Which surround decoder has the most ambience?

[Bodyblue]

OK maybe I am dense or slow or both, but I am not quite sure what the OP is asking. Does he want to listen to two channel stereo in surround sound for more ambience?

 

[hnash53]

Ambiance of the Hafler/Quadaptor system is an effort to create the ambiance of a concert hall. Ambient sounds from the audience and from the reflection of sound off of the side and rear walls of the concert hall is what the Hafler circuit produces. Many times one cannot "hear" the sounds from the rear speakers in the Hafler circuit. But turn off the rear speakers and all of a sudden, the ambient concert hall effect disappears and the sound is not nearly as full or present in just pure 2-channel (front) listening.

Of course, this is just my experience with the Hafler circuit.

 

[sKiZo]

I mean, which set of rear speakers driven by which Quadaptor output? Are the Bose 161s overhead driven by the Quadaptor's front outputs, while the Gekko flat panels behind driven by the Quadaptor's rear outputs? Or the other way around?

Front outputs are hooked up to the flat panels directly to the side of the big comfy chair, and the rear drive the 161's overhead with more bias to the rears to account for the distance. Tried them both ways and the current setup gives me better results.

The 201's are around 10 feet back mounted mid wall and I use the 9001's front/rear fader and volume to balance those to fill in the depth. I can get away with that because, as mentioned earlier, the 9001 is more or less just used as a pre for the front channels, driving an external tube amp with it's own controls.

Many times one cannot "hear" the sounds from the rear speakers in the Hafler circuit. But turn off the rear speakers and all of a sudden, the ambient concert hall effect disappears and the sound is not nearly as full or present in just pure 2-channel (front) listening.

Yup - same thing with any post processor. I go for minimum settings all around to achieve the effect I want. Moderation and all that. Over time, the brain gets used to what you're hearing, and you can sometimes fool yourself into thinking there's nothing happening - until you hit the bypass button and the music goes flat. ;-}

PS - gotta remember that Bose also has a tendency to play around a LOT with reflections and dispersion. Mounting the 161's bass ackwards from factory recommendation actually improves the mix in my setup - go figure. The 201's also have angled drivers firing to the sides and rear of the room, and proper attention to detail when mounting them up can make a world of difference in what you hear.

(I won't even get started on what all the Carver holography does to the blend.) <G>