Pick your poison...2-channel or multi?

No brainer....2 channel. Multi-channel is great for movies, not so good for music, IMHO.

Thanks JMC

I would've guessed no brain..er, as well!

Enjoy

I've done a lot of thinking and research on this subject.

There are different formats of multi channels.
Generally two different kinds

1. DPL, DPLII(x), Trified by Meridian, Logic 7 by Lexicon, etc..., which from the two channel source, ie. Redbook CD, generates multi channels.

2. SACD, DAD-Audio which are music sources recorded multichannel to begin with.

I started with multi channel music in mind, and I'm a kind of guy like simple solutions. I picked Meridian as the center of my system. Now I have 561M and 861V2, but I'm going back to 2ch for music listening becuase,

First I don't have much SACD & DVD-Audio sources... I'll probably not have much for a while... but I have hundreds of redbook CD sources.

Secondly, while Trifield and DPLII are nice and have it's own merits, however it's not necessary better than pure 2 ch stereo.
- Trifield/DPLII provide great imaging effect and sense of filling the space.
- Stereo feels more natural and smooth.

I guess with the right setup, I think you can get either by either format.

Thirdly, to have really good multi channel system with matching 5-7 speakers, amps, cables etc, it cost more than double...

Thus within a certain budget, I concluded that I better concentrate on 2ch for music listening in my case.

"Secondly, while Trifield and DPLII are nice and have it's own merits, however it's not necessary better than pure 2 ch stereo.
- Trifield/DPLII provide great imaging effect and sense of filling the space.
- Stereo feels more natural and smooth."

That statement is completely opposite of my experience.

Have you customized your trifields for differnt types of music?

If your 2 channel sounds more natural than the triield, change the trifield setting until they sound the same as your 2 channel sound....but it weill never go that far

What I don't understand is the same guy who will put his speaker cables on stilts, have some high school drop out put tubes in his DVD player etc and it never occurs to them to maybe play with the levels/ distances the treble and bass to make the processor sound the way they want.
eandy my Meridian has 8 different trifeild setting to match the scale of the music I'm listening too, this way there's no way 2 channel can sound more natural. The parameters are adjustable for a reason, you can make trifield sound just like two channel if you wanted to, I actually can mimick other systems by fine tuning the adjustments. Keeep digging my friend, its a new type of system, you must learn new ways to adjust it.

Eandylee - would you be willing to be walked through the process to better enhance your MC system?

It seems as if you have a good grasp of things, but there could be more potential to bring out of it; which could sway you opinion to the other side.

No long drawn out process, just a little extra help. And it won't cost you a dime. You keep your own equipment. Sounds like something that would interest you?

gentlemen: how many channels does live, unamplified music have ?

let's trade in our stereo systems for concert tickets.

11-09-06: Cdwallace
Thanks JMC

I would've guessed no brain..er, as well!

Enjoy
Cdwallace (Threads | Answers)

Don't quite your day job CeeDee!

McGrogan,

When you admit to not being able to setup your surround system properly nor having it work for months, it is a bit disingenuous to blame surround sound for this issue.

The fact you couldn't get your center speaker to blend is not surround sounds fault nor is it indicative of surround sound.

What it characterizes is poor setup or simply the speaker you chose for a center channel was poorly designed or matched to your left and right speaker.

I hope after all these discussion you don't think my surround system sounded anything like yours? When you take the time to research and buy appropriate speakers and get your center channel to blend such that your three speakers image better than two speakers. Then you are on my level, until you do that...something very possible, Then you're making progress toward what one of my systems sound like.

Perfect image...I have had hundreds of people listen and agree.

Do it on your HT, it only makes the movies that much better.

When you admit to not being able to setup your surround system properly nor having it work for months, it is a bit disingenuous to blame surround sound for this issue.

Edwards,

I think you are reffering to the problems I had with a MSB modified PAV. It was junk, well actually MSB made it junk. It wasn't that I don't know how to set up a system, MSB f#@*ed up my PAV. Setting up surround is much easier than setting up a turntable.
I also owned a Classe SSP-30 and a Anthem AVM-20, both stock, they worked fine for SSP, but when I put a Classe CP-60 stereo preamp in my system it was all over. No SSP came close to the tonal harmonic structure. I gave up on SSP's for music and went back to two channel. I've since heard other surround systems at friend's home's and audio salon's, nothing that makes me want to listen though.

I'm sure that no one knows how to properly set up a surround system but you though, so these would all be invalid. You should go into business for yourself. I'm sure all of us idiots would throw out our multi-kilo turntables and seperates and gladly hand you $10K+ to show us how music really sounds. ;^`

FWIW, most folks are stunned when they hear my system also. They think Bose and surround sound is what music is all about.

So folks like your system, folks like my system, and there we have today's update.

McGrogan,

I have a multi-kilobuck turntable, I was in business and there are hundreds of people who felt like you...and now they don't. All I tell you has been tested quite thoroughly on the general audiophile public.

What I am trying to impress upon you but you're are fighting me all the way, is you can't bring down surround because some bad limited experience and the direct experience you have is badly flawed by poor equipment choices and expecting a digital product to work like an analog one. C'mon man, you make these smart comments demeaning the rest of us and our equipment, and you haven't

Your determination of superiority of the CP-60 to the Anthem for example, was of course running an analog source through the units? Who does that an expects similar results? Do you actually equate a $2500 prepro with all its functionality to a simple analog $2000 preamplifier....don't you think that's a bit unfair? Aren't we overlooking the CD player in the cost of the analog pre's performance?

Wasn't it a VK5D? so that's like $5K, so what $7000 prepro did you listen too and compare? Because you don't need an expensive cd player at your price point when you have a prepro to be your DAC.

This is a little anecdote that I think will be of interest to you.

In an 18 month period the store I worked at sold 65 Meridian 568's, only about half of them for theater first installations.

In that same period we sold 1 VK5se, 4 VK3, 1 VK5 (demo) and 1 CP60 demo and 2 SSP30's.

The people voted with their wallets, and our store was very high end. www.jsaudio.com