Quiet surround sound, no sub please

[monoman]

I once owned a home cinema system but unfortunately my problem with it was that the subwoofer 'boom' always imposed too much. That also occurred when trying to play music through the system - on the 'stereo' setting using the front two satellites and the sub for the bass sounds. It sounded foul to the point of being offensive - far too 'boomy'. The 5 speakers and wires was to imposing aswell. So, I got rid of it.

I've heard more recent home cinema systems playing music and they still sound awful. Also, when playing a movie, the sub can still punch too much and is something that would annoy other people in my house. In a larger room they probably sound fine. the room I would use it in is 12x14 feet.

Is there a 2 speaker system or set-up that allows me to watch a film in surround sound that does not mean the whole of my house, and neighbours, have to listen to it too and that if I want to play music it can play through those same two speakers. My dream would be something like the latest Denon home cinema system that used just two speakers - no sub - with the bass coming from the woofers in them for stereo playback or for the bass channels in virtual surround mode. The nearest I can think of is the Teac DRH 300 or an av receiver and two good speakers.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Why bother with virtual surround? Why not just connect the stereo outputs on your DVD player to a conventional stereo amp, and use it with a pair of speakers?

The virtual surround solutions are, at best, a poor attempt at creating the impression of speakers all around you, and you might just be better off sticking to stereo.

 

[John Duncan]

Or a) just not have a sub, and b) set your amp to have limited dynamic range (often called 'late night listening' mode or some such). I too hate that bang-crash sub thing, and have had good results with just stereo fronts and rears, no sub or centre - whether the centre will make a difference will depend on how close the fronts are to the telly and how offset your listening position is.

 

[monoman]

Hi, I do put the audio out from my dvd player into my Denon mini system and listen to the films through the stereo speakers and it is quite good. I have tried putting the signal (via splitter phono cables) into the tv at the same time so I can also get a kind of centre channel (the hi-fi's speakers are two feet either side of the tv) but I get a slight fraction of a second delay on the sound coming through the stereo system. Can't think of a way to cure that?

The other option is possibly to do with away with the hifi and have a Yamaha sound bar to play music through and film surround soundtracks. I could possibly then simply use a dvd player that also plays cd relatively well too? Any solutions?