Five-Channel Stereo

[gillies]

I currently have a Yamaha HTR540 which has an option called Five-Channel Stereo. I figure the true audiophiles on this board might not think much of this option, but I must confess that I love it. It plays stereo music through all the channels of my 5.1 system and, to me, it sounds great.

Question: I'm saving for the purchase of a Marantz SR6003 and was wondering if anyone here was familair with that receiver and whether it has an option to run music through five channels like my Yamaha?

Thanks.

[Scooby Blu]

Originally Posted by gillies

I currently have a Yamaha HTR540 which has an option called Five-Channel Stereo. I figure the true audiophiles on this board might not think much of this option, but I must confess that I love it. It plays stereo music through all the channels of my 5.1 system and, to me, it sounds great.

Question: I'm saving for the purchase of a Marantz SR6003 and was wondering if anyone here was familair with that receiver and whether it has an option to run music through five channels like my Yamaha?

Thanks.

Yes, I must admit I like the 5 channel stereo option as well. It does sound nice. However, for true audiophiles they will balk at such a statement. I run two channel and 5 channel depending upon what mood I'm in ! Bot have their place !

[Gremal]

It serves its purpose. I use it when watching TV to avoid running my tube amp. But I would never use it for Blu-ray.

By the way, my preamp delivers 7-channel all-stereo since it's a 7.1 processor.

[BIslander]

5 channel stereo duplicates L/R to the center and surrounds, including voices, primary instruments, and such. I personally don't like hearing dialog or the lead guitar at full volume in the surround channels. That mode seems fine for parties, but not much else (to me, of course).

Have you tried ProLogicII instead? Dialog gets anchored in the center channel and the surrounds give good envelopment without being distracting. PLII Music mode creates a wider front stage than Cinema, if that suits your personal taste. (It does for me, even with stereo movies and TV shows). There are also Panaorama controls that allow you to widen/deepen the sound fields.

[kingofgrills]

Pretty much any receiver these days will have a 5 channel stereo option. While I wouldn't recommend it for critical music listening or movie viewing, it works well for ambient background music for parties.

[Scooby Blu]

Originally Posted by kingofgrills

Pretty much any receiver these days will have a 5 channel stereo option. While I wouldn't recommend it for critical music listening or movie viewing, it works well for ambient background music for parties.

Or for those "happy" days when you are cleaning the house !

[kingofgrills]

Originally Posted by Scooby Blu

Or for those "happy" days when you are cleaning the house !

True. I do use it for that too. I'll be doing a bit of that this weekend.

[gillies]

Originally Posted by Scooby Blu

Or for those "happy" days when you are cleaning the house !

Now you get me.

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by Scooby Blu

Yes, I must admit I like the 5 channel stereo option as well. It does sound nice. However, for true audiophiles they will balk at such a statement. I run two channel and 5 channel depending upon what mood I'm in ! Bot have their place !

All channel stereo is good for when I'm listening to music while I'm on the forums. I generally prefer stereo only when I'm actually in the room though. It is pretty cool listening to music through all of the speakers sometimes though.

[Scooby Blu]

Originally Posted by gillies

Now you get me.

Bottom line sound is subjective so what sounds good to you is the final straw. I doubt as I one day lie on my death bed that I will think " I really should have listened to music the way others do and ingnore my own ears, mood, and so forth." Our hobby bottom line is about escape and quality of that escape wether it be blu ray's SACDs or CD's. I always want to have fun ! Because I know one day it will be over !