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2.0 or 3.0 or 4.0 for HT Movie Audio?

I'm simplifying my life on the audio end. Consolidation of my separate HT room and 2ch room to one room has me doing some out of the speaker-box thinking.

Just to be upfront, I do love 5.1 and this is what I would prefer, and may end up there anyways.

My question only applies to Blu Ray and DVD movie playback.

Curious if Audiogon Members have lived with and enjoyed any of these configurations, i.e.:

- 2.0 (L/R) or

- 3.0 (L/R/C) or

- 4.0 (L/R/SrL/SrR) [no center]

What have your experiences and impressions been? Any lessons learned?

Note: I'm keeping things simple by eliminating the subs; I am satisfied with the lf performance and extension I'm getting from my current speakers on movie sound tracks.

Thanks,

- David.
david_ten
goatwuss
877 posts
 
If you are sitting in the middle between your speakers, and the speakers aren't total garbage, then there is no reason to add in a center channel.

What is it doing for you? Dialog will already be anchored dead center for you.

If you have a bunch of off access viewers, then yes, a center channel would be good to anchor the dialog.

This is more a question for you. Do you care about surround? If so, go 4.0 and add in the surrounds. If not, go 2.0. If you sit off access, add in the center. If you like bass and want impact, add in a sub
mds's avatar
mds
119 posts
 
I listen to 5.0 for most movies. Rarely do I turn the sub on as it is generally not required or forgit to turn on.
dorfma05
13 posts
 
I'm planning on doing a form of 4.0. I have the front left & right set up as full range with a sub on each of these 2 channels to enhance the bottom octave. I'm waiting on the surround speakers to arrive. The rear surrounds will be crossed over at 80 or 100Hz into the mains.

Anyone ever try something similar?
drew_eckhardt
394 posts
 
>02-14-11: Dorfma05 writes:
I'm planning on doing a form of 4.0. I have the front left & right set up as full range with a sub on each of these 2 channels to enhance the bottom octave.

The problem there is that Dolby Digital is encoded to allow 105dB SPL from the screen channels and 115dB SPL from the LFE track. To avoid speaker damage from over-excursion and prevent clipping Dolby recommends entirely discarding the LFE channel when down-mixing in installations without sub-woofers.

Some processors make that configurable, some don't.
david_ten OP
5,480 posts
 
Thanks to everyone who has posted. Healthy feedback regarding the benefits (and limitations) of each configuration.
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- Byron: You said: "I am currently listening in 3.1, and it is a very close approximation of 5.1. In some ways, I prefer it to 5.1." Can you explain further?
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I was able to test a 2.0 downmix via PCM out from the bdp to my DAC with a few movies.

The center imaging is very stable and the timing matches the video lip movement. There are usually only two of us watching movies, so we are sitting in a very central position to the speakers.

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- Drew: I plan on bypassing processing (when I get the Oppo 95/93) by using the analog outputs of the bdp. Any issues doing it this way given your comments re processing?
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