Hello all,
I am looking into buying a receiver (under $250) - but am not sure which angle to pitch my tent at. Specifically, the receiver will be used exclusively for listening to music. However, my setup is such that I have 2 pairs (4) speakers (in front of me and behind) + a sub to power. Do I go with a 2 channel receiver that has 2 sets of inputs (A/B, A+B) or with a 5.1+ home theater style receiver?
My concerns: The receiver must fully utilize all 4 speakers well and the sub during music playback. I admit, I like the idea of not paying for too many bells and whistles that I will certainly not utilize. However, I also want to ensure that I get the best listening experience from the receiver - (which may include options to create different sound atmospheres - as well as utilize the YPAO style setup).
Help!
I think you are barking up the wrong tree here. I can see you are in need of guidance.
Now you say you are only going to listen to music, So I have to wonder why you want rear speakers. It would help to know what type of music you listen to.
However lets take the issues. If you use A + B speakers, you will have two stereo speakers in front of you and two behind you. That is a most unpleasant acoustic experience. Also the amp will see a low impedance load and in you price range likely self destruct, so that plan is out. The rear speakers are only supposed to play ambiance, unless the source is discrete channel and their is antiphonal placement of musicians.
Now the issue of the music you listen to becomes important. Only SACD and DVD audio (the latter is defunct) are in discrete multi channel, however a center speaker is essential. There are far more two channel audio recordings about than five channel ones.
So your option to get multi channel sound from two channel is to use a matrixed contrived multi channel option via the Dolby prologic system in a receiver. You would have to select phantom center. Now this is where your genre of music becomes important. If it is pop, rock and music in the popular domain you are going to listen to, then pro logic sounds worse.
I have done tests including using an experienced, and actually famous balance engineer, to asses results. In the reproduction of multi miked, highly processed pop music with the use of a lot of plug in effects units, two channel was uniformly preferred.
For recordings of classical music with minimalist mike techniques with good capture of the ambient envelope, then the Dolby 2 plx could be preferred.
My advice if you are starting out, and want this system exclusively for music, is to put together a good two channel system. If you choose two good speakers with response down to between 30 and 40 Hz, or even up to 48 Hz a sub is far from essential. There is very little musical material below this range. The subs come into their own for movie effects. If you buy a two channel system they usually don't have a sub output, so in that case you would need to at least have a system were you could tap into the feed between pre amp and amp sections (pre outs) to send a signal to the sub, and use the crossover on the sub.
I would buy the best pair of speakers you can afford, and get a good integrated amp, or amp and pre amp. For what you want to listen to that will give you the best results and most pleasure.
