I have recently gotten my second DTS disk (Santana Abraxas and Porcupine Tree In Absentia). Neither one has anywhere near the low bass of their stereo counterparts. I can't play DTS on my home system, so I have little to compare it to. All my other DVD-A's sound great, just the DTS disks have reduced bass. Almost as if the subwoofer output was out of phase. Does anyone else notice similar results?

 

Hi Steve:

The DTS disks are complete re-mixes. They are not the old stereo disks re-channeled into 5.1.

It is possible and probable that the producers decided that the level of bass that was popular in the 70's is not in vogue now, and reduced the bass level. Since we have only one subwoofer, it can't be out of phase.

Overall - the tonal balance is probably better now. One of my close friends does the mastering at DTS, I'll ask him about this when I see him next.

Also - Please note that the TL's sound system is very lacking in mids and highs when set flat. If you set the bass to -2 and the sub to -1 and raise the overall volume, the mids and highs now popout clearly! The difference is astounding if you haven't tried it.

 

Understood. The same is true for MLP encoded 5.1 mixes.

One of the DTS mixes is a fairly recent recording (Porcupine Tree). The out of phase is possible because the left and right rear are full range and are a spectral superset of the sub (bad mixing practice, but possible). That's why most powered subs for home systems have a phase switch.


I'd love to hear what he says.

I've read those threads and since the PT disc has plenty of midrange, that's not what I'm searching for. Perhaps its a coincidence, but it's only the DTS discs that have this problem. Of course, I've only tried two...

 

And I forgot to mention that the Porcupine Tree DVD-A was mixed by the man hisself: Eliot Scheiner.