Flexicon9 said:
The first DVD was released in 1997... that was the flipper with a 2.0 track on one side and a 5.1 track on the other as you guys said. Now I have the 25th Anniversary DVD from 1998 and it has only a 5.1 track in English. My understanding is that Friedkin supervised that mix. So does that mean that the original 5.1 track from the 1997 P&S side is different than the subsequent 5.1 track from the 25th Anniversary disc? It would have to be, right? Then the "version you've never seen before" sports a brand new robust mix different from all previous of course. So there's a bunch of mixes for this film. I assume the laserdisc must have the best mono or stereo. Did they introduce new sound effects for the director's cut only, or did they introduce new effects all the way back in 1998 for the 25th Anniversary?

Yes. Having read postings from some knowledgeable people on blu-ray.com and lddb, if you want the 'original' (inc '79 re-release) audio you need three mixes from three different sources:

1. 1973 release: Mono from the '79 laserdisc but apparently it's time compressed to fit on one disc

2. 1979 re-release 35mm: PCM Dolby Stereo from the '93 laserdisc - presumably better than the below dvd's DD 2.0 version

3. 1979 re-release 70mm six track: 5.1 from the '97 dvd - P&S side

Everything after that is (an additional) remix.