Down mixing stereo to mono

[Multicore]

Out of all my options this is probably my best. I just need to try it and see how it sounds moving around the room.

You can try different angles too, relative to each other and the room. Much fun to be had.

 

[Andysu]

most avr's avp to day can't do ( academy mono 01 ) when needed for special movie presentation in mono , DOLBY STEREO® CP200 , i have format 01 dialled in ready for show , be surprised if hear a mono mix here it often even makes Dolby atmos shameless with amount of bass on centre stage , or i can do a mono five screen spread , Dolby atmos hasn't been played in many months now due to its fake 3d sound is really a huge 15 year disappointment

 

[dweeeeb2]

@Andysu I’m not up with all the various formats. Is true mono actually included on dvd/bluray? Is format01 a standard or your concoction? And lastly do you use mono very often?

 

[Andysu]

@Andysu I’m not up with all the various formats. Is true mono actually included on dvd/bluray? Is format01 a standard or your concoction? And lastly do you use mono very often?

used mono several months ago , pink panther revenge , the mono bass on centre stage was felt ! !

 

[Pauli]

most avr's avp to day can't do [...]

That seems to be true. I was pretty surprised recently to find out that my Denon AVR-X3100W offers the choice between stereo and mono when setting up a »ZONE 2«.

 

[Matt_Holland]

I believe @amirm listens to the Left channel only for the subjective assessment in his speaker reviews. The missing Right channel information felt to be a lesser compromise compared to the inconsistency of results when mono-summing. I believe this works well because two critical elements for judging speaker tonality, bass and voices are almost always mixed as mono and are therefore present on one channel only with the correct tonal balance.

 

[Matt_Holland]

I don’t have a MLP, in general I move about listening to music. I’m thinking that mono could be an advantage here. Down mixing is proving a bit more complicated than what I first thought, primarily cancellation issues from phase differences between channels.
Does anyone here down mix? How do you do it? Any software suggestions?

Could you describe your room setup and what speakers you have?

Maybe a change of setup or speaker model can improve your experience.

 

[Andysu]

That seems to be true. I was pretty surprised recently to find out that my Denon AVR-X3100W offers the choice between stereo and mono when setting up a »ZONE 2«.

i may have a RTA frequency curve of academy mono , around somewhere ? usual mono will have same frequency curve as stereo or Dolby atmos , manufactures have thrown these sound formats away , but why ?

 

[Andysu]

can't find it , its under a certain keyword search

ran this few months ago , mono mix most all the police academy mono mixes , one of the last ones i think number 7 , Dolby stereo matrix

 

[Andysu]

coma 1978 , mono mix and rather decent , when in the mood for this ? it may get played 3 times in one evening , i don't use the Dolby CP500 anymore since i have Dolby Stereo CP200 and do i even rarely use the , trinnov alt 32 mono , usually the sound goes though 8ch input , also have coma w/s available on laserdisc , the mix is identical

 

[Andysu]

reason for getting police academy mono was " mostly dancing " for dancing at the blue oyster bar , wow what a mono experience

 

[Andysu]

the man with the golden gun , sounds way better than the dvd 5.1 clean up where all the raw sound of the magnetic soundtrack is filtered cleaned up its meh 5.1 okay but the laserdisc retains all the meat and potatoes with the flavour and when aligned for play can feel like a mild earthquake tremor when , golden gun guy shoots a japanese guy falls on the floor in a room with a concrete floor , and also has reel change over dots which is rare to find

additional when switching a Dolby Stereo movie to mono the mono-matrix-surround is not folded down it's left-out but it's easy to get it blended in

 

[Andysu]

Dolby CP500 ( format 01 mono )
external ( format 11 ) being used this is years ago and i can't recall what testing i was doing

 

[TheKoC]

I have my system set up in a combined living room / dining area, and it still sounds good when i am sitting to the left of the main listening area.
My simple advise would be to optimize the sound for classic stereo triangle, and not worry too much about what happens when you sit way of center
Maybe try different amounts of generous toe-in (from parallel to the wall to crossing in front) and see what you like the most. I would never consider mono listening, for me it sucks the life out of music.

 

[Andysu]

airport '75 '77 '79 mono mixes sound decent

 

[dweeeeb2]

Could you describe your room setup and what speakers you have?

Maybe a change of setup or speaker model can improve your experience.

Thanks Matt, I’m playing / experimenting more than anything else. With a wife and kids in a smallish house I’m quite limited in options. I’ve spent a lot of time getting the best stereo presentation I can and I’m quite happy with my 2.1 minidsp setup. Reality is though I listen way off axis much much more than from a MLP. I have found that I like the field generated from a single source better. But downmixed stereo is too inconsistent. So currently I have L upside down on top of R. I just haven’t had a chance to position it etc, listen to it yet - shift work, kids on holidays,…life

 

[TheKoC]

Do you have a MiniDSP with a Dirac License? Then you could do 2 or 3 presets with measurements/time delays from different listening positions

 

[dweeeeb2]

Do you have a MiniDSP with a Dirac License? Then you could do 2 or 3 presets with measurements/time delays from different listening positions

That works to a degree if stationary in a “new MLP”, but if moving around the timing becomes incorrect, and having speakers separated on the horizontal plane means comb filtering as you move around.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Thanks Matt, I’m playing / experimenting more than anything else. With a wife and kids in a smallish house I’m quite limited in options. I’ve spent a lot of time getting the best stereo presentation I can and I’m quite happy with my 2.1 minidsp setup. Reality is though I listen way off axis much much more than from a MLP. I have found that I like the field generated from a single source better. But downmixed stereo is too inconsistent. So currently I have L upside down on top of R. I just haven’t had a chance to position it etc, listen to it yet - shift work, kids on holidays,…life

That’s a pretty neat idea. You could also try them at different angles to give a wider horizontal spread. Only issue might be narrowing of vertical dispersion and/or phase cancellation due to spacing of tweeters and mids.

 

[Apesbrain]

Any software suggestions?

I use foobar2000 with "Downmix channels to mono" DSP component.