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Upmixing 2 channel

I was listening to a tidal motown playlist last night and i turned on dolby surround mode and it sounded really good. This was with only my front L&R on plus sub. I was kinda surprised by the sound.  I actually got up and walked up to my other speakers to verify that they were off.  Ive tried listening to music with all the channels on (5.1.2) and i always find my self going right back to 2.1 with no processing or anthem music mode and usually with the ARC turned off. I do find that when watching youtube or tidal videos sometimes all channel mode with some some type of processing sounds good especially with rap or classical. I guess i never tried  sorround mode while i was in 2 channel mode. If you havent guessed, i have a dual purpose system. The Anthem mrx 740 i use does have a good Sabre DAC. So I use the preouts on the avr to a 3 channel amp for my fronts. Using. A bluesound node for streaming. I know this is not an ideal set up for 2 channel. Im in the process of looking for a preamp or streamer/preamp with HT bypass to completely separate my channel listening  from the avr.  Im new to this with a preatty new system that im trying to dial in.  I was just wondering if any one else finds that upmixing 2 channel sounds good?  Could have been the playlist. I plan on trying different types of music tonight.  

sandrodg73
soix
9,534 posts
 

Why use Dolby at all with 2.1?  Seems like you’re just adding a lot of additional processing that isn’t even necessary.  You’re totally on the right track looking for a stereo preamp, and depending on the quality of your 3-channel amp you might even consider an integrated stereo amp.  Best of luck moving forward.  It’s an ongoing process but well worth pursuing. 

sandrodg73 OP
124 posts
 

I usually dont.  Just did it for kicks and it really sounded good. Now, after a more in depth listening session with a variety of music it may sound like crap. Im using an anthem 3 channel amp powering paradigms. 

Thanks 

artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5
1,960 posts
 

I love the old R&B artists of the 60's IE temptations, Four Tops, et al. But Phil Specters wall of sound usually makes it unlistenable for me which is a bummer. I'm not sure how influential he was with Motown but I've got some that sound like Specter's work. 

deep_333
1,434 posts
 

I upmix all my music in my multichannel room from stereo for music listening ( with Dolby’s DSU, Auromatic, 360 reality, etc).

To optimally facilitate this for the codecs, you need to create a very seamless blended soundfield where no speaker can even be remotely localized, i.e. stretching from your fronts to surrounds behind you and beyond. Here are some tips that could help to acheive this.

- All speakers equidistant from you., i.e, no surrounds jammed right by your seat

In other words, you would require a larger room than for a typical 2 channel room

- Wide dispersion speakers can help

- After you run autocals for accurate delay/distance settings, you may need to manually fine tweak individual speaker level settings, disable auto peq and manually tune any peq depending on your room’s characteristics.

When you have all of it dialed in, you should be able to get an incredible listening experience. The first thing you may start to notice is that you will hear all kinds of detail you have never heard in stereo... just by virtue of how these codecs function, unpack a stereo recording and put it on the huge enveloping soundfield.

Then there is the disappearance of the room, all speakers, etc and only the music left all around you and all inside of you etc, i.e., a drug of unmatched caliber 😂.

 

sandrodg73 OP
124 posts
 

Sounds fantastic. Also sounds like a bit above my skill level and probably budget too.  I have a multi use room.  Sounds like u have a kick ass theater room.  I geuss lesson is to optimize calibration and speaker placement. Is room set up what u do?

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