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In Reply to: RE: Looking for inmate opinions about multichannel posted by vahe on September 22, 2016 at 16:21:04
Yes, but it is fraught with possible problems due to volume mismatches. It might easily generate an unnecessarily negative opinion, because it is easy to screw up the sound.
It is important to calibrate a Mch system for equal volume all around on test tones. But, you will have a hard time keeping this in synch as volume adjustments are made on two systems to deal with program differences. Maybe, if both systems have a digital volume readout, you can calibrate the two systems more or less together in terms of relative dB difference.
I know some have tried this. One was Robert E. Greene who writes for TAS. I tried to tell him he was getting a totally wrong impression of Mch, which he certainly was, because he was messing with the approach you described. He got defensive and tossed me out of his forum for trying to help him see the error of his ways.
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IMO it is total nonsense to have same volume from rear speakers as from the front. It is best to start off with equal volume from all speakers and then adjust rear speakers to suit your listening environment. Furthermore if using floorstanding speakers it is not very practical and unnecessary to have 5 speakers the same size.
My rear speakers and centre speaker are much smaller than front ones. rear speakers are at half volume level of the front ones. MCH SACD set up as I have described is excellent provided of course the recordings are first class. Economically buy a good mid price AVR that has a pre-out which can be connected to your stereo amp for front L & R speakers the receiver takes care of remaining speakers.
Edits: 09/23/16 09/23/16
Agreed. Although many authorities... will theorize volume levels, speaker size and settings ultimately you have to do what fits your budget and room layout/size accordingly for YOUR tastes. The guidelines are great tools for starters and perhaps some never see a need to change anything but I've always adjusted levels.
For instance my center is always a little higher than my mains, and surrounds are slightly lower than my mains, speakers set to full range.
And believe me when I say these are correlations that tie in well with both movies and music!
For me it was very important to have the largest center and surrounds I could get as I prefer to get the 3 subs crossover well below the recommended settings of 80 htz. as I firmly believe that their is audible mid-range information at that level. So full range speakers all around, for my tastes.
IMO you are also correct in having Pre-outs on the avr, if ones ever going to go the upgrade path it's a must! Also a very affordable way to test the waters and entertain going further.
When done to one's own satisfaction multichannel can be very rewarding, satisfyingly lifelike.
Regards,
/// Tim W. ///
I agree for music & HT centre channel should be slightly higher than main front speakers. I have never found it necessary to get involved with subs as I use excellent transmission line speakers that give adequate bass for me.
Edits: 09/24/16
I still think that it is something worth trying, the OP is primarily into classical and most high rez MC classical recordings avoid aggressive mixes, the rear channels are primarily for ambience and should to be just barely audible, what is so difficult in setting up a 4 channel setup just for MC demo?
Vahe
Besides lacking a master volume control, the setup you describe requires that the main and surround speakers be equidistant from the listener. That may be tough to do in most listening rooms. Otherwise strange artifacts occur.
Robt. E. Greene, again from my previous post, described hearing a second "little orchestra" in the rear. Obviously the timing of the image was messed up because there is no speaker distance correction with the two stereo system setup he was using. To him, that sounded terrible. He blamed the recording and Mch in general. But, it was a simple system setup issue that he did not understand, PhD in Math and Applied Acoustics though he is.
I know you mean well, but in dealing with someone who does not know a few basic, not so obvious fundamentals of Mch sound setup, I think it is nowhere as easy as you think. It is asking for trouble. It is not complicated, but to someone who understands only stereo, there are a few addition considerations they never thought of. That is epecially dangerous when you have someone like REG, above, who thinks he knows. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Best to hear some music on a Mch video setup at a dealership, where most common issues have been addressed.
"Best to hear some music on a Mch video setup at a dealership, where most common issues have been addressed."
I agree with the above but only if we are into pop & rock, for classical absolutely no way, a state of art HT with its MC audio is set up to impress, big boom booms, subterranean rattles that will get you dizzy. I have never experienced a HT music system that would work with classical.
With this i rest my case.
Vahe
Barely audible, in most cases, but that makes the level setting quite critical. You can fool with it by using uncoordinated components but it does require a lot of care.
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