Can I do a 3.1 channel without screwing up the imaging?

[Cristofori]

I would like to have a set up including left, right, center speakers and sub with no surrounds (I don't have the center and sub yet). I don't want to deal with wiring and added costs of surrounds at the moment (possible future upgrade), but I want the benefits of all the rest.

I have a Marantz SR6006. In the manual it mentions 2.1, 5.1, 6.1 & 7.1 channel set-ups but no '3.1' if that's what you want to call it.

Will I be able to do this and still use Audyssey without screwing up the imaging? Will the surrounds simply be down mixed into the left and right channels, or will I be losing information during multi-channel playback?

 

[afterlife2]

I have a 3.1 setup myself and everything works fine for me. I may add another 2 if I can get a deal on the speakers I want. It will not effect anything picture wise.

 

[Cristofori]

I have a 3.1 setup myself and everything works fine for me. I may add another 2 if I can get a deal on the speakers I want. It will not effect anything picture wise.

When I mentioned "imaging" I meant the sound imaging, not video. Sorry for the confusion.

What I'm concerned with is losing musical information. For example, if you listen to an SACD in multi-channel mode through a two channel amp/receiver, you will lose some sound effects on some recordings. I don't want something similar to happen with a 3.1 set up if the A/V receiver isn't meant to process it that way.

 

[afterlife2]

When I mentioned "imaging" I meant the sound imaging, not video. Sorry for the confusion.

What I'm concerned with is losing musical information. For example, if you listen to an SACD in multi-channel mode through a two channel amp/receiver, you will lose some sound effects on some recordings. I don't want something similar to happen with a 3.1 set up if the A/V receiver isn't meant to process it that way.

Oh ok then yes you need 5.1 speaker setup then for SACD. I have a couple of them, but since I don't have the 5.1 I can't listen to them yet.

 

[LB06]

It depends on your receiver. If you really can't let it know which speakers you have exactly, but only can say 2.0, 2.1 or 5.1 etc you will lose information, because then you'll have to set it to 5.1 and lose the audio on the rear channels. It won't be downmixed to 3.1 if the receiver doesn't know you have 3.1.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I would like to have a set up including left, right, center speakers and sub with no surrounds (I don't have the center and sub yet). I don't want to deal with wiring and added costs of surrounds at the moment (possible future upgrade), but I want the benefits of all the rest.

I have a Marantz SR6006. In the manual it mentions 2.1, 5.1, 6.1 & 7.1 channel set-ups but no '3.1' if that's what you want to call it.

Will I be able to do this and still use Audyssey without screwing up the imaging? Will the surrounds simply be down mixed into the left and right channels, or will I be losing information during multi-channel playback?

While the manual doesn't directly come out and say how to do 3.1, page 22 in the manual, step 7, 'detected speakers are displayed' I would think that when you run Audyssey it will detect your 3.1 speakers and display them properly. I would think that when you select this is correct setup, it will do what it needs to do to accommodate this setup.
But, I would double check with a Marantz support person.

 

[j_garcia]

Audessey or not, you can simply configure your system to use only the front 3 speakers and you will not lose any information. All of the sound is played from the speakers you have configured. I too currently run a 3.1 setup down from a 5.1 setup and it sounds fine even with SACD. The EFFECT is not the same obviously, but it still sounds good. No sound is lost if the receiver (or source if analog) is configured correctly.

 

[Cristofori]

Audessey or not, you can simply configure your system to use only the front 3 speakers and you will not lose any information. All of the sound is played from the speakers you have configured. I too currently run a 3.1 setup down from a 5.1 setup and it sounds fine even with SACD. The EFFECT is not the same obviously, but it still sounds good. No sound is lost if the receiver (or source if analog) is configured correctly.

Thanks, but can I still use the various surround modes the same as I would with 5.1?

 

[afterlife2]

Thanks, but can I still use the various surround modes the same as I would with 5.1?

Yes you won't lose anything, but it will be In Stereo only. To get the full effect of course you need 5.1. You can also use surround sens music which will give you a nice, but fake surround.

 

[j_garcia]

Thanks, but can I still use the various surround modes the same as I would with 5.1?

If you mean the use of things like DPLIIz or some secondary processing like that, yes they will work, but results will obviously vary depending on the mode used. For stereo audio, yes, the processing should still work the same and send all the sound to those speakers just the same. I've run this system and a previous one like this when there was no room for surrounds.

I don't use any surround modes; aka I let the signal go as whatever it is. The receiver is set to "Auto" and the sources are properly configured to send the signal type that I want so the receiver is decoding what is being sent in its original form (DD+, DTS, etc...) or is only getting analog in the case of my 83SE, which is already processed by that device. For 2ch audio, I leave it 2ch

 

[LB06]

Thanks, but can I still use the various surround modes the same as I would with 5.1?

Again, as long as your receiver 'supports' 3.1 (I would be surprised if it didn't), yes.

As for up/downmixing. Going from 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 audio to 3.1 will be the same as going to 2.1, with the exception that the centre channel will be left intact. Going to stereo to 3.1 will work just fine with DPL2 and Neo:6 and the likes. Of course the two rear channels will be downmixed into the other channels, again just like with a downmix to 2.1