Do NOT Blow Your Entire Budget on Two Channel Audio

Wow !

Looks like those over the age of 70 could care less about Dolby Atmos and are using every excuse in the book to justify their very expensive awesome sounding 2 channel. Fair enough. I love a great 2 channel rig as much as the next person.

The "you only have 2 ears" BS is a tired and antiquated comment generally told by the "Geezers" in the room.

For me it's been multichannel madness since the 1st DVD-Video (and later Audio) discs came 25 years ago. 6 dedicated (albeit compressed) channels of full frequency audio. Amazing. I bought (and still keep) a lot of Rock Concert DVD's. 

Fast forward to 2022 and I went Dolby Atmos and documented the whole messy install with the help of my Son. No, it's not for the Rich or faint of heart. I found 4 Klipsch 8" Woofer/Dome Horn loaded Tweeter for only $60 - $65 a piece on Amazon Warehouse last December. These usually retail for $300 a pair. I upgraded the Crossover Caps because I could. Emotiva have their decent budget Bas-X Amplifiers on a 10% discount for 1st time buyers. So I bought a 4 channel Amp from them. Building and Orchard Audio 4 Channel Amp would have been overkill for Speakers that are not being used 50% of the time.

Now understand that Dolby Atmos played via Amazon Music or Apple Music is compressed on all channels. Onlt their 2 channel music offerings are lossless.

Playing BluRay's (4k discs typically have uncompressed multichannel audio) is an absolute joy to listen to.

I have some Atmos Discs (All Things Must Pass, Abbey Road, Let It Be, Fully Completely, Moving Pictures, and some demo Dolby and other material.

While my in ceiling Speakers don't follow Dolby's recommendations. I did the best I could WRT to placement and where my ceiling beams/joists are located.

YOU MUST HAVE OPEN EARS AND TOTALLY FORGET ABOUT THE 2CH VERSION !!!!!!!

I can't state this enough times over and over again. These mixes are meant to bring out things in the music you never knew were there without owning a 6 to 7 figure 2 channel audio system !!!

What I hate is the Boxed Set Money Grab that our favourite Artists are doing to fulfill their Retirement funds. I get it. Between Peer to Peer sharing and low sales of their poor most recent recordings. The can only make a Buck touring (good) and rebranding/remastering/remixing and re-marketing their Best Albums yet again (bad and good I guess).

Rant Over.....for now.

https://youtube.com/shorts/wiOQWeFXvk4?si=PNMe_IvkOvmLl8LO

https://youtu.be/jNq-pk5Ygac?si=vB1G-q5x8gjlP-3k

https://youtu.be/H-f1BKof76k?si=o5JXKWt_Dkgvit7S

https://youtu.be/mqIID9gtc0Q?si=M_Dfr4zKvom8oFJf

Enjoy the Laughs.....Party on Wayne....Party On Garth

@kota1 I have the F360 and it’s a great little Preamp. I also run a BAT Preamp for 2ch and it feeds the F360. With some XLR splitter boxes, I can now painlessly switch between the two Preamps, use the BAT for the front channels with the F360 running the rear channels. Or I can have all for F360 channels going. I can also completely switch out the F360 with a Turn of a knob and just listen via the BAT Preamp.

For all my dedicated multichannel Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD-MA, DSD 5.1, DVD-A 5.1, BluRay 5.1. It’s my Onkyo AV Preamp circa 2014ish ?

This hobby is all about having fun many of the responses here don’t show that. If I could afford the BACCH system, I integrate it into my rig instead of the F360.

I heard it at the Audio Shows but there’s no free trial to try it out and get me addicted.

Great responses form you BTW.

@kota1 Its a VK50-SE from 1999. It’s was factory refreshed last year with Mundorf Paper in Oil Caps to replace the old “6 packs” that were in it originally.

The great thing with Black Ice Audio like most of the American Audio manufacturers. You can reach the owners and engineers anytime during their business hours.

Many live Rock Concert Albums sound amazing through the F360 but the vocals can become lost in the mix. With this switching setup, I can run the BAT directly on the front channels and the F360 On my rear stacked sealed box Bose 901’s powered by the Orchard Audio Ultra Amplifier. The fronts are all Tube Black Ice F100’s.

I found the results more listenable in my rig/room like this instead of just turning down the dimension knob.

I’ve done 2 F360 Videos. One on what they do to my Electrostatic Headphones, the other on my listening experience using my Klipsch and Bose Speakers. I’m working on a 3rd one utilizing 3 DOUK Black Bear XLR Splitters.

BTW. Not shown in the Videos or my profile system pics are two absorbant panels the width of my Sofa above the listening area.

Cheers,

Joe

Joe

@kota1 

https://youtu.be/hm5tbEE6FcE?si=RYjlm47GS3wZC4so

https://youtu.be/_tPlTrWsZWw?si=ZsIRw89NErdIJAnA
 

I'm working on the 3rd one this week. I’ll send you link once it’s uploaded.

@facten My point was what was stated in the article that @kota1 linked earlier in this thread. I use an Amazon FireTV Cube because the FireTV Stick does not support Dolby Atmos played back via Amazon Music.

My A/V Preamp is an Onkyo PR-SC5530

https://www.intl.onkyo.com/products/av_components/av_separates/pr-sc5530/index.html
 

It may be a bit long in the teeth but supports all the formats.