Presence speakers on the Yamaha: Worth it or not?

[mpompey]

I have a Yamaha and was curious about the Cinema DSP processing on my unit. From what I've read in order to hear the Cinema DSP I need to have Presence speakers mounted up front. I've got the space and limited WAF for this. But before I buy additional speakers, speaker mounts, speaker cable, etc. I wanted to know what you guys think.

Is it worth going through the extra time and expense to mount these speakers?

 

[GlocksRock]

The presence speakers only work with the Yamaha DSP modes, but you don't need the presence speakers for the yamaha dsp's to work correctly. If you use the presence speakers, then you can't use the surround back speakers at the same time, it's either one or the other. But I've heard many say that they like the presence speakers better than the surround back.

 

[Hi Ho]

I have been wondering the same thing. I have heard that they provide a nice effect. I am planning on purchasing a new Yamaha receiver in the near future and I was going to try it with some inexpensive speakers and see how it sounds. If you have any extra speakers around, you could just rig up a temporary setup to see how you like it.

 

[j_garcia]

I'm sure it comes down to correct placement and calibration, but the two times I heard a system with presence speakers I thought it sounded like crap.

 

[gmichael]

It's very debatable. Many people will say that these are a waste of time. But I do enjoy mine from time to time. I use them for watching sports and music DVD's. It keeps the sound more up front. The wife loves them for karaoke. You don't "need" them to use your Cinema DSP processing though. As another said, you can switch this off to the rears. It's just a matter of taste. I like having the option.

RX-V2500
Infinity Primus 360's mains
Infinity Primus 150's surounds & rears
Infinity Primus PS12 sub
Primus C25 center
JBL E10's presence
Yamaha CDR-HD1300
JVC DR-MX1
Sony 55" rear projection TV

 

[mpompey]

I'd like to try it out first. I guess if it didn't work out, I could always send the mounts and speakers back. My theatre is a small/mid size room, so the rear surrounds (at least not two of them; one would work fine) so I was think running the two presence speakers up front would be cool.

So it sounds like it adds some sort of reverb/ resonance to frequencies up front? Am I right? I've used the Spectacle and Sci-Fi DSP fields on various DVDs right now running a 5.1 setup, and I can't tell the difference between those and the 5.1 Cinema DSP Enhanced Mode.

Clint, you wanna weigh in on this?

 

[Exit]

"The presence speakers only work with the Yamaha DSP modes, but you don't need the presence speakers for the yamaha dsp's to work correctly. If you use the presence speakers, then you can't use the surround back speakers at the same time, it's either one or the other. But I've heard many say that they like the presence speakers better than the surround back."


To clarify the above comment; The presence speakers cut out the 2 extra rear surround speakers for a 7.1 setup, but you can still have a traditional 5.1 setup when using the 2 presence speakers up front. The presence speakers got a favorable review in one of the Audioholic Yamaha A/V Receiver reviews, which prompted me to try them out. It seems to me that they broaden the front sound stage, picking up sound reflected off of the front walls of the room DSP venue selected.

I use wall-mounted (6 ft high) Klipsch 5.1 speakers with a 4" woofer and dual tractix 90 degee side horns that provide 180 degrees sound dispersion. I think this provides an even wider soundstage to all seating positions in the room. They are direct firing in 180 degrees so they are not like dipole or bipole surrounds in that they do not add time delay or phase differences to the already DSP processed sound. I also use these same speakers for the rear surround speakers as these are also fed DSP processed sound which includes direct and indirect spacial signals. These particular speakers are out-of-production but Klipsch makes more expensive successors. With these speakers and a Yamaha HTR-5890 receiver, I am satisfied with the DSP effects.

 

[GlocksRock]

Another reason I choose not to use the presence speakers is that the Yamaha DSP's add reverberation to the sound which you can hear with the click test in the Avia dvd. I don't care for the effects of the Yamaha dsp's so I mainly use just the standard Dolby Digital or DTS as to keep the sound as the director intended it to be heard, but on occasion I will use the THX mode for certain movies.

 

[gmichael]

I'd like to try it out first. I guess if it didn't work out, I could always send the mounts and speakers back. My theatre is a small/mid size room, so the rear surrounds (at least not two of them; one would work fine) so I was think running the two presence speakers up front would be cool.

So it sounds like it adds some sort of reverb/ resonance to frequencies up front? Am I right? I've used the Spectacle and Sci-Fi DSP fields on various DVDs right now running a 5.1 setup, and I can't tell the difference between those and the 5.1 Cinema DSP Enhanced Mode.

Clint, you wanna weigh in on this?

Yes, but not a lot on Spectacle and Sci-Fi DSP modes, although these could be manually changed. The DSP modes that give you the most reverb are the "hall in Munich" and others in the "music" section. You can get these by pushing the number 2 on your remote. The number 3 (entertain) also gives you some reverb, but not as much) When I use Spectacle it doesn't add a lot of reverb but does move the 2 rears up to the front presence speakers. But this is how I have defined it to default to.

 

[fergusonv]

Reverb should not really be a big deal on the Yamahas as all thier cinema dsp modes have settings that allow you to adjust it. My biggest complaint is that Yamaha does not provide very good literature for making these settings. (rooms size, liveness, surround delay, etc) and it takes a lot of experimenting to get it right. I think the presence speakers would be best utilized with the dialog lift feature for people with front projection, otherwise if the room permits a regular 7.1 setup and you do not have FP then stick with the surround backs.