3.1 speaker set-up?

[DjP]

Hi,

I currently have a 5.1 set-up with Q-Acoustics speakers, Denon X2200 receiver and Sony W9 TV. Looks and sounds good, but I'm trying to simplify life by moving to a 3.1 speaker system (ie left, right, centre and sub), doing away with the rears. The questions I'm juggling with are:

- does this config make any sense? I understand I will lose the sound that is planned from the rears, but that seems mangeable loss.

- will the amp compensate and play 3.1 from a 5.1 source or will it sound rubbish?

- will stereo (or 2.1) make more sense? I'm keen on keeping the centre channel to promote clear speech

- what speakers would work well for this? I'm open to floor standers or something that will sit on the TV stand. I'm assuming I will need something with a bit of oomph (technical term) if they're doing all the work.

Thanks for the advice on this!

DjP

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

1. Yes. If you don't want 5.1 don't use it.

2. Depends on your receiver, but probably yes.

3. Keep the centre if you can. Playing TV over "proper stereo" always feels like there's a gap in the middle of the sound field in my experience.

4. That is the sixty-four thousand Dollar question. Depends on your budget, your musical preferences, your receiver, what you had for breakfast, which way the wind is blowing.... All I can say is don't over-compensate with really expensive speakers if you're just using an AV receiver to drive them. A lot of people like Monitor Audio Bronzes for AV work, and there are both floor-standers and stand-mounters to choose from, with a matching centre speaker, at quite reasonable prices.

 

[Samd]

...just turn off your Denon, disconnect surround speakers and re-run Audyysey. You might not need to spend a penny (!)