Stereo or Home Theater

[Phxthrax]

I have a 110 watt stereo with 4 36" floor speakers spaced out to each corner of my living room that C R U S H when it's turned up to 3 much less 6-8. When I play the same CD in my home theater system, it just doesn't compare for some reason. The stereo sounds thicker, fuller than the surround sound. I put the theater on "stereo" mode and it does improve the sound some, but I like the panning of guitars, drums, shit like that with it the surround mode. Who likes what and why?

 

[nythraxfan]

By your description, it sounds like you are using dolby pro-logic for surround, which has low audio fidelity (stereo left and right front channels, mono rear channels) . Dolby pro-logic II has much improved fidelity with stereo left and right rear channels as well as the front channels. For quality sound in surround, from worst to best, this is the order : pro-logic, pro-logic II, dolby digital 5.1, DTS, dvd-audio (or super audio CD SACD).
You say you only have 4 speakers. For accurate surround sound, you need 6 speakers......front left, center channel, front right, rear left, rear right, and subwoofer. To cover the surround bases, you also need a receiver that decodes pro logic II, dolby digital 5.1, DTS, and dvd-audio (or super audio CD).
I myself, can play all of the above options.

 

[Phxthrax]

My 4 floor speakers are hooked up to the stereo, my surroud has 6 total. Right and left front and rear, center and the subwoof. The brand is some off generic name called Regent, the DVD player and theater are one unit. Hell it was $110 at Wal Mart and it was a X-mas gift so.......but movies sound awesome!! Thanks Thraxfan!!

 

[TD]

I've got a system that sounds ungodly, I was watching X-Men the other day and shit was falling off of the walls upstairs. It's an Onkyo system w/ Dolby Pro Logic II. It doesn't do well with external inputs though. None of my Star Wars VHS sound as good as they should and I can't figure out why.

 

[mrthrax]

i still have the same stereo that i bought when i was 17,its a sony 5 disc changer,it has just the 2 speakers no fancy surround stuff that we have today and it pumps pretty hard.

sometimes less is more unless your a tech genius,my cousin bought the same brand stereo that i had about 6 years later with all the trimmings and he still cant get it to sound like it should!

 

[Sgt-D]

When I was living at home, my folks had these 4' high speakers of doom, which rattled the shit out of the windows (all of em... even the basement ones on the other side of the house!). I still haven't had that kind of sound, and they weren't even a memorable brand name! Sometimes you get lucky, I guess...

IMO, the best sound I get out of a CD is with a really good pair of headphones.

 

[Cincy Vigilante]

I am piece by piece getting mine together I have an Energy center, Signet front and Polk rears, need a sub and want a better receiver. My cd player is done so I play all cds through my dvd player which is a proscan.

 

[schindlers_fist]

I don't have a home theatre, I have no intent on putting one together. I'll stick with my simple 3-disc cd player, tape deck & turntable.

 

[Lordlindsey]

I've got 36" Flat screen High Def TV.
Samsung T165 HD receiver
Stereo receiver with DTS.
7 disc DVD changer, that'll play MP3's.
I work in Noise and Vibration. Tuned all my speakers in, with calibrated Sound Pressure Level meter.
It rocks!

Generally speaking.....Music is much better on a 2 speaker setup, unless you have DVD-Audio or SACD.
A lot of people think that the more speakers the better, well that isn't necassarily true, unless the music was formatted for that purpuse.
Typically the rear Satellite speakers, just don't have the frequency range for music, and when the bass comes out of the sub, it just isn't 'blended' as well as good old fashioned stereo speakers.