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Home Theater Speakers used for IPOD listening

#1
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11/23/09 at 5:50am
  • Joined: November 2009
  • Post Count: 2
HI All:  I purchased an Energy 5.1 package about 8 years ago.  This package along with a Marantz A/V reciever, cost about $2,500 back then.  It has always sounded very good with any 5.1 audio source.

I have never been able to get remotely good sound when using them for music.  The best I can do is put the reciever in anolog, and us the front surronds and the sub, and the sound is marginal at best (the source is stereo).  Any other setting (like Pro Logic) produces terrible audio.  Is this just a fact of 5.1 packaged speakers?  I cannot understand how such a crisp powerfull sound is anything but with a stereo source.

I also have a dedicated stereo set up (seperate amp and a pair of B&W floor speakers.  Any ideas if I should use the B&W's as my front surrounds in place of the two Energy speakers?  Would this improve the 5.1 sound or throw off the balance of the entire set?

Thanks,

LarryRUp

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#2
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11/23/09 at 10:04am
  • Joined: August 2000
  • Location: Southaven, MS
  • Post Count: 4,933
Your title is the answer.  The IPOD is the issue.  What bit rate is your music in?  The best would be AAC lossless format since it would sound exactly like a CD.  The lower the bit rate, the worse it sounds.  I had a friend with the same issue when he bought a portable DJ rig.  Not being computer literate, I helped him convert his CD's to Windows Media fixed bit rate 320kbps on a laptop instead of an IPOD.  Even with music compressed that much it was like night and day.  My entire CD collection is in WMA 320 but I only use that in my cars.  Critical listening on the big system in the theater room is either lossless or the original CD.  I have never purchased any compressed digital music.  I have only downloaded music that was CD or better quality like when Nine Inch Nails gave away one of their more recent CD's at 48k sample rate.
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