5.1 system and a different 2 channel system, same room?

[KingRT10]

Does anyone run 2 systems out of their Home Theater room?
I am running out of space.
My 5.1 is perfectly timber matched. I was thinking of adding a second 2 channel system and a pair of speakers.

[Mike]

Best way is to integrate the 2 channel into the HT system. If your two channel preamp has a HT bypass....it makes life a lot easier.

[KingRT10]

Good point.

[Shadowfax]

I have mine integrated in same room. I do not have Theater Bypass on my old VAC Pre so I have to set the volume to about 1 o'clock for matching and then the HT controls it all from there. I swap out my mains every once in a while and can have a full Dynaudio Audience setup when the 82s are in as mains. Otherwise the fronts are my Clearfields and I re-run the setup on the Integra when I swap fronts.

Since I sometimes will flip on the sub when listening to 2ch with the Clearfields, I have utilized an older Realistic A/V Control box to allow me to use the sub it HT or 2CH with the flip of a switch. A little Low End but I am not overly critical of the HT setup, it's just fun to have.

If movies are just Drama, Comedy or no real action, I have no problem watching them on a 2.0 system in another room.

[asindc]

I have both in the same room. The Cary SLP-05 has a great cinema bypass function as it works when the unit is turned off. Saves on tubes and energy, and I don't have to worry about whether the 05 is having any effect on the HT sound, good or bad.

[Lefisc]

I wanted to weigh in on this but I fear that my answer will be too long. But let me give it a shot.

In reality, we are asking two separate questions. First, is can I convert my two channel system effectively into a five channel surround sound home theater? The second issue is starting from scratch how can I create a great two channel system and also have a five channel system.

I have done both and have reach conclusions based on not great intelligence but on trial and error. Mostly error. Using your original equipment and combining that to create a second system can give you very good results. However I have found myself that the best results came from starting from scratch. Well almost scratch.

Of course, on this site so m any of us have great systems. Great being defined as systems we love sop it's hard to suggest changes to set ups we have not heard.

Speakers: you need to choose the best sounding, most musical left and right speakers for the system. Forget about THX speakers in my opinion. Notice how few speakers now today come with that designation. People never will complain that your left and right speakers are two musical or two detailed. Also THX will come out of your surround sound system if that is what you want. Further, blue Ray has changed the importance THX, with DTS master audio.
Your middle speaker, your center channel, should match the sound and timber of your left and right as much is possible for the best movie sound. This is easy to do when your first putting together a system but harder to do with an established one. Also the middle amplification should match that of your left and right. Of course this is a much more challenging task for an established system.

Placement: again, my opinion: the center channel should be the only thing in between your left and right speakers. Too many times I have seen a huge amount of equipment and between them. Mostly though in home theater, I have seen TVs placed on stands between the two speakers and this affects sound very much. You want to have the TV behind the speakers perhaps mounted on a wall. Also, since home theater adds a lot of equipment to your room, I really feel that most of it should be placed as far away from the front left and right speakers as possible.

Sub-woofers: and getting the most musical left and right speakers I am happy not using the sub woofer for anything musical I only use a subwoofers for home theater. I placed them behind the speakers and against the corners of the left and right walls. I realize that many two channel setups have sub-woofers in them. What I am saying is that for optimum performance for stereo I use the best two channel system I have.

Originally I had a Mark Levinson 32 preamplifier and I use that for all my two channel sound. My surround sound unit went directly to the center and the rear channels but went to the preamp for the left and right. I now have the Krell 707 which actually has a two channel preamp setting. When I removed the Mark Levinson 32 from the system last year I realized I no longer had a two channel system with a surround sound add-on, I really had gone all the way to a multichannel system. For CDs, radio, and phonograph I I only use the two channel sound and the two speakers and I’m very satisfied with it.

For the rears, I have two surround speakers one on the left and one on the right, and one in the middle of the wall behind me. This gives me technically a 6.2 system. Due to the shape of my attic I could not get a 7.2 system. But I find the middle channel, what they call the back channels, a very pleasant addition to the system. As a center channel is to the front the back channels are to the surrounds and it gives a great debt and great impact. To my knowledge, in a 7.1 system the two back channels on the normal anyway.

Thank you for staying awake during this post. I hope it was some help. I really enjoy my system it is, frankly, the best two channels system I have ever had and the best surround I've heard.

[Katoomer]

I have 2 completely seperate systems in one room. The 2 channel has amp, pre, TT, Sonos, and dac thru floor standing speakers. The 5.1 system is AV receiver, blu ray, cable box, and apple tv thru in-wall speakers and recessed sub, and tv. They utilize different power conditioners and are on seperate elec. circuits. The only connection is a pair of ICs from blu ray to 2 channel for watching music DVDs. My previous system was 2 channel with HT bypass and it worked fine but this is far better in my eyes (and ears). In-wall speakers are behind the grill cloth on each side of the tv. They are James Loudspeakers LCR speakers that combine the centre channel with the right and left speakers. I like things clean looking. Did all the cabinet and woodwork myself.

[astrotoy]

I have an integrated 5.1 and 2 channel system. I mostly use the 5.1 configuration for my ripped mch SACD's and mch downloads, fed from my Exasound E28. I also have an Oppo 95 which I use for video at 5.1. The 2 channel system uses the same amps and speakers and subwoofer as the 5.1 system. The center and rear speakers are Avantgarde Solos which match my Avantgarde Duos very well. I showed my consultant, Tim Marutani, my dilemma - I wanted to be able to have a simple switch to go from one to the other from my listening chair (including changing the subwoofer from one to the other) without worrying about channel balances, volume controls, HT bypass - which my audiophile preamps don't have.

Tim researched (as I did) whether there was something commercially available that would solve my problem. There was none that he could find. So he talked to crack engineer Scott Rust about the problem and whether Scott could build a custom switch that would allow the change in system. Scott did it, with only one compromise, the remote is wired, so I have a thin cable running from the switch to my listening chair. Now I can simply go from 2 channel to 5.1 by the flip of a switch.

I also have the pleasure of listening to my SET amp and Duos when playing both stereo albums and files and mch hirez files (or even the occasional opera video.)

Larry

[KingRT10]

I have a top of the line Integra for HT and external amp. Which sounds fine. But in 2 channel it sounds like the weak sister compared to my normal 2 channel system. Very Flat... Its not the speakers.
Not sure why as it received a good write up for 2 channel.
5.1 is 300 watts vs 2 channeMcIntoshsh 500 watts and McIntoshsh pre-amp into SF Elipsa's or McIntosh LS360 speakers. Maybe more watts are needed for the LS360's or they go flat outside of HT.

[JDLaudio]

We'll have to meet up sometime. I live a short distance away in Redington Beach. Do you let the system EQ itself, as in the use of Audessey ?? Try CD direct if available. You also may be use to other systems that are using subwoofers, which sound more dynamic. Some systems limit the frequency response of your L/R speakers, because you have them set at a certain crossover point. They are not suppose to do that in 2-channel. I have 3 Integra recievers, and have similar problems.