Being in the music biz myself, I generally prefer to hear what's on the recording itself rather than doctor it up with after the fact effects. That said, in my MCS I haven't found much musical use for the Spacial and Festival d.s.p. settings on the Harmon Kardon stereo - until last night. My wife and I were going to see the 'Farewell" concert of the LA Phil at the Dorothy Chandler, and we were listening to Sinatra on the iPod (no... we're not THAT old, but thanks for asking) and I decided to try the d.s.p. settings just for grins. Everything I've tried these settings on before has been a more recent recording, most of which don't really NEED help in the Reverb department. Some older recordings, particularly old mono, 2 track or 4 track recordings can be quite 2 dimensional and 'flat' sounding. On the Sinatra, "Festival" sounded great! It added a clarity and spaciousness to his voice, added considerable depth to the orchestra as a whole, and made you almost think the recordings had been remixed and remastered.

On the way home, we continued the experiment, choosing an old Louis Prima recording this time. "Festival" sounded WAY to Reverby this time, but "Spacial" was just the ticket. All of a sudden you could hear the entire band better.

In short - if you listen to anything recorded more that 15 or 20 years ago - experiment with the d.s.p.. You might get lucky! Now I wish there were more settings to try....

Geoff

 

Thanks Geoff! Good analysis.