Surround?

[Dave]

I notice that alot of our members are opting for 5:1 now with the multi-channel SACD releases and DVD's in surround.

I don't know about anyone here, but the last time I heard DVD surround the surround sound was wonderfull, but the stereo sound from the same pre was just crap and I heard this problem exists on every single 5:1 pre-amp made. It was enough for me to decide that DVD's will have to do in lowly:rolleyes: two channel as there was no way I'm going to sacrafice my glorious stereo sound for the sake of a movie.

Has this changed now or should I still be sitting on the fence?

[vex]

Myth, myth, myth...

There are lots of great sounding pre-amps that do stereo and multi-channel equally well. You don't need to go high-end to achieve this either. I have a Rotel RSP-985 that (to me) sounds superb in either mode. I've toyed with the idea of upgrading and going with an Anthem AVM20, but I don't have a driving need to.

The danger of listening to multi-channel then switching to stereo is that stereo can seem narrow in direct comparison. You need to step away from your listening experience and chew a mental saltine cracker before coming back and listening in stereo. Then, everything will be fine.

That is, unless you do have a cheesy surround pre-amp to begin with. Such a pre-amp may indeed sound artificially "better" in surround just because you have a bigger sound that can easily cloud your judgement as far as quality goes. Switching to stereo in this scenario will present you with a soundstage more condusive to identifying any weaknesses in the pre-amp.

Anyway, just my two cents....

[Sckott]

Some of the Rotel and Adcom pre's are very nice. I really don't have ANY problem at all with my RTC-965 (Rotel). When I play with recent Denons and stuff that normal "HiFI" stores sell, it's depressing. My buddy has a mid-range Dennon integrated, and it does NOT stage DD or DTS for you. You have you navigate through the worst on the remote to get it.

As far as 2 channel, it's absolutely great. Doesn't do much coloring of the sound, although at times I DO hear it a little.

It's set up to do most anything too. Clean, easy, automatic use for the most part. When DTS comes through, the pre jumps right there. DD, the pre jumps there too. I love it.