Which "mode" to listen in for movies? (1 Viewer)

[Gregory_S]

Hello,
A stupid question...
I recently purchased a Pioneer VSX-1015-TK and am new to listening in "surround". (Previously listened in stereo) I have been looking through the Pioneer manual and am a little confused on which "mode" to listen in. There are settings for DTS, THX, Pro-Logic II, etc. and most DVD's show all the logos on the back. I suppose it is a personal preference to a degree, but I was wondering if there is a common setting. I don't have a sub yet, but have Klipsch reference front/rear/center. When I listen to music (in stereo) the bass response is good (for no sub), but on a movie it lacks even with the setting to "no sub". Any suggestions???
Thanks
Greg

 

[Paul Padilla]

Most movies have Dolby Digital tracks at minimum and will default to that track and you can't really go wrong there. Not having a sub you should set the speaker size setting to large all the way around to prevent the LFE track from beeing rolled off. With speaker size set to small, all of the frequencies below a certain setting (typically 80Hz) are redirected to the sub channel...no sub...no lows. You'll get better frequency coverage with the large setting but there is no substitute for a true sub.

Personally, if there is a DTS track, I'll choose that one. They tend to sound more vibrant IMO.

For your music listening, if you're talking about standard CDs, DD and DTS aren't an option anyway. PLII is nice. Purists will force standard stereo. If your receiver has a "5 or 7 channel stereo" mode, it can give it a nice, full feeling but I find you lose a lot of separation. Good for parties, though.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the never ending tweakability of surround sound.

 

[Charlie Campisi]

You want to set your receiver to auto detect, then use your dvd player to select which audio track to listen to, usually Dolby Digital or DTS if available. If you have a stereo source from you cable/sat box, or from DVD, the receiver will likely default to Pro Logic II or DTS Neo and "matrix" or create a rear sound field. If you don't like what the receiver chooses on auto detect, you can override it with your remote.

 

[Gregory_S]

Thanks guys...there is too much info in that manual to absorb! I think I'll take a week or two off work to read it! Greg

 

[John Garcia]

For bass response, you pretty much need a sub. Few main speakers are designed to handle the lowest bass notes and those take a lot of power, which is best handled by an active (powered) sub.

Despite having all those "modes" or DSPs, I leave my receiver on Auto all the time and rarely, if ever, use DSPs to modify the sound. Only on the odd stereo or mono DVD do I even bother to try some of the DSPs and sometimes to see if any sound good enough to use.

 

[JeffLab]

I too have the pioneer 1015, and all those other listening modes you are talking about are so called "enhanced" surround modes. They are essentially EQ presets for various multichannel sources, and will affect how the source sounds. Each setting might play with the highs, the lows, the mids, etc. Experiment with them, you might like them, you might not. Generally, I don't use them, but in certain conditions you might want to.