surround sound

Main System 102/NAPSC/HI/250/SBLs
Using DSP-E800 as a suround decoder driving NAP140/IBLs for centre and DSP driving Mordaunt Short MS903 dipoles as rears.

Works great for movies but long term will probably move to AV2

I've found it's most important to have the front and centres as similar speakers. And the centre gets most of the dialogue so worth getting things right. The rears aren't so important but if they are way way different things could sound strange as effects pan around the room.

Affordable surround add-on:

AV2, 145,150, axent, intro.
Works GREAT for movie.

Emmanuel

All opinions are my own, and reflect those of the organisation i work for, even if not stipulated.

I have a dedicated Home Theatre system comprised of a Rotel RSX-1055 Surround Receiver, Rotel RDV-1080 DVD/DVD-A player, Linn Tukans for main front, Paradigm CC-370 Center Channel and Paradigm Atom speakers for surround. I don't use a sub-woofer because I get plenty of bass and feel that a sub would have a negative affect on the overall performance, especially for music. I played around with a few cheaper Paradigm models of speakers before settling on what I'm currently using. The sonic signature of the Paradigms I'm using integrate well with the Linns.

The DVD player is linked up to my main system which is connected to two other systems in the house so I can enjoy DVD's and CD's through any or all of the other systems. The Rotel is a very capable unit and gets alot of use. My kids watch alot of Movie DVD's and I have developed a habit of purchasing the latest concert DVD releases, I must have about 40 now, just picked up Alison Krauss - "Live". I still mainly purchase LP's but if there is something I really like, not available on vinyl, I'll try for DVD-A first, then CD.

Hi alex95,
We are all different in our expectations, but, my 2 cents worth (which will go down like a lead balloon here) and is based on my personal preferences as a practising musician (electric Jazz and rock) and a listener who is accustomed to hearing live (electric) music comming from in front of me (stereo).

To my ears, HT and surround music requirements are very, very different.

HOME THEATER:
With Home Theater you can get very good results with packaged systems .... irrespective of what anyone tells you on this forum or anywhere else. I have both a Sony DAV 500 "all-in-a-box system and it's perfectly adequate - in fact dammned good - for HT. I also have a full Sony 9000ES system which is also good ... only louder and a few more facilites. Speakers are not very demanding for HT, in spite of what the magazines tell you, because most of us live in normal sized houses.

I've just recently auditioned the Naim AV2 system and it is very clear sounding but doesn't do home theater the way most of us expect to hear it. And the downside is, it costs a fortune to get a minimal set-up which gives little benefit for HT.

SURROUND SOUND:
SACD and DVD-A. Requires that all speakers should be full range - not mix and match. Amplifiers should all be the same power.
I have experimented with this a lot and again my personal findings (I'm not trying to sell magazines or equipment) are that ...
1. The "potential" performance of SACD and DVD-A is clearly superior to the sound from standard CD's. (I suspect this view may be slagged by Naim users, but with all the will in the world to buy a Naim system, it just ain't so.)
2. (To be read in conjunction with the above).... Many, maybe even most current SACD titles are miserably mixed copies of old CD's/LP's and are pathetic shadows of the originals irrespective of format. But those few that are well engineered, are superb .... and my experience is that most of the good ones are stereo .... not surround.

3. My experience with surround SACD and DVD-A is that (for me) it adds nothing meaningful to the music. And in fact, due to the miserable, gimmicky engineering, the presentation is often downright irritating.
(I don't listen to much Classical music but I have friends who say it adds to the ambience of the venue ... this is unimportant to me but maybe to other listeners.)
4. I think these formats will have something to offer when engineers are more experienced with the possibilities of surround. But again, Naim gear is not able to do any of this in either stereo or surround so it doesn't seem sensible to pay the price of Naim CDP's for the restrictions on future possibilies.

In my view, if you have a good Naim music sytem already ... stay with it. If you are looking at new formats or surround or HT, but a cheap Jap player and/or reciever for the next 3 years or so.

When Naim release a proper HT system, it will be good but, it will cost a bomb by the time you ad all the amps, Hi Caps etc.
When they bring out a surround system for SACD or DVD-A ... who knows ... will it be a multi player or a seperate? Either way, you are going to be up for a truck-load of dosh. It's all priorties isn't it?

For you lucky folk who already have Naim music systems, I would say "stay with it" It's dammned good. I don't think anyone will play music more because of surround sound. The effects are "entertaining" so far, but that's about it - in my opinion. I sure wouldn't sell a Naim music set-up to change and if I had a Naim set-up, I sure couldn't afford to upgrade all the necessary bits to get surround ..... they don't even have either a surround music or DVD player yet so there's not much to discuss is there?

Thanks JohnMack
You made a few points that I suspected already especially regarding speakers for SACD surround, I have a cheapo Japanese SACD player and I think its brilliant but as I have to listen in stereo and the formats potental is learly superior to CD was looking at the possibilities of surround, especially as my fav album Ziggy Stardust is due for release in 5.1 surround. My SACD collection is growing and I def think its the format of the future.