Front Effects?? Are they necessary?

What are "front effects"? I suspect it's something coined by the manufacturer of your friend's receiver, since it's not a term used by either Dolby or DTS.

His claim sounds like nonsense.

M.

 

The only receiver that I know of that uses front effects is the Yamaha RX-Z1. However, I've yet to actually see one and see what the deal is with these front effects channels. To me it seems like a gimmick and the idea of setting up nine speakers (7.1 + 2 effects) doesn't really appeal to me.

- Mike

 

Front effect speakers are found on upper end Yamaha receivers/processors. They are placed in the upper front corners of the room above the mains Some swear by them others don't use them. I used them during my Yamaha period. They created a larger frontal image area that was enjoyable with certain movies.

FF

 

I had the DSP-A1000 (I think i got the model number correct). It was awsome for music, but didn't do much for movies except for concert videos. All I miss now is what it did for concert videos.

 

Yamaha has had the front effects speakers since the first consumer DSP product the DSP-1 (just an add on processor) was brought out several years ago. I can't remember the gentlemen's name (I think it was Bill Sommerweck-not sure of spelling), but he was a big proponent of DPS modeling in Stereophile. I had the DSP-1 (it was noisey) and then the JVC 1010 digital processor that also had front effects speakers. I have also had the DSP1A and still feel the JVC was way ahead of its time. It was stolen from me, but it was a great piece of equipment. All the later JVC DSP 5 speaker processing sucked in my opinion. Later, Lexicon developed the additional channels being on the side and rear rather than the rear and front like Yamaha and the JVC.

 

imo,front effect channels are bs, Yamaha are the only people I know who use them.. and again, imo anyone with Bose shouldn't be snubbing anyone.. I would love to tear into him

 

Gimick. I've heard it. Interesting, but not exactly beneficial, IMO. Not to mention this is a DSP, there are no soundtracks with actual "front effects" tracks recorded...

 

All a matter of taste. I mean I like electrical instruments and distorted guitars etc. To be a true purist to the nth degree, you might just want to listen to live accoustical instruments with no micropohones.

 

John:

 

Yes and no. While it is processing, it is also mastered that way with some material, unlike the entirely artificially extracted front effects with Yamaha.

If you are talking about matrix, CS5.1, Logic7, or some other upconvert mode, then yes, they are basically processing, not reproducing specifically recorded (flagged) tracks.

*edit - clarify

 

Would DP2 be considered just a recreation of the original recording?

 

I consider DPL-II to be an upconvert processing feature also, particularly when using it with stereo or other non-Dolby mastered material (to simulate the other channels)

I'm not saying DSP is garbage, but I personally don't like the way most of them sound, especially for music. Circle Surround sounds better than DPL-II to me, but DPL-II is definitely better than DPL for movies.

 

I also thought the idea of front effects was hokey - until I tried them. The front effects + Yamaha DSP's made a huge fan out of me, to the point where I won't use another processor or receiver (if I can help it).

To each his own.

Rich B.

 

I have yet to hear DP2 or Circle surround. I can understand why people may or may not like Yamaha DSP modes. I found myself listening mainly to the Jazz venue, but not liking stadium. Heck, I don't like listening to a concert at a stadium so a re-creation was not my cup of tea. I will say that I don't like 5 channel DSP (or at least what I heard) even on the Yamaha. I much preferred the sound with the front effects channel, but again to each his own.

 

I've got a Yamaha 2095 which does this as well. Decent effect; I'm probably going to upgrade and we'll see if I can live without it.. I think it definitely does add something, but I don't really use it much in movie mode, though I think some of the CD's really benefit from it. YMMV.

 

I seem to remember reading in Widescreen Review about using DSP to extract the extra 2 front channels from some films that were shot in 70mm. SDDS also incorporates 2 extra front channels- could this be what the Yamaha processing does- extracting these channels that already exist in the recordings? At least to some extent?

Andrew B.

 

Hmmmmm...hadn't thought about SDDS. It could be the same, as I believe (not 100% sure) both use SRS's "decoding" to perform this extraction. SDDS in certain theaters sounds quite good, far better than the effect that I heard in a friend's house with a Yamaha receiver.