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Hi everyone. I'm wondering how most people here treat 2 channel music with their 5.1 or 7.1 system.Do you play music without any processing, and only through the front left and right speakers?
Do you use some combination of 3/5/7 speakers without any processing?
Do you just push a preset on the receiver (or preamp) and let the processor decide for you?A friend of mine has expressed his dissatisfaction with his 5.1 system when listening to music only. He says that he can't really nail down the problem, other than it just sounds "wrong". He upgraded his Denon receiver to a Krell Home Theater pre and power amp, and he still feels the same way. He says, "yeah, it sounds cleaner and bigger, but it's just more of the same problem."
He also lives about 400 miles away from me so I can't hop in my car and spend the day helping him. Unfortunately, I can only give him limited advice because I'm just a 2 channel guy.
To make a long story short, I have a feeling that he is trying to force a stereo recording through too many channels and that is the root of his problem. What do you guys think? Is there sort of an ultimate let down when you try to get 5 or 7 channels out of a regular stereo recording? I would be interested to know how most people listen to a stereo recording with all of those speakers.
Thanks for any and all opinions!
Follow Ups:
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There seems to be a common denominatior here that suggests taking it easy when processing a stereo signal. This makes the most sense to me. I'm trying to convince my friend to take it easy on the processing and to make sure that he is selecting the correct kind of process for stereo only. There are good suggestions here for what kind of stereo "enhancement" process he should try first.Personally, I align myself more with what David Aiken says. Use 2 speakers for stereo, 5 for a 5 channel disc, etc. But how do you convince someone not to use all of those speakers and amps that he paid for? That's not something anyone would want to hear. Of course there's always movies to put them to use!
(BTW, David, I kind of like listening to mono recordings with two speakers. Especially if I'm sitting right in the center position. I will turn one channel off next time and re-evaluate my preference. Thanks for the tip.)The remark from jeromelang making sure that the surround speakers are in a proper location and angle seems logical too. Not to mention dialing in the correct level (subtle contribution from the surrounds?), and making sure that the polarity is correct for each speaker. I will have to investigate the lack of delay (or proper amount) in the owners manual of his Krell pre amp.
Anyway, thanks to eveyone. I will try to pass all of this useful information on.
If the source is stereo, then it should be played back in stereo. You might be able to create some artificial ambience" with the 2-channel to 5-channel "audio processing" but you've lost the intent of the original 2-channel master.And with the difficulty/cost of doing stereo "right" let alone 5-channel music, you have to weigh the cost of 2 channel vs. 5 channel music. I'd think anything other 5-channel sources (e.g. DVD-A or SACD MC material) should always be played back in a 2-channel setup without digital processing as much as possible.
One of these days, I might make the jump to vinyl but not yet....I'm waiting to hit the jackpot on a Beatles mint condition LP collection at some obscure garage/estate sale. :0)
Turn one channel off, then turn and face the other speaker. You'll still be facing the 'centre position" :-)David Aiken
Beautiful . . . .
I set up my left/right/sub speakers in my 5.1 system to sound best with 2-channel material. I use a preamp to power amps with a HT bypass, where my stereo source (Squeezebox) goes directly to that preamp, an HT receiver is used for movie playback, which also goes through preamp first before going to L/R/sub power amps.
The extra cabling and potential loss of resolution effecting the L/R's movie playback isn't a big deal.
In this system,(Paradigm Studio 60s/570 center/ADP470s sides) two channel material sounds best played back with two speakers. Although for background music, I will use all speakers in a prologic mode. Maybe a higher resolution system with more or all identical speakers would do better with multi-channel music.
And does your preamp provide for individual channel level/distance adjustments?Kal
Hey Kal. Just level and balance, still using my old Sony TAP9000. But since I run only the left/right mains though it, I don't need any delay adjustments.I use an Outlaw ICBM to route/control the sub signal (LFE input from the Rotel HT receiver for movies, the Squeezebox's L/R analog signals for that source).
< < A friend of mine has expressed his dissatisfaction with his 5.1 system when listening to music only. He says that he can't really nail down the problem, other than it just sounds "wrong". > >then the next thing anyone can do is look at speaker settings to check if postioning/angle, levels and timings are all properly aligned or not.
some multi-channel amps have a "multi-stereo" application which could be used with stereo materials to good effect. but the speaker postioning, level and delay (best not to have) adjustments must be absolutely spot-on.
I don't know how many channels will deliver the best reproduction of music, at least from a theoretical perspective.I do know that I think that the best playback results are achieved when you listen to the same number of channels as exist on the recording. I think mono sounds best on one channel/speaker only, stereo on 2, and so on.
Upmixing or downmixing to a different number of channels seems to not work as well in my experience.
(For the purposes of the above statements, I'm not regarding the use of a subwoofer as adding another channel.)
David Aiken
I only listen to music via two channel stereo, and using the DIRECT switch on my A.V. receiver. All this multichannel cr*p and worse synthetic processed cr*p for music sounds GAWD AWFUL!I use 5.1 for movies watching though. I will re do my H/T setup to a 6.1 or 7.1 design down the road.
When I listen to 2ch music on my HT, I just use the 7.1 inputs, which sends through the front L/R unprocessed. It sounds fine to me.I used to have a separate set of L/R cables going from the stereo outputs of the player to the CD input on the receiver, and used a Direct setting to avoid any processing. I tried to imagine I heard a difference, but I really didn't. So, when I put the stuff in a new cabinet, I didn't even hook up those CD input cables.
Doug
Better preamp stages than the old preamp/processor. Now I've added a stereo tubed preamp to the mix which forces me to swap out cables between tubed 2 channel and SS 5 channel music playback.Still, that center speaker probably messes with good 2-channel stereo imaging. BTW, everything else being equal 5-channel music blows away 2-channel; Unfortunately at 5/2 cost...
I'm going to separate 2-channel and 5-channel/HT setups when funds permit.
Fortunately for me my modest HT is dedicated, if I want to listen to 2 channel stuff, I go to my big rig.However, on the occasions that I *DO* listen to music more seriously, I use a "Pure Direct" mode that does 2CH only (no sub) - this cuts out all processing and is preety much all analog (no lights run on the receiver too).
During the rest of the time I usually just listen in "7 channel stereo" mode... typically its not too bad but then typically I use my other system for serious 2 channel listening.
Bottom line is I think this may likely be system dependent.
Good Luck,
DeeCee(P.S., you can always have your friend haul all his gear to your place and... uhhh never mind! ;-)
I listen to all stereo material (lps, tapes, FM, laserdiscs, and those few stereo only DVDs) using the Dolby Pro Logic II Music codec. The original Dolby Pro Logic is distorted and truly sucks but this time Dolby let surround sound guru Jim Fosgate perect the alogrhythm, which extracts 5 channels from 2. DTS has a competing format but (surprise, surprise given the marked superiority of DTS 5.1 discrete over Dolby Digital 5.1) is not as good. The Pro Logic II is very subtle and improves ambiance and timbre and gives a more life like "rounded" quality to acoustic instruments. I'm sure your friend's pre/pro has this codec and maybe even has the 7.1 version (Dolby Pro Logic IIx). Because of this codec my collections have new 21st century life.
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