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I'm playing with my first "real" home theatre setup and noticed that on concert DVD's like Norah Jones in New Orleans or the Eagles, I actually prefer listening in stereo vs Dolby Digital 5.1. Is this normal? They sound fine in 5.1 but a little cleaner and sometimes more "robust" in plain ole stereo. What gives? Thanks.
Follow Ups:
.... recordings differ a lot as the posts below illustrate + the way DACs handle the signal varies a lot.The Meridian DAC here automatically switches to DD5.1 if that is the audio selected and available on the DVD, and it comes through OK here with no need to revert to 2CH. However I'm sure there are poorly mixed DVDs out there where 2CH would be preferrable.
Generally I find PLII to be excellent and that is what we generally hear in this house from satellite and free to air broadcasts. DD5.1 is supposed to accompany digital TV when that is up and running but it is still in the experimental stage where we live although it has rolled out in Melbourne, Sydney and some other places.
There are a lot of 2CH only music laserdiscs and DVDs in this collection and the Meridian, in it latest incarnaton, gives a very satisfying subtle ambience to 2CH in some modes. Other modes can be gross, so the artificial ambience has to be added carefully, not blatently (with added distortion) as some processors do.
Generally I find recording of audio is improving but this cannot be relied upon :-( So to answer your query I'd say experiment and use what sounds most appealing to you. Sometimes that might be 2CH only, other times not.
John
Peace at AA
I find that when it comes to multi-channel music videos most are horribly over-mixed, sometimes to the point of unlistenablity (eg. Eagles...Hell Freezes Over, Steely Dan...Two Against Nature).Most of the time I prefer the two channel option for music.
cheerio
seems like with all the trouble we go thru to find and set up the "right" stereo pair of speakers that are the best for any given room, adding 3 or more speakers outputting in different directions can't help but muddle up the sound some.
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Antonio Melo Ribeiro
See my post of 3-13-03 on this subject. I agree with you one hundred percent. I just spent a fair amount of money upgrading to newer HT components, only to conlude that stereo is still better except with DVD DTS movies where the producers have taken the effort to create (from inception) a five or six channnel soundtrack that enhances the movie-watching experience. Everything else, including Pro-LogicII, is an attempt to simulate the surround-sound experience. Sometimes it works, more often than not you end up with a garbled mess. Of course, many out there will conclude my components are junk, I mis-wired the system, or haven't made the correct adjustments, ect. That's fine, I'm going back to four-channel stereo for all music and video except DVD DTS movies.
The problem is, especially with 5-channel DVD-A's recorded "live," is two-fold:1) Different camera angles that show, for example, the guitarist on the left, then on the right, then in the middle, while the sound mix doesn't change. Very disconcerting.
2) Sounds not coming from where they're supposed to. For example, on the Eagles' "Hell Freezes Over," the percussionist is to the far left and behind the band. However, on the soundtrack, the sounds he is making emanate from the rear left speaker. Again, quite disconcerting.
When you go to a symphony or concert, the orchesta/symphony/band is right in front of you. The only other sounds you'll hear are either echoes (indoor venue) or crowd noise etc. Otherwise, everything else should come from the front -- which is why two-channel is still superior.
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Antonio Melo Ribeiro
To the whims, idiosyncracies, and/or just plain incompetence of the recording engineer?
have you spent some quality time setting up the levels with an SPL for the surround channel. Properly setting the levels for your surrounds make all the difference in the world. balancing a stereo pair is much easier.That being said, some stereo layers do sound better than the MCH layers. Also, check the specs on your receiver, some output less watts/channel when in MCH vs Stereo mode.
Sam
Thanks Sam. I did balance all the channels (by ear) and experimented with LFE output and LFE+Mains. I'll have to try some other concert videos and see how they compare to the two I've listened to so far. I should stress that for normal movie viewing (action flicks, etc), the Dolby Digital 5.1 sounds great! I was expecting more from 5.1 with my concert videos (which sound good in 5.1) but they sound better in stereo.P.S. I bought a "Home theatre Tune-Up" DVD interactive guide. I used it for testing and adjusting the sound as well as picture hue and color levels. I do want to get a SPL meter though. I'll head over to RadioShack once this snow clears out.
I sujest that you set all speakers to small, bass only to LFE, xover around 50hz, if you can, I donīt like 80hz as much in my system...I used the SPL meter, good to know the "teorectical" levels, but in the end I changed all settings to better suit me...
Antonio Melo Ribeiro
My preference has always been for stereo over multi-channel audio. I honestly think that it is from years of only listening to stereo CDs...For you the difference may be an imbalance of your amplifiers. I mean that in design theory and not a physical problem with any of them. From looking at your earlier post you are using a C-J tube amp for your mains and the Denon Amps for the rest. Most of the advice that I have been given about home theater centers around two things.. Use the same brand/model range of speakers and drive them with the same/similar power.
I think that Denon makes great HT gear, but the C-J amp you are using is in another class sonically. Maybe for multi-channel audio they are just not blending together sonically?
Just my $0.02...
Charlie
For regular movie watching (other than concert videos that are primarily music), 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS sound great. You might be right about the sonic differences between my main amp and Denon but I'm wondering if others have noticed this too while using completely indentical amplification for all channels along with matched speakers. I'm not saying that 5.1 sounds bad, just that 2-channel stereo sounds better to me for concert videos. I was expecting to be "blown away" by 5.1 but maybe I was expecting too much.
Brubacca is right, Before my system was well matched, I also preferred stereo for most music...Having said that, PCM tracks are usually better than 5.1 tracks, but still, I use DPLII for everything, even CDs...
Antonio Melo Ribeiro
As the owner of a large collection of music DVDs, one thing they all have in common is minimal use of the surround speakers. For the most part they are used for ambience purposes only, e.g., crowd noise, some echo and occasional panning of a guitar riff, etc. When listening to music DVDs, I prefer to listen in 2 channel as well. To some extent minimal use of the surround channels is a well-thought artistic decision. Quite frankly, many of the multichannel mixing efforts I have heard have been rather lackluster (that doesn't mean good multichannel recordings aren't out there....it means they generally aren't available from the artists I prefer to listen to). I might be in the minority on this one, but I haven't been all that impressed with any DTS recordings either.
You are right, I usually prefer the PCM track, but with DPLII, try it and be amazed... ;)
Antonio Melo Ribeiro
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