HELP!!!!! - I need reviews of Surround Master center channel quality - urgently

[chucky3042]

Dear Surround extremists

For reasons I can only tell ya later, I would love to get a bunch of independent reviews specifically of how well the SM decodes the center channel and preferably comparing its function to others. The good/ the bad and me.

This will greatly assist our and your cause

Regards

Chucky

 

[chucky3042]

And Further more.............

How it integrates with the fronts

PS - I still hate 5.1!!!!

 

[DuncanS]

you mean someone would deliberately decode a Quad QS/SQ so it had a centre channel ugh!

I haven't an SM as I'm waiting to buy the new pre-amp/SM, but I have heard the Quad decodes via the SM and think they're great. Never heard any stereo to SM 5.1 or Quad matrix encoded to SM 5.1.

 

[Wunlow]

Give in to the Center channel Chucky.. If it's the same make as your left and right fronts and at the same height, it can be your good friend!

Will the new pre-amp will have a SQ/QS center out?

I had hoped someone would post a DVD conversion or raw files with a decoded SM center, but nothing as of yet.

 

[chucky3042]

Give in to the Center channel Chucky.. If it's the same make as your left and right fronts and at the same height, it can be your good friend!

Will the new pre-amp will have a SQ/QS center out?

I had hoped someone would post a DVD conversion or raw files with a decoded SM center, but nothing as of yet.

I don't need a center with our SST (Sweet Spot Technology). Yes we will retain the center out

 

[chucky3042]

Reviews!!!! Pretty please

 

[Soundfield]

Hi Chucky - like you, I feel that 5.1 is the creation of Beelebub and his many little demons, so I've never connected a centre speaker to my SM. However I would happily have rigged one up to give you some feedback but at this time my SM is somewhere in the postal system on its way back to Overture to be reprogrammed with the Vinyl Optimised version of the SQ software. Sorry about the timing!

 

[Scott65]

I have been using the SM for nearly 18 months in 5.1 mode and I would say it,s great for at least 90 per cent of stereo input and quite good for the rest. I have not noticed any issues with the centre channel. It seems fine compared to the decoders in my amp which I have not used since getting the SM. A great product.

 

[fredblue]

(completely unscientific observation alert!) i found the SM's Centre channel output overloud compared to the other 4 channels (especially noticeable with old QS & SQ LPs but generally with turning Stereo material into 5.1 too) and so don't use the SM's Centre channel now.

while we're here, just to mention, the LFE helps give SQ LPs a bass boost in my setup so I tend to use that now, i wouldn't be without that feature/facility.

oh and fwiw the Surround Master is still the best bit of surround audio add-on kit I've bought in the last 20+ years of being into this hobby, thanks Involve.

 

[chucky3042]

Hi Fredblue

Interesting that the center is too loud, I have had other comments that it was not dominant enough....dunno. Have you tried adding a volume control pot to that line (they can be purchased cheaply- can send a link)

Regards

Chucky

 

[fredblue]

Hi Fredblue

Interesting that the center is too loud, I have had other comments that it was not dominant enough....dunno. Have you tried adding a volume control pot to that line (they can be purchased cheaply- can send a link)

Regards

Chucky

thanks Chucky,
i'm not really too fussed tbh because I use the Surround Master for decoding QS & SQ Quad LPs more than anything else, where a Centre's not really needed (imho) the Centre Front position decodes so rock solidly thru the SM it often feels/sounds like there must be stuff coming out of the Centre speaker but there isn't!

on a personal note, when I first got into surround music I thought a Centre channel must be essential and was dismissive of old Quads (which had to be inferior, i mean, they had one less channel than the new 5.1 mixes, they had to be worse, right!?) but in the last few years of really exploring Quad mixes from SQ & QS LPs, thanks largely to your Surround Master unlocking the matrix (!) I have changed my view totally and now find a lot of 5.1 mixes utilise the Centre channel so poorly they might as well have mixed the music in 4-channel/Quad!

 

[chucky3042]

Common guys - help us out....its for a good quad cause!

 

[jefe1]

Hi

When I get my surroundmaster back from Overture with the vinylSQ upgrade Ill try hooking up a center speaker to it and experiment...

 

[Soundfield]

Common guys - help us out....its for a good quad cause!

I think you might be the victim of your own success Chucky - I suspect a lot of users of the SM here will have been so blown away by the four channel performance of the SM that very few have felt the need to connect a centre channel - which I suspect was your aim all along!! It also seems that there's more than one of us with their SM in the vinyl upgrade loop who are unable to do such a test at the moment.

However I would urge anyone who is in a position to do so, to connect up a centre channel and give feedback to Chucky - he has made an enormous contribution to the surround sound state of the art and to this forum and deserves all the support we can give him.

 

[quadtrade]

thanks Chucky,
i'm not really too fussed tbh because I use the Surround Master for decoding QS & SQ Quad LPs more than anything else, where a Centre's not really needed (imho) the Centre Front position decodes so rock solidly thru the SM it often feels/sounds like there must be stuff coming out of the Centre speaker but there isn't!

on a personal note, when I first got into surround music I thought a Centre channel must be essential and was dismissive of old Quads (which had to be inferior, i mean, they had one less channel than the new 5.1 mixes, they had to be worse, right!?) but in the last few years of really exploring Quad mixes from SQ & QS LPs, thanks largely to your Surround Master unlocking the matrix (!) I have changed my view totally and now find a lot of 5.1 mixes utilise the Centre channel so poorly they might as well have mixed the music in 4-channel/Quad!

The center channel was done to help the idea of centering vocals for film. A crappy idea for creating a soundfield!!

 

[chucky3042]

I am with you guys - its a band aid. A true crappy idea. Having said that for those sitting off center it does centralise the image (at a cost). Still would like some reviews.

 

[Scott65]

sounds like I should try the 4 channel mode

 

[Kangmella]

Dear Surround extremists

For reasons I can only tell ya later, I would love to get a bunch of independent reviews specifically of how well the SM decodes the center channel and preferably comparing its function to others. The good/ the bad and me.

This will greatly assist our and your cause

Regards

Chucky

Hi Chucky
I've had the SM decoder for the better part of two years. I bought it initially to play quad material and have been amazed by it's abilities.

These days I'm using it for playing all stereo music in SM mode and it's brilliant!

In regards to the center channel I initially used it as it gave a very accurate image. In the same way that Dolby Pro logic does with voice for center channel
the SM mode does with voice for music but I prefer the four channel mode. It's a personal choice I guess. I find the four channel mode more "open" and it's the
LF that really makes work for me.

Over the years I've tried various sound formats and they have their own pluses and minuses but the SM mode is the only one that does not start to sound
fatiguing. As I said earlier, I use it for all stereo music and love it.

Hope this helps

 

[chucky3042]

Thanks Kangmella, that's the kinda thing I am after

 

[Wunlow]

The center channel was done to help the idea of centering vocals for film. A crappy idea for creating a soundfield!!

This is a good point, and worth noting the distinction of music listening vs movie listening. As mention previously in this thread, I DO prefer the center channel, as with more listeners, especially with home projection or the cinema, it can be very common to sit far more off axis from the ideal sweet spot listening area. I went for years w/o a center and always lamented it, but that was the early 80s, again primarily when listening to movies. Where as for my music listening, most of the time I'm sitting in my preferred listening spot, where the center channel is often more ..moot.