Sub+Sat v Conventional Speakers

[ROB2009]

Ok then, it's obvious from these forums that there is a difference of opion regarding sub+sat systems against conventional speakers where home cinema is concerned!

I am wondering if the sound difference be explained, I understand the physics of large speakers will / should produce a fuller sound? but also that many argue that sub+sat set up produces a better movie sound

Or is it down to personal preference and space??

Rob

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi Rob

How's the Sony B'ray working out for you?

From what perspective are you asking the question....is it academic or are you plotting something?

Here are some of my thoughts:

If possible I like to get a single speaker to give the bass I'm looking for...but this can be expensive.

Personal taste and genre of music has a big bearing.

Standmounts have a lot of advantages, so adding a sub can work well eg. A Spendor SA1 + a sub sounds superb. Getting the right sub (tight, fast and musical), that is correctly integrated with the speakers and the room, is key. If you can seperately identify the sub, then integration hasn't happened ie Subtlety is the key.

Hope this helps

Cno

 

[ROB2009]

Hi Cno

Purely accademic after reading some of the forums, just a bit of idle curiosity really!

I have just carried out an A to B test between the blu-ray and the Arcam dvd for stereo music using the "direct" function as that's how I prefer to listen to music. Not that much to choose between them but I think the Arcam gives a slightly warmer sound, maybe a bit more depth, but very little to choose.

I also tried listening to music through the full system with "Pro Logic IIx Music Mode" but it almost sounds muffled with less clarity, maybe that's down to not getting the settings correct but will probably stick to pure stereo!

As for movies, there is an improvement in picture quality over the DBP-S350 but not sure how noticable it is, it's not as if the picture was bad before! As for sound, watching a movie with HD Audio is obviously an improvement, more clarity and depth as you'd expect.

Is it worth the cost? It's a lot of money for improvement with movies, probably would have been just as happy keeping the Arcam DV135 for music and buying a cheaper blu-ray with on board decoding. But hey, it's done, and i've got (In my opinion) a mighty fine system, will keep tinkering with settings....as you do!

Rob

 

[CnoEvil]

Rob

The fact that the Sony gets close to the Arcam for 2 channel is great (I wasn't sure it would). You also should never have to upgrade your b'ray player. Sometimes I've found that you have to go "backwards" to realize how far you've gone "forwards" ie. I don't think you would be happy with a cheap b'ray after getting used to the Sony.

FWIW. I think you have a superb system, and the AVR350 is better than most for 2 channel in stereo direct......just don't listen to an AVR600.

Regards

Cno

 

[kinda]

Hello,

Small satellites can't go as low as bigger speakers, and so the sub provides the lower frequencies. Lower frequencies behave differently and below around 80Hz the brain struggles to pinpoint the sound, so there's supposedly no penalty in having the lower frequencies come from one place.

Sub / sats sytems are used to mix the soundtracks, so there is often a feeling that playing back with the same setup will have benefits.

Also, placing speakers producing low frequencies is tricky to get adequate performance, reduce resonance, and get an even response in the room, so being able to place a sub or subs separately to the surround speakers that have to have a particular placement is a benefit.

In practice integrating the sub can be hard, and sometimes the bass does sound separate to the other sounds. It can also be easier for pure stereo play to just be sending the output to two speakers instead of having to feed sub, and there does seem to be a certain quality to bigger speaker sound that is richer somehow.

I think there's room for both though, and both should be able to produce great sound if set up correctly. I love my Arena Sub / sats, but have also heard a system with big KEF speakers, and a MA sub just for the very low frequencies and it also sounded great.