Anyone else with a Yamaha receiver or amp who can answer a question ?

[Tonvanrijn]

A few days ago I bought the Yamaha RX-V757 receiver. I am very glad with it, but there are 2 things not clear to me regarding the sound settings.
I can choose, amongst a whole lot of other settings of course, "Straight" and "2ch. Stereo". "Stereo" is of course stereo and in accordance to the manual the signal is unchanged passed through to the left and the right speakers. "Straight"
should be the signal without any sound effects.
As far as I can see, the effect of both should be the same, that is a signal without any effect. But they sound completely different which I don't understand. Although I am not sure which one sounds better, I am inclined to think that " Straight" is better with stereo sources like the tuner or cd's.
Can anyone explain to me what the difference between the two is ?
Thanks in advance.

[clarky78]

Stereo is as it states, 2 channel audio, nothing special, all amp controls like bass, treble, balance etc are still adjustable.

Straight, uses a straight signal bypassing all the above for a more direct precise signal. Hence the audible difference.

Pure Direct, Uses direct signal path as above, but also shuts down all video processing units and even shuts down the display on the amp for the most straight forward cleanest signal. Hence, better soundstaging, better imaging, overall hugely noticable improvement. IMO the only way to listen to a CD. You'll also notice in pure direct mode you cannot watch any video through the amp as ofcourse that part of the amp is off. Also of note, pure direct will bypass the output to the subwoofer too, so no use at all if you have a sub/sat package.

[gazbarber]

As above, pure direct is great especialy if your speakers are pretty much full range, the fact you can hear an instant difference really makes a difference.
You loose the sub, but if you have speaker capable of going fairly low then this won't be too much of a problem.

[Tonvanrijn]

Thanks for the replies.
In the meantime I discovered that I can change a parameter for the "Stereo" soundfield. The parameter is "Direct" and can be changed from the default "Auto" to "Off" When set to "Off" there is no difference anymore between Stereo and Straight.
I also noticed that when set to Stereo (with Direct on Auto) the balance between L and R is off and with Straight it is right. I did the auto setup from my listening place which is not exactly in the center between L and R. So with Straight I make use of the settings made my the auto setup ?

[gazbarber]

Which ever sounds best to you

[huntere]

Tonvarijn

I have had a 757 for ages now. Its my third Yammy AV and its fair to say its the most complicated I have come across to setting up sound!

Only today I played again and found I could get different effects by doing different things.! The mnaual isn't always the clearest on whet everything does.

I think the best advice is already given......What sounds best to you is whats best!

[clarky78]

TBH the auto setup is more for the surround set settings, and shouldn't matter to much for regular stereo, needless to say sitting in the middle is going to be better

[Sunil Banga]

The Straight setting is more useful for surround duties.

[Tonvanrijn]

Sorry for my exhaustive asking, but for a better understanding (of course I will have to use the setting that sounds best to me, that's clear):
Isn't it so that the 2ch Stereo is particularly meant for listening in Stereo with multichannel sources and not so much for e.g. cd's or fm radio ? This is what I meanwhile thought to have gathered from the manual. Am I right ?

[gazbarber]

Yes (everything no matter what to stereo) and dsp setting are likly to be working on stereo, were as strait is as it comes in, just 2.0, so no equaliser changes, sub, ect... (or 5.1 pure dd/dts ect, depending on the source ofcourse)

[clarky78]

You cant use pure with DD as it only works witht the analogue inputs.

Pure all the way mate, i really don't know why they even bothered putting a stereo option there, unless you really want to watch your 5.1 films in stereo....

[gazbarber]

Originally Posted by clarky78

You cant use pure with DD as it only works witht the analogue inputs.

Remember strait and pure are different, while strait just passses to the speaker what it is given digitaly/analouge with minimal processing.

Pure takes analuage (stereo) sources and amplifies them, turning everything else off, including video circuits and even the front lcd display, all to improve sound and it does too .

Originally Posted by clarky78

Pure all the way mate, i really don't know why they even bothered putting a stereo option there, unless you really want to watch your 5.1 films in stereo....

Unless you only have 2 speakers, although i'm not sure if you so the setup and you tell it you only have 2 speakers if it'll do this anyway. Also you will be able to set differnt settings for stereo over other strait and pure direct, which do no processing. Also stereo gives you a sub where the others don't.

Why have strait for stereo when you could have pure direct, now theres a better question (unless you want to have an onscreen display at the same time ... )

so in summary they all have their uses, but they are subtle.

[clarky78]

Why would you want to adjust anything for stereo?

Straight does allow your sub to work. And yes if you do an auto setup with only 2 speakers the amp knows you only have 2 speakers anyway, so you get the phantom option then ( i think, havent tried it)

I don't think the difference to Pure Direct is subtle, infact it's so obvious my GF's dad noticed, and he just cares if it's loud, whizz bang normally!

[Tonvanrijn]

To be honest, until now, I find the Straight setting to be the best sounding for me, for cd- listening and dvd's as well.

[gazbarber]

Originally Posted by clarky78

I don't think the difference to Pure Direct is subtle, infact it's so obvious my GF's dad noticed, and he just cares if it's loud, whizz bang normally!

Sorry didn't mean it in a sound quality way but rather that there are 3 different ways to listen to analouge stereo sound and they all have their place.

Pure, sound quality from main speakers

Strait (for analouge or even digital stereo sources 2.0) when you want to use video or other amp features at the same time

Stereo (for analouge or even digital stereo sources 2.0) when you want the sub and also any equaliser settings you've applied, and/or video as above with strait.

Sound quality wise the differences are there, with pure beeing the best with good speakers.