Help me understand how DSP's work on a Yamaha RX-V781 AVR and stereo speakers

[TheWarrior]

I will try to fool around with that, thank you.

Should I just stay away from all the other DSP modes? I tried the "Standard" one for a few minutes, and it seemed like it sounded "fuller" or so to say, it felt like it pushed more audio out into the room rather then "2ch Stereo" did.

Is it normal for AVR's to downmix, when they know what is plugged into them? After running the calibration stuff, it should now know that there's only two speakers so it should downmix or does it just default to 5.1 outputs?


Bonus question:
What would I do / select if I added a center channel and a subwoofer in the future?

There's some cool DSP modes on Yamaha's, but they really are just for fun IMO. If you think Standard sounds better, run with it - Movies vs music is a strong argument for multiple sound modes!

I have not used YPAO (not personally a fan of Auto Setup) so all I can say is the receiver will do whatever you tell it to do. Run it in 5ch, you will be missing a lot of dialogue without a center channel!

To add a center and sub? Plug them in! Center's are ideally placed in line with the tweeter of Front L+R speakers. Most TV entertainment centers don't allow for this, so the highest possible shelf below the TV with some foam pads to tilt upwards at the ears will suffice.

Subwoofers are a whole other animal. If getting one, you may only achieve even bass for one seat, depending on room size/dimensions. Optimal setup requires a bit of math that most people prefer not deal with. But if you choose the red pill, I can help show you how deep that rabbit hole goes.