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Have you tried any of PL II-M's adjustments? You can dial it in so it is just barely perceptible over regular stereo playback (if that's what you're looking for).

I really would like to try that. Do you know how to adjust the 950, in order to make its PL II sound barely perceptible over regular stereo playback?
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Nice trick, but raising the volume is no substitute for a good matrix decoder. And, like any good matrix decoder, PL II will allow you to make the surround presentation as subtle or as exciting as you please.

But when a concert is played in stereo loud enough, the sound sure seems to bounce all over my listening room. It's not like listening to stereo with low volume. There, music is flat by comparison, and only at the front of the room. There, there's not much surround sound ambiance.
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He said he could hear where PLII-M was cutting out the full frequency range. It's part of how Dolby Pro-Logic II works, he says.

Ah, so he knows how PL II works, which then tells him how it will sound, and thus he ends up hearing what he was expecting.

Well maybe. But maybe his ears are better educated than mine, and he knew what to listen for. Ears, even my uneducated pair, can get educated, I think, with time. I think he said the full timbre of the symphony was not coming through in DPL-II but it was coming through in stereo. Well, I didn't hear it, but maybe I have yet to train my ears to hear it. I'm going to listen some more, and see what there is to hear. Incidentally he seemed to think more of the full spectrum of the music was coming through in DTS NEO:6 than in DPL II. I on the other hand, thought DPL IIsounded better than DTS, which was just the opposite. Likewise I also thought DTS sounded better than loud volume stereo (but just barely). Again, just the opposite.

So now I wonder if DPL II (and to a lesser sense, DTS NEO:6)is a euphonic, artificially pleasant substitute sound for reality. I wonder if, as I hear it more, I'll be able to distinguish the artificial pleasantry from the stark reality, better. Perhaps DVD-A and SACD surround modes sound better, more realistic, than DPL II in part because they are surround modes that contain the FULL spectrum of sound. Yes, I know DPL II removes sound in a psycho-accousticly kind & gentle manner, but it nevertheless removes sound. We all know that now. And some ears apparently, are actually able to detect what's missing.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited September 14, 2002).]