Fun story from the weekend - I had a movie night with my son while the girls went out to watch the whales get saved at the local movie theater. My son decided he wanted to watch Real Steel. So I rented it from the Playstation Network in HD and we start to watch. We must have been a third of the way through the movie when I start thinking it sounds good, but not as good as usual. So I start checking some settings and discover we have been watching with the 2 channel stereo audio track. I switched it to the 5.1 encoded mix and it sounded way better - far more directional and the serious bass from the robot footsteps was now shaking the couch!

I was amazed however that it took me a good 30 minutes to notice something wasn't right which to me is a testament to how well modern AVR's can extract surround mixes from a 2 channel source (that or I should go get a hearing test!). Also it was a lesson for me to always check the audio feed when starting a flick. I am in the habit of doing this with my Blu-Rays but forgot because there is no menu screen when watching a rental from the PSN.

Anyway, all that to say I learned something and we had a fun time with the movie. Visuals were actually very good and I thought the audio was really good too (once I switched to the 5.1 mix!). YMMV might vary on the storyline but I think I could easily use some scenes in there to demo my system. If it sounded that good with the 5.1 I think I'll have to try the actual Blu-ray with the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track.

Will anybody else own up to being caught out like that?

I've never done anything like that Dan, not me.

Ever.

I had the center turned off the other night (I usually listen to music without it, and I've been too lazy to change my receiver to independent mode), and it took me a few minutes to figure out what was wrong.

when I have my left/right 80's imaging perfectly, it sounds like my center channel is on.

When I first set up my system I did get the surrounds playing in all speakers at one point. You kinda notice right away though.

once, i realized halfway through a movie that my sub wasn't ON;
which says something about the Axiom M80's...

Yeah, I wish I had that M80 problem! I think I'd notice if my sub was off with M22 in/on walls. One day they shall be mine....

Incidentally, just looked at the Real Steel BRD review on blu-ray.com They rated the audio and video quality very highly. I guess I'll have to add this to my library soon when the prices drop.

I have the opposite to report. For the first time, I've got a significant other who understands the surround modes, decoding, etc.

Before, I'd walk down and she'd be watching a movie with 6 Channel Stereo and Night Mode on or something and I'd cringe.

Bren R.

My wife understands none of this BUT she notices when things sound good or not. She'll just wave her hand in the general direction of the AVR and asks me to make it better please! She never uses the HT by herself.

my GF told me once that i'm "a genius to be able to understand all those buttons on the AV system"; and she also appreciates the quality of the video and sound.