics 4.0 Processor, which will allow you to discover the hidden magic of your favorite recordings, and unleash the stunning sound of true Ambiophonic recordings in your own home. With Ambiophonics, YOU ARE THERE!

.

Members of NY RAVE experiencing Pan-Ambio surround sound at the Ambiophonics Institute. Comments and photos from RAVE

New York's Ensemble Oasis performs for the PanAmbiophone and 16 participants in perception testing & ANOVA analysis concluding that all listeners would hear significantly improved timbral, spatial, & localization accuracy from 2-channel recordings played using Ambiophonics.

John Marks in Stereophile following its HE2007 show wrote:"A special honorable mention goes to the noncommercial Ambiophonics demonstration room, where my organ and carillon level-setting snippet sounded eerily like the inside of the church it was recorded in, right down to the echo signature of the transept sidewalls. Huge Sound-Lab Majestic panel speakers coped effortlessly with the full gamut of organ tones; rack upon rack of TacT processing, room correction, and power amps crunched the numbers and put into practice Ambiophonics' nonprofit promoter Ralph Glasgal's dream of creating a stable surround experience."In other recent press - Attending HE2007, Robert Deutsch of Stereophile wrote in "Most exciting was Ralph Glasgal [above left with Boz Radomir of Tact Audio] and the Ambiophonics system. I was quite blown away with the huge soundstage, precision of imaging, and sheer ease of the sound."

CES, Las Vegas - The Audiophile Voice's Arnis Balgalvis said, "Ralph Glasgal's presentation was ear-opening. What he managed to accomplish from two very closely placed speakers was to create a very refined soundspace that extended way beyond the outside of these closely positioned speakers. I sat there astonished. Switched back to normal, the soundstage contracted into the two speakers with just about nothing in the way of soundstage width."

"The Most Realistic System I've ever heard."
Clark Johnsen, Positive Feedback

"I'm still incredulous"
Ken Kessler, Hi-Fi News & Record Reviews 9/98

In Parma, a RAVE for RACE and BACCH

Ambiophiles are growing in number around the world. After attending the AES Italia 2007 in Parma, Italy, invited panelist David Malham of the University of York wrote to the Sursound List: "I participated in the listening tests at Parma and was really impressed with how far this technology has gotten - it's well worth a try. Particularly for domestic listeners who only have stereo material, it certainly does what it says on the can. I think I marginally preferred RACE on some material and the BACCH on other."

Raves for Tact RCS-2.2XP with Ambiophonics DSP

In an open letter to stereophiles, Michael Graw of Luebeck, Germany, wrote: "I had the chance to listen to a TacT 2.2 XP with its [Ambiophonic] cross talk cancellation (XTC) function activated and must admit: It really works even in a normal stereo loudspeaker arrangement. The [Ambiophonic] XTC is the biggest improvement I could experience in my 35 years of optimization of my system and searching for a true high fidelity system."

Kudos from the Basque Country

 
 

I have tried Stephan Hotto´s RACE implementation and I am very impressed. Having crosstalk cancellation without a physical barrier before me is quite something. So far I can´t route the laptop´s cd player through the XTC software so I´m having to convert cd´s to wave files and load individual tracks one at a time. I still have to try analog to digital and back conversion of my beloved SACD´s. Quite inconvenient, but it certainly pays off nontheless.

There is no question to my ears this is miles ahead of the standard stereo triangle. Everybody should try it.

All recordings I have tried benefit from ambiophonics, but some are simply jaw-dropping. Penderecky´s Seven Gates of Jerusalem on the Naxos label and the classic (it´s the one in Kubrick´s Space Oddisey) 1968 recording of Ligety´s Requiem conducted byMichael Gielen are magical. I have been trying to gather information as to the microphone configurations employed but I drew a blank. There is something unique about them that is not present on most other recordings and it would be interesting to find out what that is. Anyone who knows what I´m talking about could contribute with a list of their recordings that do this for others to try.
 
I want to say thanks to Ralph Glasgal and others who are contributing to the Ambiophonics cause for this real and substantial leap in music reproduction.

Poldus, diy Audio Forum

Hello Ralph,

I'd like to state: all stereo CD's converted to Ambiophonics
using AudioMulch and RACE-4.0 benefit from the wide sound stage
and greatly improved clarity and tonality. Some are absolutely stunning, like Roy Orbison's " Black & White Night " or
Andre Previn's " A Midsummer Night's Dream " .

So, the chain of music reproduction leaps from MONO to STEREO to AMBIOPHONICS in that order!

The other important part: it is not a must to have super components to enjoy REAL SOUND!  My own setting is an acoustically untreated basement with a Creek Destiny CD player, a ModWright Instruments SWL 9.0SE preamp, a Monster Signature MPA 3250 power amp and a pair of very old TDL speakers set up about 6' apart between centers of tweeters.  My listening position is about 12' from the center between speakers.