System Install Prep and Deep Purple Pep

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Next week is a big one for a couple reasons. Early in the week representatives from Wilson Audio arrive to help me install my eight new Alida CSC speakers and Mezzo CSC center channel. Late in the week Axpona starts! It’s a dream week for this audiophile.

This week I’m prepping for the installation. Most likely, members of this community have long forgotten what the initial installation of the Alida speakers was like (see photo). I don’t blame anyone for that, life is busy and people have far more important things to remember than any adjustments to my audio system. As a reminder, it involved hundreds of feet of Transparent cable, sawing my desk in half, and figuring out how to get a twelve channel audio system to look like it belongs in the room rather than a science project.

This time around I’m in a much better position. All the existing cables will remain in place, and the new Alida CSC speaker mounts will use the same holes in my walls. Phew! Plus, having two people here to help with the install will be invaluable.

The next couple days I’m going to attempt to do as much prep work as possible. I have eight Alida CSC speakers sitting in crates and the new Mezzo CSC in a much larger crate. I’d like to at least get the Alidas up into my room by Friday morning (I found some energy late last night and got them into my room!). The main reason for this is that Manny’s Piano Movers are coming Friday afternoon to move the 200 lbs. Mezzo CSC up to my listening room. And, the Mezzo CSC crate is behind the eight Alida crates. Note to self, keep the really heavy stuff in a more accessible position next time.

First world problems indeed, but problems nonetheless. I’m really excited about this upgrade. The Alida CSC is replacing a decade old design, and should really shine with immersive audio. Remember, immersive audio uses surround and height channels all the time, so these speakers are very important. They aren’t just for ambience.

I also can’t wait to get the Mezzo CSC into place. The very first album I’m going to play is the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio’s A Shade of Blue. With the double bass right in the center channel, it should sound fantastic through a much more capable center channel speaker. When I initially installed my immersive system, I went with the Watch center channel because it’s what I could afford at the time. With the new Mezzo CSC I feel like any previous limitations will be totally gone.

Once the system is installed, I’ll contact Mitch Barnett ( @mitchco ) from Accurate Sound in Canada. I will measure my system, send him the measurement file, and he’ll create filters for room correction. This is absolutely necessary with twelve channels. Nobody has a listening chair that’s equidistant from all twelve speakers, and very few have rooms without sonic compromises. Mitch’s work in this area is second to none. It feels good to go into this with confidence that his work in the past has been magical, and I know I can count on him to do what he does best, with this new upgrade.

Machine Head in Atmos

Switching gears to the new reissue of Deep Purple’s Machine Head. The album is 50 years old, but has very little sentimental value to me. I didn’t grow up listening to it, other than when I heard a couple of the tracks on 92.5 KQRS in the car back in the day. I also haven’t spent much time listening to this album on my home audio system. In fact, I can’t remember ever playing it at home. This puts me in a good position to discuss the new remix from a neutral perspective.

I know some diehard Deep Purple fans have expressed concern and disappointment with Dweezil Zappa’s Dolby Atmos mix, suggesting it isn’t like the original at all, among other things. This brings me to my first point, I’m very happy this new mix doesn’t sound like any previous mixes. Think about it, how many times can one purchase the same music over again? That’s usually the first complaint from people when reissues come out. As if people are forced to purchase albums again, but that’s another story.

The fact the Zappa has created a very unique mix, compared to previous versions, is fantastic. It gives fans of this music choices. It also gives fans a reason to purchase the 50th anniversary box, other than to satisfy a completest’s OCD (been there, done that, still do it). On Pearl Jam’s greatest hits album Rearviewmirror there are three remixes (Once, Alive, and Black). I love these versions of those songs and seek them out when I want to hear them. Needless to say, I’m a fan of remixes and think it was a great move to have Dweezil Zappa do the Atmos mix of this album.

The second point, related to my neutrality, is that I really like what Dweezil did with this Atmos mix. It’s adventurous at times, somewhat conservative at others times, but never dull. Listening to some mixes, I ask myself why anyone bothered to create an Atmos mix if they only use the two front channels and have everything -20dB on all other channels. Wait, I think I know why. That’s a rhetorical question I ask myself.

Aside from the hits on this album, Highway Star, Smoke on the Water, and Space Truckin’, I totally love all the other tracks. Zappa made these songs really interesting to me and they grab my attention. From the start of Maybe I’m A Leo, the sound is enveloping, presenting a wide and wrapping soundstage. Zappa’s mix serves this music in a new way, that reaches out and touches me, unlike any previous mix of anything from Deep Purple.

Whoa! The opening drums sequence on Pictures of Home, makes me sit up straight and pay attention. It’s part 1970’s drum solo time, not the time to get up from one’s concert seat to hit the bathroom, and part 2024 because of the mixing tools capable of delivering a wonderful new experience. This track gets adventurous for sure, and I can see why purists with ingrained memories of how it should sound, may disprove.

I mean this in a good way, and with no disrespect, but perhaps the 50th anniversary Atmos mix is for everyone else and even some new listeners, rather than some of the diehard fans. This isn’t like changing the skin color of Mona Lisa. Instead it provides another view into, what I now consider, a fantastic album. As Neil Young said about creating Atmos mixes of his albums, “[I’m] making all my old albums in Dolby Atmos / Apple Spatial so the next generation can hear them.”

I’m sure there will be a day when I hear a Pearl Jam remix that rubs me the wrong way. When that happens, I’ll know it wasn’t made for me and I’ll think back to my experience with Dweezil Zappa’s Atmos mix of Machine Head. Choice is good. New experiences are good. Getting more people into classic albums is good. It’s all good.

I hope to see everyone in Chicago at Audio Expo North America, and if you have time, don’t miss my presentation of A Shade of Blue, in stereo.

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