Presence speakers

[Krusty Blade]

Hi all,

I recently installed my new HT system, which included the Yamaha RX-A3000, and Infinity Primus speakers.

I was wondering about using the front and rear presence speakers to make the system 11.1

Has anyone done this yet and is it worth the effort? Does it make any real difference?

Regards,

 

[XEagleDriver]

Hi all,

I recently installed my new HT system, which included the Yamaha RX-A3000, and Infinity Primus speakers.

I was wondering about using the front and rear presence speakers to make the system 11.1

Has anyone done this yet and is it worth the effort? Does it make any real difference?

Regards,

Krusty,

I cannot directly speak to presence speakers in a 11.1 configuration, but I did use presence speakers (PS) with a Yamaha RX-V659 AVR in a 5.1 + 2 PS for several months (i.e. not 7.1 in the traditional sense).

I discontinued using them which is probably the most revealing statement about my experience.
- For music, I prefered either a RBCD 2 ch+sub or SACD 5 ch+sub sound.
- Since no movies are actually coded for PS (as far as I am aware of) I did not find including PS and using Yamaha's associated MOVIE DSPs (Adventure, Spectacle, Sci-FI) particularly compelling either.

It did seem to expand the front sound stage a bit, but I would not recommend buying extra speakers to try it. In my case, I was transitioning from one set of 5.1 to another and used a pair of the old speakers (DT PM1000s) to give it a whirl. YMMV.

IMHO PS lag far behind other applications for my limited cash; like room treatments, better speakers, or more subs.

Cheers,
XEagleDriver

 

[timoteo]

+1

The extra $ that would be spent on speakers would be much better spent on room treatments or another sub for sure. If axtra speakers are already owned then give it a whirl, otherwise put the $ to better use!!

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

The presence speakers are for Yamaha’s various soundfields, which mimic real acoustic spaces. For movies, they help give the acoustical “feel” of a theater – i.e. things should sound like you’re in a bigger room, compared to straight-up DTS or Dolby Digital. It’s actually a rather cool effect when watching late-night talk shows – makes it seem like you’re in the auditorium with Leno, Kimmel, etc., instead of your little living room.

The effect definitely works best with separate presence speakers. They don’t have to be anything fancy. I’m using a couple of old Realistic Minimus 7’s for mine. You can find them on eBay for $40 a pair.

Without the presence speakers, the additional “acoustical” information for the soundfield is folded back into the left and right speakers. With older Yamahas, if you didn’t have presence speakers there was a rear panel switch that would either send the ambient information to the main front speakers, or keep the fronts “straight” and free of the soundfield processing.

I expect with newer Yamahas the foldback is now determined in the menu when you select “presence speakers yes” or "no." I.e. select "no" and the soundfield processing is automamtically sent to the main left/right speakers. For that reason I’d suggest setting the menu for “yes” even if you don’t have any presence speakers, so you can keep the main speakers free of that extraneous processing. Naturally, you’d have to go back and make this menu change after running YPAO.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Brian Abington]

I honestly think that as picture quality at the theaters has caught up with what is available at home I think that Sound is going to make some advances in the near future. Probably higher resolution and higher bitrates, more channels meaning true 11.1 or more, with some theaters adding speakers directly overhead and height and width speakers amongst others.

Once our bluray's are encoded for true 11.1+ audio and not left up to the processor to decide what it's going to take from a 5.1 mix then it will be worth the effort and expense.

I would say though that anybody wiring a theater room may be worth it to run conduit for future height and width channels for when it does become main stream

 

[Krusty Blade]

I think I will put this on hold for now then. Thanks for all the info and opinions guys.