internicht Wrote:Techlife - thanks, but I don't have a receiver.
Didn't realize that. Sorry.
Quote:Personally, I find that mirroring the stereo output to the rear speakers gives a more uniform volume for wherever you are in the room (at least in my room).
It will. I use it frequently for music when I am cleaning or otherwise moving about.
Quote:I am interested in why you think a setup such as this would sound that bad.
For movies and TV, it comes back the basic principals of theater acoustics. Lets take a typical 5.1 setup and play a regular Dolby D movie on it. We have the speakers positioned center, front right, front left, rear right, rear left. The 5.1 indicates that there are 6 discrete channels of audio that need to be reproduced - one for each of the above speakers - to experience the movie the way it was intended. No one speaker is going to receive the same signal as the other. The effect that creates is the beauty of theater. What happens in the center of the screen comes exclusively from the center speaker. If it happens on the left, you hear it on the left, if it happens on the right you hear it on the right. Most importantly for the cool factor is when something happens behind you, or when a chopper flies over you from behind, that mix and fading from rear to front creates the illusion that a chopper really just flew over you. When you play all the same signal through all of the speakers at the same time, though the room may be filled with sound, the magic is gone.
Quote:is it just that your receiver (in the configuration you mention) is doing something very fancy with the stereo signal?
In the instance I was speaking of above with Dolby ProLogic IIx, the receiver is taking that stereo signal and attempting to create that theater effect. So if I'm watching a TV show, when someone speaks in the center of the screen, I hear it from the center channel instead of it feeling like they are yelling at me from all directions. This obviously doesn't sound as good as if the source had 6 or more discrete channels, but it does a pretty good job.
Better example: I am watching an episode of House right now that is a crappy rip in only stereo. House is talking to someone in the center of the screen and that's where I hear his voice. There is a thunderstorm going on outside and the windows are behind the person he is talking to - essentially, behind me. The sound of the rain and thunder are subtly heard from the rear speakers making it feel almost as if I am in the room. If I had it in all channel stereo, I would hear everything everywhere and there is no magic in the audio which
I feel is the MOST important part of the movie experience.
Quote:Is it phasing or something you are concerned with (ie the actual sound from several sets of speakers reaching the ears at slightly different times)? I would have thought audio from fewer speakers reflecting off the walls would give you some of this anyway, and actually if I have my four speakers turned down (because I'm using twice as many speakers as you) I would probably get less actual reflection. Having said that, do you have all your walls sound-dampened, or something?
I am running a decent upper mid-end 6.1 system and my walls are not sound-proofed as this is currently in my living room. When I finally get the ambition to finish the basement a build a dedicated theater down there, that will be a different story. The phasing and timing is taken care of in the receiver (mostly) by setting the speaker distances and equalizing the volume level from each speaker from the main listening position. That is further enhanced by the
Audyssey+ software built in to the receiver.
Quote:Aware I'm probably sounding like a philistine here but I am generally of the opinion that the music is "heard" in the mind anyway!
And I agree. However, I also feel that music and theater audio should be an experience. In addition to home theaters, I also deal with high-end 2-channel audio. In the proper environment, with the proper equipment, I can make a two channel recording sound like 7.1. The depth that is actually contained in a regular old CD is mind-blowing. It can completely engulf your soul in a way you never though possible. When a system is not properly configured, all of that is lost and that to me is a real tragedy.
Being that I have always had a receiver, I haven't played with it at all, but AFAIK, it is more than possible to do many of the same things that a receiver can with just your sound card alone. You should be able to decode the DD/DTS soundtracks and send each of those discrete signals to the appropriate speakers and apply processing like PLIIx to stereo sources.
I know we have gotten way off track here and I had no intention of hijacking your thread. Again, I just wanted to explore what you were trying to do and present other options, that you may find create a more pleasurable experience, using the gear you have. =)
