Trust your ears....

Posted by: stpierre76 on 20 April 2014

Hi guys,

 

I ve a dedicated theatre room and a living room where my naim gear resides( only a qute).

of late, I have had a pair of focal 1008be on trial and they pair well with the little qute but intend to get something further the chain for the focal. In the meantime I borrowed a friends nap200 just to see what the added power would do to the 1008be and boy did it improve things..

 

Then, just for fun, I swapped things around, put the qute, nap200 and focal 1008be in the theatre room. No subs were connected, no eq, just straight. Watched a few movies, and to be honest I did not miss the centre channel nor the rear, obviously bass was not as strong but I could always connect sub via speaker level if needed to.

So , moral of the story is trust your ears. Why.?

simply because everybody tells you that the most important  channel in a ht is the centre, but to me it did not matter at all. I still enjoy the movies even a bit more, dialogue was clearer, and as for the surround, well to be honest I did not really hear much difference.

So could it be that indeed the centre channel and surround is more important in massive home theatre rooms but not for the average person ( mine is 375mm wide by 5500mm long by 2400mm high).

Could it be a very good example of quality dac,pre and power amp vs mass produce receivers.

i have spent a bit of money in the ht room, being treated and all that, and I am reluctant to dive head in and removing everything and getting a good 2 ch set up, but at this stage it appears to me and my big ears that the quality of the current 2ch beats the 7.2 experience.

i will watch a few more movies try the subs via speaker level and see if I miss anything..

LIKE I SAID, TRUST YOUR EARS...

i will report in a few days after a few more movies.

i may even get a nad m51 with hdmi out and only have a 2.2 set up.

regards

Posted on: 21 April 2014 by winkyincanada

We listen to movies (Bluray, DVD, cable, Netflix, etc..) in stereo (S600s) with no centre or sub. Definitely don't miss the rears or sub but....

 

Whilst Blu-rays seem to have a better stereo mix than DVDs with respect to dialogue, in many cases we have to have it a bit louder than we would otherwise like to catch the dialogue clearly. A centre might help, but we're not bothered enough to go for a HT set-up.

Posted on: 22 April 2014 by stpierre76

Hi winky,

 

indeed you have a very good point about the difference between blu ray and DVD. As for me, I mainly watch movie via Apple TV hd which is DVD standard Dolby digital. I don t even use my oppo anymore. The convenience of the Apple TV is great and can tolerate a lesser sound quality of the downloaded movies, but I will definitely go to the DVD store and rent a few blu ray to see the difference.

i ll let you know my fnding ( if your interested )

Posted on: 22 April 2014 by rackkit

I would to have the house space for a dedicated theatre room but have adapted the living room as best as possible to have a full Naim 5.1 set up. It's a pleasure to put Blu-Ray films through the player & enjoy the full immersive sound. 

 

Since you have a dedicated room, I think you're missing a chance to fully enjoy the extra picture & sound quality from Blu-Ray discs. It doesn't have to cost a fortune to do either, 

Posted on: 27 April 2014 by Mike1380

I'm strongly in the "if you're going to watch movies, do it in surround" camp, as folks in here will know from my profile and previous posts. However, there is an argument for just doing great 2 channel for movies... But here's the rub.....

Most DVDs and BluRays these days don't come with a 2ch soundtrack. This means that for those who just listen in stereo, the big loss in sound is at the point where a player down mixes 5.1 or even 7.1 lossless HD audio into stereo.

There's the compression in the dynamic range from the 110db headroom on the disc down to around 100db for PCM stereo.

That in itself can easily leave the vocals low in the mix, rendering speech awkwardly. Further, there's the issues of where to convert this down mixed data stream into analogue audio to go through your 2ch amp.

Players like the Oppos are certainly (in my experience) better at the first part of this job than the mass-market cheapie players. Certainly my own 83 excels both at down mixing to PCM stereo or from a BluRay HD multi-channel track to the highest bit rate regular DTS/DD stream that my n-Vi (as processor) can take.

For going through a Qute, that should suffice. For feed into a dac-less amp, then the stereo guys will probably benefit from the superior Dacs used in the bigger budget Oppos with their Sabre32 chip sets.


But... when you have the room, and if you have the budget for a properly balanced speaker and power amp package, as a movie buff I fail to understand the appeal in watching films in stereo...

Much as I don't hit the "Mono" button on my 82 when spinning The Who on my LP12.....

Just my opinion, based on over 20 years of 5.1 in the home, and a LOT of trial and error experienced in attempting to get the most cohesive, convincing and enjoyable "Movie experience" I can muster.

Mike

Posted on: 03 May 2014 by Loki

I'm strongly in the stereo camp.

 

I have an old NAD 3120 and a pair of Keilidhs. It works really well.  I recently changed to a mid range Pioneer bluray from an old (10yrs) upper mid range Denon DVD, and I have to keep turning the sound down! It is so much more dynamic and crisp.

 

I have also used two 5.1 and two 7.1 surround amps and TBH stereo is just so much cleaner, althouhgh the Arcam 7.1 is a bit of a beast, it can be a little fatiguing.

Posted on: 03 May 2014 by MDS
Originally Posted by Loki:

I'm strongly in the stereo camp.

 

I have an old NAD 3120 and a pair of Keilidhs. It works really well.  I recently changed to a mid range Pioneer bluray from an old (10yrs) upper mid range Denon DVD, and I have to keep turning the sound down! It is so much more dynamic and crisp.

 

I have also used two 5.1 and two 7.1 surround amps and TBH stereo is just so much cleaner, althouhgh the Arcam 7.1 is a bit of a beast, it can be a little fatiguing.

If your stereo rendition of movies hits your buttons, Loki, then good for you. But I'd suggest that if you get the chance to hear a well set-up HT system please take it. I've had the pleasure of listening to Mike1380's set up and it is absolutely stunning - total immersion, and you can't tell where any of the speakers or subs are.  Saw and heard the opening D-day landing scene from Saving Private Ryan on Blueray last weekend and words can't do justice to the performance.

MDS    

Posted on: 03 May 2014 by Bert Schurink

I have the best of bost worlds, when watching movies or music DVD's I have the front channels and the sub running through my normal two channel system. The Verity Audio's are definitely not worse then any sub around. Only rear channels are running through the AV receivers. I have no problems with balance etc... A very good solution for me. 

Posted on: 03 May 2014 by Loki

MDS, my problem is that I can't afford to buy my reference point: IMAX

 

 Actually I can't afford to do Surround to the same level as my main system, so I settle for good stereo...for now. As and when the main system is upgraded, so any non part-ex parts will be assimilated into the AV system.