In addition to watching movies, most of our customers use their home theater systems for music as well. The source of music can be CDs, music over the Internet, iPhones, tablets, etc. Here are some of the ways to listen:
Direct mode – some A/V receivers have a direct mode, which bypasses a lot of the circuitry in an attempt to provide the purest possible sound. This can be good for stereo listening provided that the subwoofer is not disabled (which some receivers do in direct mode).
Regular stereo – some receivers will allow you to just use your front left and right speakers along with your subwoofer for listening to stereo music, which is fine.
All channel stereo – some receivers offer and all channel stereo mode. In this situation, all of the music that would normally go to your left speaker will also go to your left side and rear speakers if you have them. Likewise, all of the music that would go to your right speaker will go to all of the speakers on the right half of your room. This mode is OK, but sometimes makes the imaging of individual instruments difficult to discern.
Synthesized DSP modes – many receivers offer synthetic surround modes, such as nightclub, Stadium, churches, concert Hall, etc. I don’t know why they include these. Nobody I’ve spoken to has ever liked the sound of these and we recommend that you do not use these artificial sounding modes.
Dolby Pro Logic – this is a method of extracting surround information from a two channel stereo source. It is not really synthesized and it can be useful. Many two channel recordings have out of phase information hidden within the recording. Dolby Pro Logic can retrieve this information and use it to provide a convincing surround experience. This is a mode that you should experiment with as some stereo recordings will benefit from it and others won’t. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon CD is an example of a recording that will can sound amazing with Dolby Pro Logic.
As always, if you have any questions, please either contact us or give us a call at 800-905-5485
I do like Linn’s synthetic surround mode (Limbik) on certain material.
If you are old school and mostly listen to 60’s music with your new A/V receiver ( i.e. like my TX-NR 6050) you will like the All Channel Stereo setting.