Do you really listen in stereo

[twistedcrankcammer]

Dedicated room, two channel ONLY, perfectly placed speakers and listening chair.

 

Ok, go ahead and make fun of me for being a geek. But that is the way I roll. Multi channel processing is fine for movies, but gimmicky for serious music listening.

 

YMMV.........

 

 

Shakey

 

 

Shakey,

 

What about music DVDs that were recorded in multi channel, are those gimmicky also???

 

Rog

[twistedcrankcammer]

Stereo, three leather chairs. A rocker that sits just behind and between the recliners if I'm alone and then when company comes I rotate so they can have the center seat for their favorites.

 

 

Kevin Harmon insists that company take the sweet spot chair when auditioning his Jubilees, this is very kind and thoughtful of you...

 

Roger

[Thaddeus Smith]

To that point, I've never been to a forum member's house and not been offered the best seat.

[twistedcrankcammer]

To that point, I've never been to a forum member's house and not been offered the best seat.

 

It is one thing to offer it to a forum member, a different matter to regular company who could care less...

[mike stehr]

To that point, I've never been to a forum member's house and not been offered the best seat.

 

Really? Are you that scary?

 

"No dude, you just stand in the foyer by the front door."

[Ski Bum]

Mark, do you have adequate space for Orions (presumably what you're checking out)?  They hog space due to the required distance to the back wall, which will pose a challenge in a small room.  Have you had a look at Fastlane Dave's Yeild OB project?  There's a thread in two channel somewhere on those.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Ski Bum

[Marvel]

Stereo all the way... My wife isn't much interested in just listening to music, so I used to wait until she was on her night shift, and sit about 10 feet back from the LaScalas and enjoy.

 

Currently, no LS, with JBLs in the living room where we sit off to the side. The Heresy IIs flank our large TV, and I have a pretty good seat for listening in that room.

 

Bruce

[dtel]

Yes I really listen in stereo 99.9% of the time, this same room has 6.1 also but is very rarely used and it's mostly just for movies. The occasional concert DVD/BR is almost always played in 2 CH, It just sounds better. I really have to want to hear multi channel to use it and that's more for just something different and movies.

 

I sometimes just sit in one spot and listen but not the majority of the time, it either off axis while on the computer or somewhere else in the room.

 

Part of the way I listen is probably because of the difference between our 2 ch setup and the HT setup. The multi channel is 6 Forte's and a sub with a HT receiver, the 2 CH is MWM/402 active crossover, bi-amped. (sometimes also with the sub, crossed at 40hz)

 

There is a quite a big difference in the quality not being the same speakers for both ways of listening, the sound of the 2 Ch setup is much better, probably why it's used much more.

[Paducah Home Theater]

Yes I really listen in stereo 99.9% of the time, this same room has 6.1 also but is very rarely used and it's mostly just for movies. The occasional concert DVD/BR is almost always played in 2 CH, It just sounds better.

You don't like hearing ambience from the crowd? I think it adds realism if done correctly.

[Max2]

Im pretty clicky too. Center of couch and on top of two throw pillows no less due the fact my old couch is sagging in center and 15 feet off of my K-horns is still a little low.  I enjoy the 5.1 audio, but my surrounds which are stock LaScalas aren't quite up to snuff compared to my modified front K's. This puts my best sound at stereo just from my mains. No sub use either when stereo listening, just seems to take away from the cleanliness of the K's.

[Thaddeus Smith]

 

To that point, I've never been to a forum member's house and not been offered the best seat.

 

Really? Are you that scary?

 

"No dude, you just stand in the foyer by the front door."

 

 

re-read what I wrote.

[Ski Bum]

I watched an STP concert for about the 10th time just last night.

 

Hey, we actually have that one, it's awesome.  Now if only I had a dedicated room decked out with Klipsch cinema speakers I could hear it in it's full glory.  Some day.

[Mallette]

Ok, go ahead and make fun of me for being a geek. But that is the way I roll. Multi channel processing is fine for movies, but gimmicky for serious music listening.

 

Bingo, Shakeydeal.  For well over a decade I've been "...the voice of one crying in the wilderness..." 

 

I am going to draw on my "Mallette's Cat" law I have so long used to describe the faults of 2 dimensional video no matter how well done and extend it to audio.  In this case, my cat WILL respond to a growling dog on a stereo system...but she NEVER looks to the back of the room or anywhere except across the front.  I submit that Mallette's Cat therefore clearly demonstrates that stereo cannot provide anything like high fidelity.  Now, the key phrase above is "processing." As SD said, it can add a lot to movies, but just like Bose manipulation of good speaker designs, EQ veiling of transparency, and such, processing to achieve a sound field will not satisfy the audiophile with a well trained ear.  Especially those who have spent a lot of time in great acoustic spaces listening to the real thing.

 

As I have "cried in the wilderness" about so long, this can only be achieved the same way the very finest stereo recordings are made.  The majority of the most acclaimed recordings of all time are made either with a single microphone in the case of mono, or with two in the case of stereo.  Why is it so hard to get into people's brains that full high fidelity can be reached simply by using 4 microphones, coincidental, in the best seat in the house and sent to storage via the most direct path possible?

 

My own system uses a DynaQuad to feed a couple of rear speakers.  Certainly doesn't achieve true surround, but at least provides a good sense of ambience and depth on the best recordings and harms nothing on others.  Not even the most rabid 2 channel freak has ever ordered me to turn them off.  If I don't mention them, most simply ignore them or don't notice. 

 

The audio world needs two things to "reboot" for the 21rst century:  Purist engineers of the Mercury Living Presence variety, and a universal digital file format for multi-channel material that is supported by Microsoft, Apple, and all the other major digital media player software.

 

Dave

[mike stehr]

 

 

To that point, I've never been to a forum member's house and not been offered the best seat.

 

Really? Are you that scary?

 

"No dude, you just stand in the foyer by the front door."

 

 

re-read what I wrote.

 

 

Whoops!

 

Nonetheless, you can just stand by the front door.

[dtel]

MetropolisLakeOutfitters, on 15 Jan 2015 - 12:07 PM, said:

 

dtel, on 15 Jan 2015 - 11:58 AM, said:

Yes I really listen in stereo 99.9% of the time, this same room has 6.1 also but is very rarely used and it's mostly just for movies. The occasional concert DVD/BR is almost always played in 2 CH, It just sounds better.

You don't like hearing ambience from the crowd? I think it adds realism if done correctly.

 

Not really, but I agree it is a different experience in multi channel with the crowd sound and sound from every part of the room.

But for this room and these completely different setups the 2 ch sounds better, better enough to make me listen in 2 ch, but I think it's the difference in speakers more than format. 

 

Now if I got rid of the 6 Forte's and set it up with speakers to match the 2 ch mains it may be a different story, I may like multichannel better ? It's not that I don't like multichannel, as a matter of fact I think many concert DVD/BR's have a better sound quality than CD's.

 

I thought about selling the Fortes and matching the 2 ch mains with other speaker for multichannel to have one setup in the room instead of two, but the wife said she didn't care but said were not selling the forte's so I left it as is.

[Fish]

For stereo media and critical listening stereo is the real deal. When concerts are mastered for multi ch that's fine too. For SACD and DVD audio in some cases the multi ch can be very nice when done properly, but most aren't.

For putting the setting on "all channel stereo" ,that's great for when your just using it as background.I could never critically listen in all channel stereo.

I have made an effort to not listn too critically. That leads to endless searches for the sound. When I had a killer(to me) set up I got to where I hardly listened the quest was kinda over,sold it. Then I remembered how to enjoy like when it was on AM or a cheap record player, I listened to the music.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Fish

[Ski Bum]

I did look at Daves Yield. Very sweet. Nice work.

 

 The LXminis need a lot of breathing room per Linkwitz himself.  I'm not sure how much the Yields demand.  Just a guess, but compared to the more omni/OB of the LXmini, I think the asymmetric front/back pattern, particularly the frontally focused collapsing treble polars from their larger driver, would make Dave's Yield more manageable in a small room.  Plus much higher sensitivity and the benefits that come with it. 

[derrickdj1]

I use one of those Niles switchers for the amp and am always comparing 2 ch stereo thru the Pioneer Elite with subs and the same speakers with the tube amp, no DSP and no subs.  The speakers with the tube amp run full range.  The two combo's sound slightly different but both really sound great.  A while back I sold my Mc 1900 in favor of the tube amp. 

 

The tube amp sound is so clean and lean.  The speaker/sub combo is a little thicker and in a certain way a litter richer.  It just depends on what I am listening to on which is the better setup.

[Jim]

The tube amp sound is so clean and lean.  The speaker/sub combo is a little thicker and in a certain way a litter richer.  It just depends on what I am listening to on which is the better setup.

 

I agree with this statement 150%.

 

I am still "setting up" my dedicated 2 channel listening area and until I get a set of 3 way speakers am using my ICON RB-15's on the tube amp. I am considering switching the RF system out  of the living room and bringing it in to my family room and putting my ICON's in the living room. I can't believe what I have been missing out on with the tube sound stage vs. SS. 

 

I am also listening in an equilateral triangle set up with my points at 7.5 feet away and the speakers just slightly outside my ears. I can't believe the 3D effect the music gives off,albeit a lot lower with the listening levels I'm used to listening at, and a lot less thumping bass. But I think I am getting used to it more and more every day.

 

I'm also rediscovering vinyl again,and just replaced my copy of Led Zeppelin ll. My original copy is cracking like crazy now since I've had it for 32 years and counting. Big difference in pricing though. I just need to get a tube phono pre amp now to be able to hook it up to the tube amp. 

 

I will say though SS is still being used for heavy metal and club style music for that extra thump that's needed.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Jim

[oldtimer]

I know  I listen in stereo.  When a bell rings to my right I hear that it sounds on my right.  Same for the left.  I am amazed at those around me who don't perceive it the way I do.  There must be a genetic reason some do and some don't.