How well does the 1050 extract ambience from 2-channel acoustic music sources?

I now have an old Yamaha DSP-1 processor, and I almost exclusively use it to extract the stereo difference signal with minimal processing and delay it to my two rear speakers. I want to upgrade to DD/DTS, but don't want to spend a lot of money (i.e., I can't afford the 950 right now).

The 1050 looks promising, as long as there is a mode that can handle the above (I do worry a bit about the lack of Dolby Pro Logic II decoding, though). I looked at the manual online, but it does not answer this question.

Also, I would like to use my current external power amplifiers for the front speakers and rear speakers, and use the speaker outputs of the 1050 for the center and rear center channel. Is this viable? I would like to be assured there would not be balancing issues with this setup.

Any feedback would be appreciated.


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BenH2