T2K Posted February 21, 2001 Share Posted February 21, 2001 Am I the only person alive that prefers the straight, unprocessed,unechoeey,reverbeey sound when listening to music? And has anyone ever noticed that when you are listening to your music you notice that there is a beautiful wall of sound emanating from in front of you and maybe have you thought that if those two speakers sound that good, why don't I get 6 more speakers and a couple of powerful Acurus amplifiers and spread them around the room and have that beautiful unprocessed sound surrounding me and sounding as if I were sitting right smack dab in the middle of the jam session tapping my toe and enjoying the hech out of it.Boy, bet it would sound good.Has anyone ever thought of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 YES! YES! but i'd just settle for 1 high powered receiver that had 5 channel stereo. Boa "wish i knew then" H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 DVD AUDIO!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 great point seb. how's the availability coming on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Some receivers/processors do have a "party" mode that does just what you mention - unprocessed stereo to all speakers in a surround set-up. I assume the center would receive a summed (L+R) signal. Yeah, I would prefer that to gimmicky, phasey, over-processed fake surround. But even better for music (listening - not parties) to me, would be this: Totally inprocessed front L+R, summed center, and a simple "Hafler" derived signal for the surround speakers. Vital enhancements would be variable level and delay to center and surrounds, and variable amounts of reverb and/or echo to surrounds. That's really all I ask to utilize the additional amps and speakers of multi-channel systems to enhance two-channel recordings without screwing them up. Is that too much? ------------------ JDMcCall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERIK Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 That in particular is one of the main features that sold me on my Denon 3300 when I bought it. 5 channel stereo is a feature I'm sure all recievers will soon have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted February 23, 2001 Author Share Posted February 23, 2001 James D McCall, Got any idea who makes the recievers with the "party mde" you spoke of? Erik, Are you saying your 3300 has 5 channel stereo with defeatable surround modes, or at least decent sounding modes for music? Seems to me like a simple job of internal switching would yield the results James spoke of.My present set-up is simply L/R front stereo with signal sent via switch box to rear L/R for music.For HT I switch, via remote, to Dolby which switches on center and surrounds and I manually cut off the stereo L/R rear at the switch box.I have ES prologic reciever used as preamp with separate amps and the original question was with the idea of upgrading to 3801.Wanted to utilize all speakers without the "I laid a burlap sack over the front of all my speakers" sound.I guess the new question is this: Does the Denon 3801, in Neo:6 Music mode, offer acceptable music sound that is not overprocessed or at least adjustable to the point that you can get acceptable music sound? ALL opinions appreciated. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 talktoKeith: <<Got any idea who makes the recievers with the "party mde" you spoke of?>> Citation, Lexicon and HK preamps come to mind. Other than the Denon mentioned by ERIK, I'm not sure off the top of my head which receivers do and which don't. ...sure do miss the AUDIO buyers guide! Like ERIK said, I too believe proper playback of two-channel recordings over multi-channel systems will become more of a priority in the future. ------------------ JDMcCall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 yea it sure wasn't a priority w/ my damn sony model but even sony now has some models w/ 5 channel stereo (really a misnomer when I think about it). marantz has some 2 as well as denon (& those 2 happen to be what i'm eyeing right now). that dvd audio is a great point - instead of getting a new receiver, one could just get the right source material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERIK Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 I think any Denon owner loves the 5 channel Steroe mode. There is no delay or modification of the signal sent to the surrounds. I assume the center is just a mix of the left and rights. But I listen to almost all of my music through 5 channel mode. I don't think there's any reason to try and build a 5 channel system though. I think you would end up spending more on different components than a new reciever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 yea eric the center gets a blend or matrix of both the L & R channels w/ that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klewless Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 It seems that Stereophile just caught one on the chin from their "establishment" because they reviewed one of the HT receivers (Denon I believe) and put it's picture on the front cover. They were reviewing the "(home theater) stereo" mode. I thought it was a valid thing for them to do. After all, there is more than one way to skin a cat. The "stereo mode" using multiple channels could become a good thing if it is done right. ------------------ John P St Paul, MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 I think that is exactly where we are heading, tweaking audiophiles are saying that 5 full range speakers, or even six, sound the best with some forms of recordings, I suspect that after that standard is established we may even explore 10 channel sound, but modern recordings are horrible at capturing the realism of the recording studio because of a long list of things, starting with microphone placement ... check out the Chesky site, there is an article that talks about using all six channels of full range sound and yes, the speakers form a semi-circle around the listener ... also check out the ambiophonics site too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted February 24, 2001 Author Share Posted February 24, 2001 Eric, Thank you so much for the post on your Denon.That is exactly the answer that I was searching for at the beginning of this thread. Klewless,it is a good thing. Colin,I headed that direction in 1994.Using SonyES and Acurus amp now.Sounds great in "direct" mode(four corners only).Thinking about the Denon 3801.What I REALLY want is 4 more KSP300's in addition to the 5 I have now.Two in the front L/R corners,two next to the TV in front,two sides,two rear corners,and one center rear.Sounds ridiculous,that is until you hear it.You know that great 2 channel STEREO sound you get when you find the sweet spot with two speakers?Or how about the thin sound you get with 2 Khorns or LaScalas spread far apart?Then you want a Belle or Heresy for center to "fill-in" the sound? Well, with the above dream system there ain't no sweet spots.If 4 sound this good then heck, 9's got to sound better.My neighbor said today she finally figured out where the music was coming from. Said she always figured it was a band practicing somewhere.My response was "sounds good,huh?".She said her house probably hasn't moved over a couple inches off the foundation.Wonder what she'll say when I get the "DREAM" system hooked up? Send all donations to talktoKeith@looneytune.gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhawki Posted February 25, 2001 Share Posted February 25, 2001 Originally posted by talktoKeith: Got any idea who makes the recievers with the "party mode" you spoke of? A lot of recievers have this now. I was recently looking REALLY hard at recievers and ended up with a Yamaha which has the "party mode" etc, but all the others in the range i was looking at had it too, such as Marantz and Denon. There were a couple that had it up until there top line though which i thought was kinda strange. I believe the latest Marantz SR-19 was like that, and maybe the Yamaha RX-V1 (i got the 3000) I really like the "surround stereo" though, the RX-1000 had 5 ch stereo and the 3000 has 8 ch Stereo (!). Some people claim that it makes the sound slightly anemic, but that may depend on brand and room acoustics. Of course, the stereo purists hate it, but you can always pop it back to true stereo... The new DVD audio is pretty bitchin though - like the Metallica video at the end of MI:2, outstanding! -Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted February 25, 2001 Author Share Posted February 25, 2001 rhawki, thanks for the input!Talked to a dude about the Denon today and he said the 3801,in Neo:6Music mode,does not completely eliminate ALL processing but there is no presence of reverb or echo in that 5 speaker mode.Will have to demo when I have more time.Everyone has there own likes and opinions as far as the multi-channel music goes but if room and setup are right and a person prefers straight stereo sound,I don't see how they could NOT like multi-speaker "stereo".Someday every manufacturer will have 7 channel music modes with full adjustment for each channel.That is without the "Rose Bowl,Fish Bowl,And Toilet Bowl"modes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted February 25, 2001 Share Posted February 25, 2001 talktoKeith: "That is without the "Rose Bowl,Fish Bowl,And Toilet Bowl"modes" Yeah, some of them are kinda ridiculous. When I first got my Sony TA-E1000ES AV preamp back in '90, I soon tired of the phasey, diffuse sound. Especially on studio recordings. I do think the "hall" modes were very effective with classical music, but pretty much everything else sucked with much "enhancment" at all. I ended up going back to a straight 2-channel Sony integrated amp for music, and banished the AV preamp to the family room for video sound use only. I like to watch Monday Night Football in the stadium mode -- far out! (as John Denver used to say). That Sony does have a very useful 3 band digital parametric EQ. That is something I'd like to see other makers use. It lets you realy zero in on room resonance problems. Enjoyed the thread. Glad to see the agreement. Maybe the makers will see the light. (Perhaps they already have). ------------------ JDMcCall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted February 25, 2001 Author Share Posted February 25, 2001 Hey James, enjoyed it myself.Everyone can learn from a lively discussion.I appreciate everyone's input.For another interesting finding read D Ponder's comments in the General Questions section @ EPICS VS LEGENDS. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.