How do you prefer listening to stereo (2.0) music?

How do you prefer listening to stereo (2.0) music?

  • 2.0

    Votes: 17 28.8%
  • 2.1

    Votes: 30 50.8%
  • 2.2

    Votes: 2 3.4%
  • All-channel stereo

    Votes: 4 6.8%
  • DPL/Neo/similar

    Votes: 8 13.6%
  • other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    59
xboxweasel

xboxweasel

Full Audioholic
I am just in the process of playing around with this very thing. I tried 2.0 and 2.1 (no 2.2 - and I think that goes for a lot of people).

I cannot tell a difference between 2.0 and 2.1. My fronts go pretty low, and my sub does not seem to go any further. Really disappointing. A $850 sub and it does not add anything to my music. :( I guess I have to find something different to listen to. I know in movies it really adds to the sound. I bet my towers would not have been able to keep up with War of the Worlds like my sub did.

I stay away from DSPs. Most sound like crap. Who wants all that echo anyways? I run "straight mode" on my receiver. I tried "pure direct" but I cannot tell any difference. Like I said. Still playing.
 
Last edited:
STRONGBADF1

STRONGBADF1

Audioholic Spartan
I listen 2.1 mostly but on occation when the recording is very good and the house is quiet I like the change to 2.0 at a medium spl.

SBF1
 
N

Nick250

Audioholic Samurai
JoeE SP9 said:
When I listen to music I use my left and right front speakers. The fact that I use dual subwoofers has nothing to do with 2.0 or 2.1. I play music in stereo. My ESL's are crossed over at 80Hz to my subs. I was doing this long befor Dolby, Dolby Digital, DTS or any sound scheme cooked up for the theatre came into general use. Unless a recording was mixed for surround sound it (to my ears) sounds better in stereo.:cool:
This thread has nothing to do with surround sound or Dolby. Within the context of this thread you are using 2.2, that is to say two main speakers crossed over to two subs for your every day stereo listening.
 
Sheep

Sheep

Audioholic Warlord
xboxweasel said:
I am just in the process of playing around with this very thing. I tried 2.0 and 2.1 (no 2.2 - and I think that goes for a lot of people).

I cannot tell a difference between 2.0 and 2.1. My fronts go pretty low, and my sub does not seem to go any further. Really disappointing. A $850 sub and it does not add anything to my music. :( I guess I have to find something different to listen to. I know in movies it really adds to the sound. I bet my towers would not have been able to keep up with War of the Worlds like my sub did.

I stay away from DSPs. Most sound like crap. Who wants all that echo anyways? I run "straight mode" on my receiver. I tried "pure direct" but I cannot tell any difference. Like I said. Still playing.
You may need to level match your subwoofer for music purposes. DVDs tend to add a coupld dBs to the LFE signal.

BTW, what sub is it, and what mains?

SheepStar
 
M

mfabien

Senior Audioholic
JoeE SP9 said:
When I listen to music I use my left and right front speakers. The fact that I use dual subwoofers has nothing to do with 2.0 or 2.1. I play music in stereo. My ESL's are crossed over at 80Hz to my subs. I was doing this long befor Dolby, Dolby Digital, DTS or any sound scheme cooked up for the theatre came into general use. Unless a recording was mixed for surround sound it (to my ears) sounds better in stereo.:cool:
To support your position, playing CDs through the analog cables output of my new HD-A1 HD DVD via my Yamaha a/v provides a better sound experience, in my view. You get what the CD was designed for in stereo and it renders the sub more musical than via digital connection.
 
Q

quicksilver

Enthusiast
So am i crazy to listen to music in 7 channel stereo through my Yamaha RX-V1500? I usually stream my music collection through my xbox 360 or in teh rare case use my dvd player for cd's.
 
N

Nick250

Audioholic Samurai
I would suggest that one listens to music with the settings that gives one the greatest amount of listening pleasure. There is no right or wrong IMO.
 
supervij

supervij

Audioholic General
xboxweasel said:
I cannot tell a difference between 2.0 and 2.1. My fronts go pretty low, and my sub does not seem to go any further. Really disappointing. A $850 sub and it does not add anything to my music. :( I guess I have to find something different to listen to. I know in movies it really adds to the sound. I bet my towers would not have been able to keep up with War of the Worlds like my sub did.

I stay away from DSPs. Most sound like crap. Who wants all that echo anyways? I run "straight mode" on my receiver. I tried "pure direct" but I cannot tell any difference. Like I said. Still playing.
I find the same thing. My towers go down to 35 Hz, while my sub goes down to 23 Hz (or so the literature says), and I generally don't find much difference bass-wise when switching from 2.0 to 2.1. With movies, yeah, the sub adds a world of difference, but for music, not so much.

Yeah, the DSPs are generally not to my liking. I have put some live CDs on the "Rock Concert" setting, and liked that, but that's a rare thing.

Pure Direct seems to be my preference, most of the time. Maybe it's just my imagination, but music really does seem a little bit clearer/cleaner in this mode.

cheers,
supervij
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
There's a HUGE difference for me when my sub is playing :D My mains are -3dB at 55Hz, and trail off somewhere around 30Hz most likely. I have no idea where the sub finally rolls off because I haven't taken readings below 16Hz, but even up higher it still adds a TON of weight to bass (too much sometimes).
 
E

eirepaul

Audioholic
My sub is always on!

I just recently got an SVS cylinder sub and now I'm discovering bass I didn't even know some of my CDs had. It adds a whole new dimension to my listening. My previous sub (Paradigm PDR-10) just couldn't cut it. I also use the PLIIx setting a lot with CDs because I love multi-channel music, and I find this mode quite pleasant to listen to - it works very well. I never use any of the DSP modes - useless.
 
Rock&Roll Ninja

Rock&Roll Ninja

Audioholic Field Marshall
Shadow_Ferret said:
Considering my setup is still the same one I had back in 1979, it's 2.0.

*sighs*

One day...
Now Thats gettin your moneys worth.

BTW:: I'm 2.1 Paradigm Atoms just ain't bass-reproducin machines.
 
E

eirepaul

Audioholic
Rock&Roll Ninja said:
Now Thats gettin your moneys worth.

BTW:: I'm 2.1 Paradigm Atoms just ain't bass-reproducin machines.
But the Atoms are tremendous little speakers and should work great with an appropriate sub. Atoms are one of the best values in audio.
 
Jack Hammer

Jack Hammer

Audioholic Field Marshall
7.1 mostly

I usually (95%) listen in DPLiix because I move around the place quite a bit and I find it be better in multiple positions. For background music it's much better, for me.

When I'm just sitting on the couch listening I find that 2.1 sounds much much better. But I'm rarely "listening" to music, usually I'm pretty active doing other things.
 
C

clthoma2

Audioholic Intern
I prefer 5-Channel Stereo

I know this isn't the way it was probaby meant to be heard, but I like being surrounded on all sides by the music in 5 or 7 channel stereo mode
 
billy p

billy p

Audioholic Ninja
Most of the time analog direct for easy listening 2.1 is best!! But if hard and loud is my mood 5.1 digital is more dymanic at least to my ears!:)
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
eirepaul said:
I also use the PLIIx setting a lot with CDs because I love multi-channel music, and I find this mode quite pleasant to listen to - it works very well. I never use any of the DSP modes - useless.
I'm sure you're aware of this, but PLIIx is a DSP mode.
 
JoeE SP9

JoeE SP9

Senior Audioholic
mfabien said:
To support your position, playing CDs through the analog cables output of my new HD-A1 HD DVD via my Yamaha a/v provides a better sound experience, in my view. You get what the CD was designed for in stereo and it renders the sub more musical than via digital connection.
How can the sub be more musical through the analog outputs? Could it be that the DtoA converter on your HD-A1 is or works better? Seriously, as long as you are using your receiver in 2-channel mode there should be no difference in the sound of your sub when switching from an analog input to a digital. Of course it is possible there is a problem with the digital input or the DtoA on your receiver.

My position is that recordings mixed to 2 channels do not sound right when played back using multi channels. I mentioned my subs because I have been using a bi-amped system for 20+ years. It was my way of saying there is not really any such thing as 2.1 Stereo.:cool:
 
M

mfabien

Senior Audioholic
JoeE,

Using the analogs, the sound is different and it's major for the sub. The DAC is in the HD DVD player. The HD-A1 is quite sophisticated as it decodes DD Plus, DD TrueHD in stereo and DTS-HD CORE. So even a simple DAC like from a CD is not a big task for this unit.

My Yamaha RX-V540 is used only as PassThrough for multichannel analog inputs.

I said it handles CD very well with analogs. In addition, this arrangement is extraordinary for the following 2 instances:

1. Selecting DTS surround on DVD-A "Everything Must Go" by Steely Dan the most superb multichannel mix that I have.

2. DVD "Live in Paris" by Diana Krall. The John Clayton double bass is much more pleasant to hear with the analogs.
 
E

eirepaul

Audioholic
j_garcia said:
I'm sure you're aware of this, but PLIIx is a DSP mode.
You're right I guess - I meant I don't use any of the modes such as "hall", "stadium" or "jazz club" or whatever they are called. Completely unnecessary to my mind when DPLIIx gives you so many adjustment options.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
eirepaul said:
You're right I guess - I meant I don't use any of the modes such as "hall", "stadium" or "jazz club" or whatever they are called. Completely unnecessary to my mind when DPLIIx gives you so many adjustment options.
I know what you mean. When I got my first surround receiver way back when, Hall, Stadium and Jazz Club were cool and I used them, but I quickly grew out of that hollow, echo sound. PLII does a pretty decent job with most CDs, though I still prefer 2ch 99% of the time.
 

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top