Question about all-channel stereo (1 Viewer)

[RobCar]

This is probably a dumb question ... but my receiver, a Yamaha rx-v496, isn't supposed to be a surround receiver. Nowhere in the manual does it say that music (from CDs) will go through all speakers. And yet, when I finally hooked up my new mains and moved the others to the back, I found that when I play music and press the "effects" button on the receiver, music goes through all four speakers and sounds pretty good! Am I missing something?

Especially confusing is that the manual, in describing the sound field programs, lists the three for "hi-fi audio sources" (disco, rock concert, and concert hall) and specifically describes the output as 2 channel, yet I'm getting four.

Yamaha rx-v496
Yamaha dvd-s510 (used for dvds and cds)

Thanks!

 

[Jim Williams]

The Yammy Yamaha RX-V496 is in fact an AV receiver.
Here is a review from Home Theater Magazine on that receiver. It states that it does Dolby Digital as well as DTS.

 

[RobCar]

Hi Jim,
Yep, it's definitely an AV receiver, and I expected 5.1 output for movies, but I was told by the salesman a year ago that it wouldn't deliver multichannel output for music CDs, and the manual seems to support that. That's where I'm confused.

R.

 

[Jim Williams]

Well, since it also has Dolby Pro Logic, that would tell me that it will output simulated or matrixed surround to multiple speakers (ie front center rear). I looked at the manual for this unit and although it does not explicitly state that sound will come from all speakers when listening to a CD, it will because of the Dolby Pro Logic.

 

[RobCar]

So what about Dolby Pro Logic enables this feature? (Excuse my ignorance.)

 

[Jim Williams]

I am not passing the buck but this primer can explain Dolby Pro Logic and Pro Logic II far better than I ever can.

 

[TimTurtino]

All channel stereo means exactly that--it takes the stereo signal, and sends it out both the fronts and the surrounds (and mixes both left and right together and sends that out the center channel). In many situations, I prefer that to Dolby Pro Logic II, although a purist would recommend just leaving it in pure stereo mode.

That doesn't mean anything about the actual signal from the CD _being_ 4 channels...

Me