On Onkyo NR7100 why is Mono Music 5.1 sounding so good for Bass

[rimmi2002]

Hi,


My 5.1 setup is an Onkyo NR7100 receiver with Ascend Acoustics Sierra-2s (non-EX) for the front three channels and two Rythmik FV18 subs. I usually listen to 2.0 music videos from YouTube in Stereo (2.1), since it sounds the best out of all the “Movie” settings available on the Onkyo.


A few weeks ago, I was messing around with the settings, flipping through the presets to see if anything sounded better. To my surprise, the Mono Music mode—which plays mono in 5.1—sounded awesome. The bass was much tighter and punchier than with any other setting. Any idea why that would be? How does Mono Music 5.1 differ from All-Channel Stereo or the Dolby/DTS upmixing presets, all of which sound worse than 2.1 to me? It also seems like only the Mono Music setting under the Music presets works really well. Mono under the Movie settings uses 2.0 and sounds terrible.

I love the sound, but I’m trying to understand what this mode is doing. Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Tre2023]

 

[rimmi2002]

View attachment 490528

Thanks. when I searched online I found the same info. But given how much better the bass sounds to me it doesn't explain how it can all come from Mono setting only.....unless I guess the DAC sucks on the NR7100 for creating good stereo mix?

 

[DVDdoug]

It's hard to know exactly what these up-mixing and down-mixing modes are doing and different things will happen with different recordings.

If you aren't using bass management sharing the bass equally through all 5 channels would likely improve it. With bass management, all of the bass should be coming out of the mono subwoofer(s) in any case, and I wouldn't expect any difference when set to mono

...Overall on my system, I prefer true surround sound and with regular stereo recording I up-mixing with a "hall" or theater" setting for some delayed reverb in the rear.

I'm using bass management and I haven't noticed a difference in the bass when up-mixing. I don't really know if my AVR has a mono setting and I don't want to listen in mono.

 

[Multicore]

I love the sound

Mono is THE BEST.

But it doesn't seem to have a lot of fans on this forum.

 

[DVDdoug]

Mono is THE BEST.

But it doesn't seem to have a lot of fans on this forum.

It's not just this forum. It's virtually everybody!!!

You won't find much mono in an an audio/video store except for portable Bluetooth speakers. There's no demand. You can buy monoblock amplifiers but they are used in pairs or multiples.

I haven't seen a mono (commercial) recording/release in decades. In the 1960s Phil Spector (music producer) was famously still using mono (because he preferred it) after stereo had taken-over. With movies, even stereo is now rare. They are almost all multi-channel. I've got some DVDs with mono but they are old movies... Some of them in black and white.

I REALLY enjoy surround sound in moves and I have a shelf-full of concert DVDs with surround. I don't feel the desire for more channels but if I had an unlimited budget to build a dedicated home theater and listening room I'd go "full Atmos" with as many channels as possible!

 

[Tre2023]

Thanks. when I searched online I found the same info. But given how much better the bass sounds to me it doesn't explain how it can all come from Mono setting only.....unless I guess the DAC sucks on the NR7100 for creating good stereo mix?

There are many variables here. The Mono Music mode is sending the same signal to each speaker. This alone will improve things a bit over AllCh Stereo mode and it may sound tighter and more punchy.

The Mono mode, not the Mono Music mode, should only ever be used for actual mono 1.0 or really bad 2.0 tracks in movies or TV shows. With the 7100, you can select the Front L and R speakers or the Center Channel speaker to output audio when using the Mono mode.

The Dolby and DTS up mixers will take 2.0 signals and place the vocals in the center channel and output ambient sound from the surround channels. Though, there are exceptions here if using multichannel output signals from a Mac or PC.

Using Dolby Center Spread with Dolby Surround will get the vocals out across the Fronts and Center. DTS has no equivalent setting but Onkyo has its own proprietary VOCAL setting. It can be used when applying Dolby Surround or DTS Neural:X to a 2.0 signal and has varying levels of adjustment. But, the surround channels will still only receive processed ambient signals for output.

With a 5.1 setup, things can get more complicated still when turning on the Speaker Virtualizer in the 7100. This will give you virtual height speakers using the five speakers you have configured and Dolby Atmos metadata can be recognized and processed. The heightened effect will work with Atmos signals and when using the Dolby Surround up mixer for other signals.

 

[LevityProject]

It could just be louder.

But also, Compared to whatever processing is used for all channel stereo or multi channel decoding, all mono is going to have more impact (tighter everything) and feel less washed out. So it may be that too.