Challenges of a stereo system for pure music listening Vs. multichannel sytem for watching movies.

In order to save your time, I have to warn you: this is not a beginners guide regarding how to build a stereo or a home cinema system; it is a discussion about the different challenges of building such systems!

We are at a period that headphone sales grow up rapidly. I notice that a lot of companies introduce new high and low end headphones as well as dedicated headphone amps with integrated USB DACs.

Back in the 80’s I remember the first time I heard through headphones the sound of a Sony Walkman. It was a shock, so I immediately turned to a good family friend that was traveling in the USA in order to get one ASAP (ASAP at 80’s time meant some months).

Decades have passed and technology has evolved since then. Still, listening to music through a good pair of headphones is a nice experience; however it only makes me sad to realize that a lot of people out there use only headphones for critical music listening. Is it because it is more economical? Do they have a nagging wife at home? Is it because it is easier and more predictable soundwise to build a headphones audio system? Whatever the reason might be, my opinion is that listening to music through a good set of Hi-Fi is so much better than music listening music headphones. I admit that I have become a little overreacting and snob about it, but when I go to a Hi-Fi exhibition, I happily pass the booths that have solely headphone audio. For me, the only reason to limit myself at headphones is force majeure: somebody is sleeping, I am on the street or my hi-fi system is crappy.

Back in track, let’s see the different challenges between building a system for enjoying music or for watching (listening to) movies - and a way to perfectly do both.

Building a 2 channel stereo system for music.



A dedicated 2 channel stereo system is the best way to truly enjoy the sound of music.

I always found that building a 2 channel stereo system for music is much more challenging than building a home cinema. A home cinema can be based on impressive sound; impressive sound is easy and cheap to achieve. Plus, when you are watching a movie your brain gets info from both your eyes and ears, so your ears become more forgiving. Just close your eyes when you are watching excited a multichannel music concert at a moderate home cinema – the sound will instantly turn from impressive into a moderate kind of a sound, not suitable for long term listening.

Building a system for critical music listening requires some art. When you are listening to your favorite music at a dark room with your eyes closed, your brain is solely focused at your ears which they eventually become a very strict judge. You can easily understand if your system indeed manages to pass the emotions of the music.

The experience of listening to stereo music compared to listening at multichannel music is like when you are reading a book Vs. when you are watching a movie. You can enjoy both, but chances are that reading a book is a stronger experience. When I am listening to a good stereo recording I feel like I am involved to something so creative, like reading a book.

I get the same kind of conclusions when I am listening at a SACD which has both multichannel audio and 2 channel stereo. Sure, multichannel audio is impressive but for critical music listening I always prefer 2 channel stereo.

It is the delicate and very fine soul of the music that requires a good setup in order to be understood; I have heard all-in-one home cinema systems that are perfectly pleasant for movie watching but I haven’t heard all-in-one solutions that would offer adequate music enjoyment.

Building a Home Cinema.

The noisy complicated environment of a home cinema amp is not ideal for music reproduction.

I find building a Home Cinema so much easier. Imperfections can be easily forgiven here. First of all, when you watch a movie your brain deals with two senses (sight and hearing) so it becomes less possible to note (actually feel) imperfections in sound.

All you will need is just a decent Home Cinema amplifier and decent speakers. Throw a powerful subwoofer at the equation, make reasonable speaker placement and a smart amp setup and voila! You can have a jaw dropping home cinema sound. As I mentioned before, it is easy to make an impressive sound. Until of course you try to listen to some music. Things will be rough, impressive becomes unpleasant.

Everything is easier at the movies. You have the tools to deal with the minor sound imperfections, tools like powerful DSPs and room acoustic aids. Even the subwoofer is almost begging to be integrated at the home cinema – just try to integrate the very same subwoofer at a system intended for music use.

Don’t get me wrong; building a reference home cinema can become a challenging and expensive job. But for more down to earth approaches, two proper stereo channels for stereo music can easily cost you more than what you pay for five proper home cinema channels; stereo system matching can also easily become a pain in the @ss.

Building the perfect system for both worlds.

When I started building my home cinema, I did not want in any way to affect the top performance of my beloved stereo system. The only way to do so was to add the home cinema elements at the existing stereo system, without altering the stereo system at all.

Since I already had two perfectly good channels (that was a stereo preamp, a stereo power amp and a stereo pair of speakers) I got an AV decoder with multichannel line outs. I connected the AV’s front channels line out to a spare line in of my stereo amp. The stereo amp considers the AV as another stereo source (like a CD) and the stereo system takes care of the amplification of the front L & R channels of the home cinema.

For surround L & R as well as for center channel I also used separate power amps; however you can just connect the surround and center speakers directly to the AV speakers out.

All the home cinema sources (DVD, Playstation, HTPC and Media Player) are connected to the AV.

All the stereo sources (CD, USB DAC, phono, etc.) are connected at the stereo preamp as they should.

Regarding music listening, nothing has changed since I only added a home cinema - I even have included an automation that cuts the mains power of all the AV components when the AV receiver is off, except the TV.

There is only one compromise at this setup, which is a rather small: you need to put the volume control of your stereo amp at a certain point (I would suggest around 10 o’clock) when you will calibrate the home cinema and keep this volume control at the same level whenever you watch a movie. That happens because even if the volume control of the AV is your master volume control for all the 5.1 home cinema channels, the volume control of your stereo amp is also still affecting the relative level of the front L & R channels.

Whenever I watch a movie, I remember to set my stereo amp's volume control at the same No. 27 position.

This applies except in the case you are lucky and your stereo amp has a home theater bypass input – that is an input that completely bypasses the volume control of the amp.

Some stereo amps have a Home Cinema Bypass Line Input, that is an input that bypasses the volume control of the amp.

Happy listening and watching, you can keep them both at top levels!

Chris