Stereo Settings (What's your frequency Kenneth?)

[Bogey]

Of late, I have taken Harry's advice and set our system on the 2 Channel Stereo setting when playing cds.  I have also set all levels at the default settings and turned off the "loudness" button.  I used to listen to my cds through the Normal Surround Sound setting, but found this more stripped down version preferable.  What features do you use on your system, or in some cases, do not use?

[Harry]

Of late, I have taken Harry's advice and set our system on the 2 Channel Stereo setting when playing cds.  I have also set all levels at the default settings and turned off the "loudness" button.  I used to listen to my cds through the Normal Surround Sound setting, but found this more stripped down version preferable.  What features do you use on your system, or in some cases, do not use?

Good for you Bill!
All the settings that could possibly interfere with the sound are disabled, or put in neutral, Frankly I prefer my equipment with as little frills as possible, so in this instance I have little to manipulate really.
Never ever used loudness, a terrible device as there ever was one, totally distorting the sound. It will take some time for you to get used to, but in the end you will find it much better.
Keep me posted Bill!

[71 dB]

I used to listen to my cds through the Normal Surround Sound setting, but found this more stripped down version preferable.

Rule number 1: A recording of n separate discrete channels should be played back with n loudspeakers. According to this rule stereophonic CDs are listened with 2 speakers. This is what you are now doing. If you have a multichannel system with center channel you can try listening to mono CDs using a surround sound mode (whatever options you have) and have most/all of the sound coming from center speaker (this way you avoid mono colorization and you get more stable sound when your head is moving).

Note that I am speaking about separate discrete channels (mono, stereo, DTS, DD5.1 etc). For example in Dolby Pro Logic four channels are matrix-encoded into an ordinary stereo. Technically this is stereo but content-wise it has 4 channels and should be listened with 4 speakers but matrix-encoded sound works well with 2 channels too.

Rule number 2: Sometimes the benefit of breaking rule 1 is greater than the cost. I have found out that many classical music recordings (NOT ALL!) sound better using surround sound modes. The spectral balance is somewhat compromised but the overall feel of space is improved significantly and the music "breathes" better. Usually this is the case with recordings with long reverberation (church music!). Dry chamber music with minimal reverbaration usually sounds best in stereo mode. However, always test each recording yourself and choose what works best. I found out that Beethoven's String Quartet's (Naxos) sound amazing when I use DTS Neo:6 Music sound mode. These CDs are simply recorded that way (microphone set-up, reverberation,...).

Why do some recordings benefit from breaking rule 1? The answer is actually simple: Long strong reverberation already changes the spectral balance of instruments so further tinkering does not matter much. The sound if "fuzzy" anyway. Your living room introduces new reverberation to the sound you are listening to. The reverberation of a church is totally different from the reverberation of your living room (the size of the room can be estimated from the reverberation. Blind people know how big is the room they are in). The sound is weird because it has the reverberation of two totally different spaces. The use of multiple speaker set-up fights against the acoustics of your living room and the reverberation of the recording wins. Bach's Mass in B minor sounds more church and less living room so to speak. If the music has been performed and recorded in a room with similar acoustics to your living room it probably sounds best in stereo mode but you can always check it up.

Popular (electronic) music works best in stereo mode. This is due to the heavy thinkering of signal in studio. They use all kind of signal prosessing methods to produce cool sound. Multichannel modes decode these effect wrong and the result is an aural mess.

What features do you use on your system, or in some cases, do not use?

Usually I play CDs in stereo mode (rule 1). Some CDs work better in DPL II or DTS Neo:6 music modes (rule 2).

The sound of TV programs is another issue. I use NAD's EARS mode for news and other programs with people talking in studio. TV shows sound best with DPL II or DTS:Neo6 movies modes. Monophonic old material works best with EARS. Music programs (concerts) works best in stereo mode. 

[71 dB]

Never ever used loudness, a terrible device as there ever was one, totally distorting the sound.

My equipment doesn't even have loudness. If loudness works as it should work it should not do anything when listening at high sound pressure levels. Listening at low levels (evenings etc.) might "benefit" from loudness due to the properties of human hearing but it's true there is one problem less when you just forget loudness.

[DavidRoss]

Good morning, Bill.  I use stereo playback.  Most of my records were recorded in stereo, some in mono.  A loudness switch boosts the extreme frequencies so that you can hear them better when listening at low volumes, to compensate for our decreased sensitivity to high and especially low frequencies as volume decreases.  Most high-end amplifiers dispense with this and nowadays even with tone controls, too, in order to more nearly achieve the goal of being a "straight wire with gain" and not muck up the sound with unnecessary potential sources of distortion.  Some even dispense with the balance control, again for the sake of keeping the circuit as "pure" as possible.  I currently have 3 amps kicking around.  None have a loudness contour switch, two have tone controls and balance controls--one of them with a switch to bypass these circuits--and the newest amp has nothing but input switches and a gain control--not even a headphone jack.  I usually listen at nearly realistic volume levels (for a mid- to back-of-hall perspective), use nearly full range loudspeakers, and don't miss having controls I don't use. 

[Bogey]

--one of them with a switch to bypass these circuits--

Would this be the equivalent "Auto Format Decode" switch David?  It sounds very close to my current "2 Channel Stereo" setting. 

[George]

I set my controls for the heart of the sun. 

Seriously, I try to avoid using my tone controls, but sometimes a bit of bass is needed and/or less treble. Interesting that I never need to turn the bass down or the treble up. I have noticed for certain CDs, they sound much "warmer" when you boost the bass and decrease the treble by a notch or two. I never use the loudness button, preferring the control that the bass and treble knobs offer instead. I once had a Yamaha receiver that had a loudness knob - that was very cool, as it gave me more control over how much loudness I applied. I only use regular stereo, to me two speakers are more than enough.   

[George]

Good morning, Bill.  I use stereo playback.  Most of my records were recorded in stereo, some in mono.  A loudness switch boosts the extreme frequencies so that you can hear them better when listening at low volumes, to compensate for our decreased sensitivity to high and especially low frequencies as volume decreases.  Most high-end amplifiers dispense with this and nowadays even with tone controls, too, in order to more nearly achieve the goal of being a "straight wire with gain" and not muck up the sound with unnecessary potential sources of distortion.  Some even dispense with the balance control, again for the sake of keeping the circuit as "pure" as possible. 

Yes, for this reason I have resisted any temptation to get an equalizer. 

[DavidRoss]

Would this be the equivalent "Auto Format Decode" switch David?  It sounds very close to my current "2 Channel Stereo" setting. 

I'm not sure what your "auto format decode" switch does--on home-theater amps I think it automatically selects stereo or 2.1 or 5.1 or whatever format your source material is encoded in.

A tone control bypass reroutes the signal so that the tone controls are no longer in the circuit and thus have no effect on the sound, not even a passive effect.

[petrarch]

Yes, for this reason I have resisted any temptation to get an equalizer. 

An equalizer makes sense only for room correction, which also involves timing correction. A good one is the Tact real-time room correction unit, which can produce amazing results. I am an advocate for keeping the signal path as simple as possible, and that's why I didn't buy the Tact; I prefer to correct my room with bass traps, absorption and diffusion panels. The feeling of having the digital stream which is so carefully converted to analog by my player reconverted to digital, processed and then back to analog is not a good feeling .

[drogulus]

    I've never even tried other modes. I only have 2 speakers and a sub so everything is just stereo with bass redirected at 80 Hz. Multichannel (mostly movies) is downmixed to 2.1 as well with a small center channel boost for dialog.