Hi Wayne

Re your question of whether I had tried any of the Beethoven symphonies in stereo vs. surround, I hadn't. For the heck of it, I just listened to part of the 7th, switching back and forth between stereo direct and Dolby surround. For me the biggest different was the sense of grandeur, of being AT the concert when switching to surround. I guess I'd say that about the effect of 2 channel vs. surround for me in general. Surround just seems to bring me more TO the event, rather than a sense of listening to a recording. Though I have to say the T1's playing Beethoven in stereo was a LOT more immersive, bigger sound stage than I would have guessed. Pretty darn impressive! I just like the added depth and sense of "being there" grandeur when switching back to surround. (It also doesn't hurt that the supporting cast of speakers in surround is great GEt speakers!)

Happy listening!

Rick

WayneWilmeth wrote: I find the T Ones LIGHTER, a bit BRIGHTER sounding (more articulate--still highly musical, not analytical, but cleaner and clearer). And going to surround mode, letting the center channel SC X carry some of the front and the T 2s on the surrounds, I definitely get a WARMER (yes, a little fuller as you would expect) sound, a less shiny tone. Piano sounds almost scary in its attack and zing when the Ones are playing alone, similar for the violins/upper strings, flutes, etc. Which is right????? Who knows????? OR it could be a difference in the way my XMC-1 handles direct 2 channel compared with surround decoding. Which is more musical? Well for me, that is a hard one, but I prefer the slightly warmer sound. Which is great, as that is what my surround system gives me.

Wayne,

I notice a more clinical sound as well when the bass gain is turned down too far. Next time you play in POS, try turning your T1 gain knobs up a tad and see what you think.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Blue Guitar Sessions is a great album! The music and sound quality are both tip top! That's a great pick for a demo track when you have company, Wayne.

I'm with you and Art on this one, Wayne. I'm not a fan of artificial surround reproduction but all channel stereo is great for music playback. Playing the left and right channels through each speaker on the appropriate side seems to put you in the middle of the music. While a lot of stereo music can stand on its own through the T1s, all channel stereo does add a lot to the music. Even my Aons round things out well in concert with my T1s. Stereo music through my 2-channel system sounds better through just my T1s than it does through my AVM60, but playing in the all channel playback mode goes a long way towards making up for these deficiencies.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Not sure if this is relevant here, and I may post it elsewhere as well, but Sandy was HUGELY impressed with the Atmos system's playback of stereo music (Dolby Surround in their new vernacular) on our CEDIA trade show 5.1.4 demo system. He felt Dolby's 2ch decode process results for Atmos system playback were phenomenal.

Great discussion, Art, Wayne and T Cobe, on the topic of all channel stereo (my receiver calls it multi channel) vs. 2 channel played as surround vs. 2 channel played as is!

Until I could add height channels in surround, I preferred multi channel over surround, and over 2 channel in most cases. IMHO DOLBY ATMOs surround completely changed the game. It just doesn't sound artificial at all. The placement of sounds is amazing. SOMEBODY who knew what they were doing put a lot of thought into those upgrades!

Whatever the decision on how to play 2 channel music, I think it depends a lot on individual preference. I still play some vocals in 2 channel only because it just plain sounds better. I'm all for experimenting! I think it's great we have so many folks trying so many things. We all learn from that!!!

Happy listening!

Rick

Thanks again, Moderator Dude! Rick and Mr. Gross both seem to agree that the Atmos processing is outstanding for music. I trust both of their opinions implicitly. Unfortunately, I'm not quite there yet. It's probably going to be a while before I am able to implement Atmos. I wish I had a local dealer with an Atmos setup so I could hear the results first hand. Someday...

Cheers,

T Cobe