Anyone ditched surround sound for higher quality stereo?

[admin_exported]

I am looking to sell my centre and rear speakers along with my surround amp as I feel it is just not cutting it as a stereo amp. I will be going for a Cyrus 6XPd so that as well as my CD player (as a transport) I can also run my Sky+ HD and DVD player through the DAC.

I don't have a family that will allow two pairs of front speakers and two amps so something has to go.

Have you done the same? What was your experience in not only the improved CD playback but what about watching DVDs although in stereo through a higher quality amp?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

 

[DavidNorway]

I never had a surround sound system so i cant compare but i run my tv hd box through my normal stereo amp with just 2 speakers,i think it sound great,music is more my thing which why i set it up like this,one of the speakers stands as close as possible to the tv to get a more realistic sound.

 

[RobGardner]

Yes, I use a Denon DVD2500t through the media box of my Pioneer plasma driving a Cyrus DAC XP/Monos into a pair of Wilson Benesch Curves. I've got to say it does sound fantastic (I can't afford not to!) I think its a better compromise for me to use a stereo for av rather than the other way around. You will never get the immersive feeling of a great av system, but then you won't get the quality of sound using an av system for high end music unless you spend significantly more than I can afford, and I have spent a lot. I also don't have the room for more speakers of a similar quality.

My surround system in the lounge consist of much smaller high end M&K speakers and an Onkyo905. It is exciting with movies and there is plenty of ambience and atmosphere, but it's pretty dreadful with music, even using my Cyrus XTse cd player as a source. I do watch most movies through the Pioneer because it's a much bigger TV, a better source, and the visual impact is greater than using the smaller 26" LCD with the av system in the lounge. I also frequently struggle to clearly hear the dialogue using the av system, something which is most unusual using the stereo.

The good point about having the two systems is I don't have to watch Coronation Street with the rpesent Mrs Gardner

 

[Sorreltiger]

A number of us have felt the same dissatisfaction, but ADDED a stereo amp! This is hooked up via the AV amp's pre-outs. It drives the front two speakers for movies.

The CD is connected directly to the stereo amp and produces much better results for music. Perhaps you've thought about (and ruled out) this arrangement? It does allow for the best of both worlds!

 

[Anonymous]

Sorreltiger - we have similar systems (including plasma which you helped me decide on a few years back) and I have thought about adding in a stereo amp but this would create such confusion in the family that I think it would be unworkable. I do like your thinking though.

I am wondering though it I might prefer my Sky+ HD in super high quality stereo or good quality surround. Why can't Cyrus make a surround processor (oh, yes they did, so why did it disappear?)

 

[Messiah]

groberton:

Why can't Cyrus make a surround processor (oh, yes they did, so why did it disappear?)

The problem was pretty buggy and was outdated by the time it was out.

Saying that it sounded good.

I ditched my Cyrus Stereo/Surround setup for some AVI ADM 9.1s and I have not looked back. They sound superb and I still really enjoy movies in 2.1. Much more living room friendly.

 

[Sorreltiger]

The extra amp hasn't really made things difficult for the rest of the family. It does need switching on and setting to the correct volume, but after that the Harmony One does all the hard work when you change inputs. I only recently showed the kids how to do it for when I'm still in bed or out. Until then, they were watching TV or playing on the X Box without the amp on at all. I discovered that most of the sound comes through the centre speaker, so it didn't matter very much to them for casual use!

 

[shafesk]

I had a surround amp by Yamaha costing 1000 pounds...when I listened to a 340a by ca...I immediately ditched it. It just made music sound so much better even at 1/5 the price....even movies sound amazing...i dont particularly miss surround sound since the sound staging is engaging enough at the front. It just seems like hi-fi amps have the ability to go from soft to loud in a milli second (in my experience my av amp didnt do this as well). I would highly recommend it provided u prioritise music listening over cinema. If you dont, then you should try and get a demo of a movie on a hifi...see how it sounds to you.

 

[Dave_]

Buy a stereo amp with HT bypass/unity gain functions and theres no need to mess about with volume levels etc, and use a Harmony remote like sorreltiger suggests for handling switching to the correct inputs...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi groberton,

I certainly have gone from a surround sound set-up and gone to a simpler 2-channel set-up.

I spent tens of thousands of dollars improving my surround sound set-up to make it sound awesome for movies AND for 2-channel Music and while I got it to be very good for movies and pretty good for 2-channel Music, 2-channel playback was still not good enough for me so I sold my surround loudspeakers, NAD M25 7-channel Power Amplifier, Marantz AV8003 Surround Processor/Pre-amplifier, and bought what I have got now in my signature below.

2-channel Music playback has dramatically improved, despite a massive loss in terms of power out-put. Playing movies through my Mordaunt-Short Performance 6 loudspeakers and B&W PV1 sub-woofer is actually very good. I am gaining better clarity for dialogue and generally better clarity; just not the massive scale I was getting before, and certainly missing surround detail but overall, I am happy.

It really depends on how much you listen to Music and how much you watch movies. I listen to Music much more than I watch movies (although I love watching good movies!).

If I had a very large room and well-tuned as a Home Theatre room, I would have been very happy with a surround sound set-up but there are too many compromises with my lounge-room for surround speakers, etc.

Dan.

 

[Gusboll]

I ditched my Arcam AVR, went all Cyrus and immediately added the AV Master - sorted. They pop up second-hand now and again.

 

[DavieCee]

In an ideal world I would have the best of both by using a proper HiFi A/V amp (or HiFi amp & A/V processor) and proper main speakers in a full set up but as we know this is not an ideal world. At home I have a small surround system using the Arcam Xeta1 and Tannoy 5.1s. The amp is too good for the speakers but they are all I am "allowed" size-wise. Don't laugh, lots of you will know the situation well

. However as I work away from home, my digs are my domain and that is where the Roksan HiFi resides. There is not enough room for a proper surround set up so it is purely stereo.

To answer your question. If I had to choose between the 2 set ups and keep only one it would be the stereo hands down. Surround is all very well and good but in my opinion only an extra. Quality sound out of 2 speakers makes for a more enjoyable experience.

 

[eternaloptimist]

Hi OP,

My PreXpd has a "pass through" feature so that if in the future you have a receiver with front speaker line out, you can feed this into the amp and volume control is handled by the receiver. So... you then just add centre and rear speakers for movies and use the Cyrus amp for fronts! I plan to set this up in the near future, myself.

Not sure if the 6XPd has this "pass through feature". Might be worth downloading the 6XPd manual from the Cyrus website (is free, just have to register) to check it out.

Cheers,

D

 

[Anonymous]

I have just done exactly that and wish I'd done it sooner...

 

[DFW]

While I haven't yet ditched Surround sound, I recently purchased a Marantz PM7002 KI sig that blows my Yamaha 1800 out of the water in two channel and so has meant that the yamaha is now only used for Movie and blu-ray watching, whereas now I do my every day listening through the Marantz and am listening to a lot more radio and Music as a consequence. I will soon be buying a separate DAC so that I can run my music library from my computer rather than through the i-pod as I do at the moment.

While I don't see myself ditching surround (I have about 600 DVD's and Blu-rays), I do know now I can live without it and will very well go with the 2 sytem route in the future when funds allow and am at present scouring the 2nd hand shops and classifieds for a turntable to further move me down the road to 2 channel nirvana ( then I'll need another room to store the vinyl!)

 

[crusaderlord]

My surround system is a simple SONY one box system DAV-S550 which is a few years old now.

When i got into HiFi upgrading for my 2 channel (in a separate room) i was all into upgrading my surround into separate amps and new speakers as well - but once my 2 channel was good i realised i hardly watched tv any more and the desire to change the system just went away - i prefered to invest in the 2 channel when i can instead.

In a medium sized living room, with neighbours to be aware of my one box seems to do enough of a job to keep me happy. It only cost me £100 new when i got it and has at least been great value for money.

I remain to be convinced by the merits of the more expensive surround sound systems in a living room.

 

[drummerman]

crusaderlord:

... I remain to be convinced by the merits of the more expensive surround sound systems in a living room.

Agree, certainly with conventional tv's in a domestic environment. In a dedicated cinema room with a projector I 'd feel different.

 

[Anonymous]

I have my system set up as such, surround set up as standard, hi fi, cd player to stereo amp which in turn is wired to the front surround speakers, which are b&w 685s, the two amps are never on at the same time, works for me.

 

[shado]

To be honest in my small living room I have been impressed with a Yamaha YSP-30D Soundbar and the accompaning Yamaha Subwoofer hidden under a coffee table which for me is good enough for the surround effect. This has allowed me to invest in a Cyrus/Sonos system linked to slim floorstanders KEF iQ-50 which will soon be graced by a Cyrus Power Amp, where my current expenditure is one third on all of my AV system and two thirds on Hifi.

My main priority is hifi/wifi comparison and will in due course add an active system like the AVI to another room because I am fascinated and enjoy different media. Sometimes it is nice to enjoy a blast out in the Garden with the S5, nostalgia in the bedroom with a Sonos/Wharfedale Diamond combination. I am not tied to any one system and this has injected a lot of fun and interest into this hobby.

 

[Anonymous]

Gusboll:I ditched my Arcam AVR, went all Cyrus and immediately added the AV Master - sorted. They pop up second-hand now and again.

I was about to buy an ARCAM surround amp and decided to buy an AV Master 8.0 which, sadly, have gone out of production. Later I've added dedicated stereo pre-amp. I press one button on remote to switch between stereo and surround sound - it's so simple my wife can use it and the sound is fantastic in both stereo (mainly CD) or surround sound (mainly from my freesat box but also DVD, blu-ray and PS3 games)

 

[Andrew Everard]

angelface59:it's so simple my wife can use it

Good lord! Before you know it they'll be driving cars! Careful...

 

[a91gti]

I'm fortunate that I have a huge crt tv with built in sub and remote surround speakers.
This keeps me satisfied with movies and games while enabling me to keep the stereo pure.
I used to just hook the freeview/dvd up to the stereo amp and never had any reason to complain.

 

[Richard Allen]

In my experience, more people are going to sterio than surround sound.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, i have done the same thing except i bought a cyrus XPd QX due to its upgraded DAC, i had a Arcam ATC / Kef Reference 5.1 set up and was considering upgrading the speakers... to cut a long story short... after 3 seperate auditions i decided to sell everything apart from my ATC speakers.... i am so glad i did.... i run a Sonos system and the QX part of the DAC made a good deal of difference to the sound quality.... to be fair my decision was made after the first audition but the biggest surprise to me out of the whole episode is that when watching DVD & BluRays and TV the audio side was much much nicer than i expected, particularly on dialogue which to me is the bulk of the experience anyway, if you have a decent set of HI Fi speakers im pretty sure you will get most of the background sounds that are important, of course you miss out on the wrap around sound and ground shaking bass youd get from a sub but i prefered it.

Go for a demo of some 2 channel equipment, plug into a TV/DVD & CD and let your ears decide,

My only regret in this whole experience was buying the 8XPd QX, its a great amp but its made enjoy my music collection again which then made me think id bought a higher grade DAC.

pop over to cyrusunofficial forum for more information on the Cyrus DACs

hth

 

[IJ]

I have a hifi and surround system side by side. It's a wire nightmare. I very rarely watch DVD's or Bluerays to justify all the wire and extra 2 front speakers.

The surround is a Denon 1910, blueray, 2 HD TV boxes(no choice where i live if you want to watch certain sports) The Plasma is an older Pioneer with a seperate control box, which only has a single HDMI plug. The blueray and HD TV boxes connect into the Denon with HDMI leads

I dont think the Denon has pre-outs that would allow me to use just 1 set of front speakers.

For the hifi i have a Parasound P3 pre-amp

If i want to ditch the surround, is it possible to connect all that up through the Parasound pre-amp and how to do it?