Quad + movie home theater

[-nick]

Hi folks,
I've poked around on here and with google and haven't found anything to answer this question specifically: What are people's feelings of using a quad receiver with movie dvd's?

I have a QRX-5500 and a Pioneer DV-578A. The Pioneer has menu options to mix the center channel and subwoofer into the other channels. I then have four speaker output from the Pioneer into the quad input on the Sansui. I've been using the 4-ch tape1 selection as my source for the dvd player.

Honestly, I often watch movies in "QS Synthesizer - Surround" mode and the sound fills all the channels very nicely. Sound effects are often impressive as they move around the room. Ambient sound in a film (actors in the middle of a crowd) really envelopes my ears from all directions.

I have the option of using the "Discrete" mode which just tosses out the channels directly from the dvd player. In this mode I've been less than impressed. Possibly just due to the original mixing on the dvd, but there is often very little that is directed to the rear channels unless it is a deliberate sound effect. The synthesized mode spreads the sound around much much better.

But am I entirely missing the rear channel information that the dvd player is pumping out while I'm in synthesized mode? It's really just using the two stereo channels and creating the rear speaker mix, right? Should I setup the dvd player to only output two channels and let the Sansui synthesize from that?

Any tips, impressions, reviews, etc. would be great. Thanks for everything folks. I'm loving the analog ride!

nick

 

[westgate]

i've been using my 37 year old pioneer qa800a quad amp (receiver without the radio part) for my ht setup for almost 5 years.
i currently run a sort of 4.0 analog audio from both an onkyo hd-805 hd dvd player (with reon video processor for sd dvds) and a samsung bdp1400 blu ray player.

out of both players (each has 5.1 analog outs-sub, center, front L & R are not used here) i run the stereo analog L & R for the front spkrs and surround L & R for the rear surrounds.
onkyo into 4 ch aux input #1.
samsung into 4 ch aux input #2.

works like a charm!:banana:

edit-i can afford to go out and get a new 5.1 or 7.1 receiver but i like this setup.
i should add, HD/sd video from both players goes into a 4x2 hdmi switcher and then to a pan. HD projector (onto 108" screen) and/or a flat panel hdtv.

re your question-
i wouldn't care for the synthesized sounds you use on movies. maybe on some progressive rock music, tho.
imo, discrete is much better, more realistic.

 

[Key]

Whatever you think sounds best you should do. I think certain films are probably better discrete and some are better decoded.

As far as realism goes I think it can be counterintuitive. I agree with -nick, I have found the decoded soundFX to be more effective than the way they tend to mix them in discrete.
At the end of the day I think that effectiveness should trump realism. Think about the way films sound vs the way things sound in real life. Sound FX in films are greatly exaggerated. Sound designers
will layer multiple gun shots or even a cannon to get the sound of 1 gun - this gigantic boom. Where in real life at a distance the sound of a real gun can be underwhelming - like a pop gun.

 

[phydo]

Since 1976 I have had a "home theater". Until about 1985 when the first generation HI-FI VCR's were released my home theater consisted of my 19" color TV plugged into my QRX-9001 via a Rectocon mono-to-stereo adapter plugged into the TV’s earphone jack. This gave me simulated stereo processed into simulated quad. This probably sounds pretty lame by today’s standards but in the 70's this was pretty cool. It gave new life to reruns of Star Trek, Combat!. The FBI, Rat Patrol, and whatever else AFRTS was broadcasting. Once I got my first HI-FI VCR, which gave the Vero matrix circuitry a genuine high fidelity stereo signal to process, thing really came to life. One of the first HI-FI video tapes I purchased was "Red Dawn". There is a scene where a helicopter fires a missile that went from the RR speaker to to the LF speaker. It truly sounded as if a missile had passed right over your head. Edge of the seat stuff for the day. In the 80's I was still subscribing to "Hi-Fidelity" and "Video" magazines and reading the "hype" about these new fangled things called cd's. Wasn't buying it. Then a friend of mine showed up at my house with a brand new Sony "Discman" and the ZZ Top "Eliminator" cd. He convinced me to plug the Discman into the -9001 and give Eliminator a spin. The Vero matrix processing of this new audio medium completely blew me away! I went out the same day and bought my own cd player.

Of course all this time I had my audio gear hooked up the the -9001. But to get back on track - I always thought video and quad were natural partners in the day and today’s multichannel setups just further expand on the concept.

Justin

 

[westgate]

good story!
my 1st tryout with quad or any audio for ht was with a 13" monkee wards tv that had audio and video ins/outs, ca '85.
great little tv for the time!
that and a stereo (might have been mono) hifi vcr running thru the same pio quad amp i use today worked out well (for the time).

i simultaneously made r2r audio and vcr video tapes of the 'live aid' concert summer of '85, off of mtv.
biggest bummer was that it was in mono. plus, iirc, when the who did 'won't get fooled again',
there was a power problem at wembley stadium.

 

[jefe1]

I find that sending the L+R stereo signals to my sansui QRX9001 and then decoded on the QS setting creates a wonderful soundfield for movies, frequently better then the discrete 5.1 mix. Background noises are sent to the rear speakers and its all good. God bless the variomatrix and its inventor!

 

[denmother]

i have an technics sa8000x and watching dvds throu it its great,have a seperate akia surround sound amp also running a seperate sub,the thing that people dont get is u dont need alot of bass just enought to sound full