Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners HT a gimmick?

I have the m22ti's and a Yamaha HT receiver, which I'm not entirely happy with. I have yet to purchase the matching center and surrounds for it. I realize the great sound one can experience while watching a DVD with a full HT set up. My Yamaha seems to sound much better during DVD playback than with straight stereo. I question whether a HT receiver has any other uses than movie sound. They all seem to be kind of lame with music. I'm thinking, considering the flaky dsp modes one gets with this technology, that one could save himself some money by switching to a quality 2 channel receiver and ditching the gimmick? What is the consensus amongst yous guys? Are AV receivers a gimmick?

I'm actually thinking of going to 2 channel, ordering a second set of speakers, and running the four with a sub.

You have two thoughts going on here.

1) Would you be better served with a good stereo setup. If you don't watch movies, then the answer is probably yes. If surround sound doesn't appeal to you in movies then I see no reason to bother with it unless you intend to make the jump to SACD or DVD-A.

2) You seem to be attaching this personal preference of yours to the idea of a gimmick which it's absurd to associate to HT. As far as I know, HT receivers outsell stereo setups (so long as you ignore cars) by such a tremendous margin that it's impossible to argue they're anything other than the mainstream default. Furthermore, music is moving in the direction of surround sound even the music world isn't safe.

Which receiver?

Are you using a DSP mode for Stereo?

If so turn it off! DSP modes should never be used. Make sure your reciever is set up to do stereo only. And leave the setting on your reciever to basic stereo. DSP modes are for poor prologic setups and should never be used with stereo only setups. DSP modes are the gimmick, and Yamaha loves them.

Actually, some of the DSP modes are good on Yamaha's, especially the movie ones that open up extra surrounds/channels.

I'm not so sure such a blanket statement should be uttered around here.

The truth is DSP modes are getting better and better. Sure, if you're doing some critical listening and want to hear what's really on that recording, by all means shut of all DSP modes. But the fact is, some DSP modes -- Dolby Pro Logic II - Music, for example -- can make music sound better (subjectively speaking, of course.... )

Yamaha DSP modes are in fact some of the greatest DSP modes I've ever heard. The modes on my RX-Z1 just simply blow away my Denon AVR-5800's. Now, while I mainly listen to music in stereo mode (95% of the time), some times it's cool to get to feel like you are in say "The Bottom Line" Jazz Club in New York, etc. Yamaha takes data recorded from these actual locations into their DSP's, unlike those other companies.

Bruce, your reference to the "lame" sound with music is a bit ambiguous. If you're speaking of a HT receiver operating in straight stereo mode, there's no reason why using the HT receiver would result in any difference with music than using a stereo receiver. If, as some replies assumed, you mean using ambience extraction(DPLII, etc.)or DSP processing on music and you don't like any of the results, then just be sure none of those modes are on when you listen to music(you should be aware that some receivers automatically apply virtual surround processing when surrounds are set "none").

I'm not sure whether HT receivers can compete w/ really nice 2 channel receivers when it comes to music - but whatever the difference, it is trivial when you consider how TOTALLY FREAKIN' UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME movies sound on an Axiom HT set-up. Combined with a progressive scan big screen image - who's ever going to go to a smelly theater again?

htr-5280.