Listening to 2ch stereo CDs in 4ch mode.

[RichardNC]

I have a very good Home Theatre setup. One lacking item is that when I listen to CDs, the sound is only output from the front speakers. As we know this is normal , as CDs are "stereo". I can use some soundfield settings to "mimick" 4 ch stereo, but the sound is not as dynamic as the Auto Format Decoding, which offers full 2ch Stereo, since the software is changing things around.

What I would like to know is if anyone has worked out a setup where one can simply duplicate what is coming out of the front speakers, and have it come out of the rears as well. By duplicating the Auto Format Decoding, the sound will be full, not "computed". I imagine that an external device and extra wiring is in order.

Thanks in advance for all...

Richard

[Jim Clark]

Well, it depends on what kind of processor you have at your disposal. I recall that at one point Keith from Canada was able to adjust the Disco mode on a Yamaha receiver to mimick the 5/7 channel stereo mode found currently on most recievers. Maybe your set up would allow you to do something similar by adjusting the parameters of the sound fields you have to choose from.

DPL2 for music has more adjustable settings than it's predecessor if you have that format on your processor.

If you have another set of speakers and an A/B speaker option you could solve the problem by setting up two sets of rear speakers and selecting A+B and playing back CD's in stereo. Wouldn't be my choice but there are those that set up two sets of rear speakers anyway, although not for this reason.

I guess you could get a pre/pro or a receiver that offers both 5/7 channel stereo and DPL2. Not the cheapest way perhaps but it gets you what you want and there are tons of makers and models to choose from.

Finally you can do what I do and that's simply to listen in 2 channel stereo. I find I get the best results this way and basically regard everything else as gimmicky and of little or no use.

Regards,
jc

[RichardNC]

I have a Sony STR-DA5ES receiver, with the Pre-outs going to an Adcom 5500 for the front speakers, and an Adcom 5400 for the rears. The front speakers are Ohm Walsh 5's and the rears are Ohm Walsh 2's. Needless to say the sound is incredible, but getting it arranged the way I want it is another matter!

I have played with every soundfield, including disco, etc - and nothing sounds as good as AFD for the front speakers only.

Jim, your quote "Finally you can do what I do and that's simply to listen in 2 channel stereo. I find I get the best results this way and basically regard everything else as gimmicky and of little or no use." is EXACTLY my sentiment, and what I have been doing!

It is frustrating that what appears to be a simple circuitry offering is not there, and has been hard to create. The receiver offers 2nd and 3rd room setups that are not like A,B,A+B switches. I have considered A/B switches to enable/disable the rears, and use a combination of extra wiring with Y cables to get the result. Not pretty, but maybe brute force is the only way. Keep in mind for DVDs I still want everything "out of the box" as Normal Surround is fine...

Thanks,

Richard