2.1 home theatre

[musicman1999]

Just wanted to throw this out there and see if anybody has tried it or thought of trying it.What i mean of course is,if your speaker budget is say $5,000 for all 6 speakers,what about spending all $5,000 on a pair of high quality fronts.Then instead of an a/v reciever,with the compromises that entails,you could use a good quality 2 channel integrated amp.You would not have surround sound,but your system would sound very,very good.You could even try tube power if you wanted.
Any thoughts or ideas?

bill

[topspeed]

I used to do this. I had my Missions as mains augmented by a DefTech sub all being driven by a B&K ST140 amp and PS Audio 4.6 pre. It was great! In fact, I still listen to music in 2ch 90% of the time (the other 10% being hi-rez mc).

That said, unless you have two separate rigs, one for music and one for HT, it's hard for me to envision watching a great movie now in only 2 channel. Today's surround mixes, particularly on action movies, are an integral part in pulling the viewer into the movie and it's hard for me to even imagine watching it any other way.

2 channel music
2 channel movies

[markw]

I've got a DVD/VHS player being fed to a Marantz 2270 feeding a pair of JBL L-26's and it sounds durn good on anything, even movies. Many times when the girls are in the living room with the HT, us guys will congregate here and drop on a guy flick and suck down caipirinhas.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Just wanted to throw this out there and see if anybody has tried it or thought of trying it.What i mean of course is,if your speaker budget is say $5,000 for all 6 speakers,what about spending all $5,000 on a pair of high quality fronts.Then instead of an a/v reciever,with the compromises that entails,you could use a good quality 2 channel integrated amp.You would not have surround sound,but your system would sound very,very good.You could even try tube power if you wanted.
Any thoughts or ideas?

bill

Here is a few problem with this idea.

1. Dialog will be centered properly for only one person. It will sound like it is coming from the L/R mains for everone else depending on where they sit in relationship to them.

2. Interaural crosstalk will increase dramatically because of the folding of channels into the L/R mains. This will decrease the soundstage size which is not a desireable effect.

3. The balance of the bass in the sound effects will not be balanced because in these kinds of setups the LFE is discarded.

4. You will have no surround effects at all which creates a spatial distortion of the mix

5. Effects that move from rear to front will not exist. Dialog panned to the rear will not be heard.

It is best to reproduce two channel recording through two channels, and 5.1 mixes should be heard with 5 main speakers and a subwoofer. This will cut spatial and playback distortions that is a result of channel folding.