Ok guys, here is the deal. First of all me and the wife live in a Townhouse and we have done alot of remodeling. We have the "Modern/simplistic" look going in the house. Long story short, my 5.1 system no longer works with the look of the house. Also the fact that I like to watch movies around 9-12pm and I could never turn the volume up at all as it would wake up the wife and the neighbors.
What im doing is, getting rid of everything except for my 2 Axiom M60 Tower speakers.
Now my question. Right now I have my Denon Reciever set to "phantom" mode and told the reciever that I have no center, surrounds, or sub. This is were I kinda get lost. Is this the best way to go about what im trying to do?
Basiclly what I want to know is, is there some type of 2 channel reciever that is made for just 2 speakers and still gives me that Dolby and DTS decoding where I can run an optical cable from my cable box and DVD player right into this 2 channel reciever?
As you can see, im kinda lost. I hope the above question made sense. If not, let me know and I will try to explain it better.
Thanks
I feel your pain.
Anyway, all receivers that can decode DD and DTS will still play the signal through two speakers. All the channels just get mixed down to the front left and right speakers. It'll be stereo.
Would I be better off with something like a music & cinema processor? Something like this.
http://www.lexicon.com/products/overview.asp?ID=16
Would that work for what im trying to do or no?
Let me make sure I understand what you're trying to accomplish. For style reasons, you're removing all but your from left and right speakers (the M60s) from the system, but you'd like to use some sort of hardware to make it seem like you've got more than two speakers in the room, right?
I have seen some DVD players with virtual surround modes, but to use those, you have to use the analog outputs and not the digital ones. Your Denon receiver's phantom mode helps create a "virtual center" but it won't create virtual surround speakers. There are some receivers that will do virtual surround from digital sources, but the effect isn't very convincing.
Are you sure there's nothing you can do to save your surrounds?
New, I would check out this
Digital Sound Projector from Yamaha. Since you can't listen at reference levels and integrate all the requisite speakers, it would seem to fit the bill.
Here is a review from Audioholics on the technology.
I also believe most AVR's these days have a night mode, or something like that which narrows the frequency range so your less likely to interupt people during late night viewing.
But if your getting rid of our surround setup, it is probably not going to matter.
I can't argue with what's already been offered.
I had a chance to listen to one of those Yamaha sound projectors on a couple of occasions. Paired with a good sub, I'm not sure you can do better in terms of balancing minimalism with good sound for movies. But I think you need a pretty "regular" shaped room for best results. Seriously, that thing was amazing. It replaces not only all your speakers except the sub, but also your receiver.
My place too is simplistic and modern. There are ways you can dress up speakers to blend or not blend.
Currently right now I am running 2.1. Center is disabled and getting a phantom center. Actually running phantom you get a nice seemless front stage as most of the time a center channel is not tonally exact and having the same magnitude of sound as mains unless the speaker is exactly as the mains. I still think you should keep your sub since in your picture it seems like it is hidden away. If not use the sub as a multipurpose table. Today my sub is used a potted plant stand.
Your receiver or DVd player should have an option to downmix to 2.1 as noted by earlier posts.
Saturn
I've always wondered if those Yamaha's were as good as the reviews said, I had thought about purchasing one awhile back, but the room has odd dimensions so I stayed with a 3 channel.
Either the Yamaha
YSP-1 or s set of bi-polar speakers from the likes such as Mirage or perhaps even a pair of Omnisat speakers.
One of my friends have used his Mirage bi-polar speaker pair in his small condo and is completely happy with the sound they produce for both music and home theater.
I'm pretty sure a good 2.1 system would be better for music than the Yamaha DSP line.
But - seriously - that thing was amazing, especially when you consider that it is basically zero-footprint.
Bruce, do you know which Mirage speakers? There are a couple different sizes/flavors/prices within the Omnisat line.
In reply to:
do you know which Mirage speakers?
I believe he had earlier models but I believe they were the 890is. I had a pair of 895is with the Mirage sub and the sound was great (considering it was used in an apartment). The neighbors didn't like the sub though
.
I agree, if to be used for music, the YSP is not the way to go.