Obsolete surround format 2+2+2

[Audioagnostic]

Thought this may be an interesting curiosity to post here.

I found a SACD in a thrift store from the MDG label marked as 2+2+2 encoding.
There is little information on this format to be found. A Wikipedia page exist in German only.

2+2+2 – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

It seems to be a 6 channel recording technique with 2 additional front height channels.

According to the booklet you would need to connect your center channel and subwoofer out to these two channels.

This setup is supposed to give better spatial sound.

It is all very strange and not surprising this format has been almost completely forgotten.

My SACD player, Sony S6700, recognized it as a multi channel SACD. It does sound fantastic, very nice recording but I obviously could not be bothered adding two front height channels. I also think the subwoofer channel usually has a low pass filter so am not sure how they got to these instructions.

Anyway, if people have tried the 2+2+2 setup, I would like to hear from you!

 

[popej]

Thats interesting. I would rip it, change to PCM and switch high channels to back surround. Then it could be played with 7.1 setup. Maybe you could even trick room correction to work.

 

[jacobacci]

2+2+2 is a Dabringhaus & Grimm format, which is part of the Auro 3D Family of formats.
It is definitely not to be played by putting the front height channels to back surround channels. If you want to play it on non 2+2+2 layouts just use the 4.0 bed channels, the
SW and center channels of the SACD contain the info of front height left and right.
See also these two articles from 2008 / 2009

https://www.audaud.com/first-special-feature-on-222-multichannel-discs/

https://www.audaud.com/aurophonie-and-222/

Auro-3D® Immersive Sound Interview with Wilfried Van Baelen

Auro-3D Surround Sound: We talk with Auro Technology's founder Wilfried Van Baelen to go over the details of his groundbreaking Auro-3D "immersive sound" format and how it differs from Dolby Atmos.

www.audioholics.com

 

[popej]

It is definitely not to be played by putting the front height channels to back surround channels.

Obviously, but if you mount them on front, you will the get the right setup. Or if you already have front height for Atmos, you need only to switch wires.