three channel setup?

[SJTrance]

So, I've given my friend my old set of large bose floor speakers, my paradigm CC-170 and a passive subwoofer. I'm even trying to give him my PA-120 but I think his wife is resisting arrest on that. LOL. So, for setup using a Pioneer VSX 520 K and only a 3.1 setup, what settings should I have him use? Should I just use the stereo sound and forget the center speaker? Would using the dolby digital sound without the rear speakers cause him to miss and loose part of the sound?

 

[j_garcia]

Just go into the setup and tell it no surrounds. It works OK, I did it before in a small apartment for my girlfriend since she didn't have room for surrounds at the time.

 

[SJTrance]

I see. That makes sense. So, if I run the auto calibration, then it's all good, huh?

 

[Jeepers]

+1 I've got a 3.1 set up and that works OK for me. Auto calibration is the first step; the next step is to fine tune according to what sounds good to you.

 

[skizzerflake]

I lived with 3 channel VHS system for a while. Short on money, I preferred two good speakers, an OK middle one and a cast-off Dolby Pro Logic receiver. It was an amazing improvement over TV speakers, did excellent with 2 channel music and only seemed flat when I moved up to 5 channel. Not having the rear channels will lose a dimension but a lot of the time, it won't make that much difference.

 

[SJTrance]

For myself, when I hear music, I specifically keep it at a 2.1 channel when I listen to music. It sounds much more natural to me that way.

Thanks for the advice. When I head out to my friend's place, I'll play with it a bit more and see how he likes it.