I have a chance to buy a used 1050, but am not interested in surround sound. Will this unit play true stereo sound to my two speakers, or will the signal be mixed down electronically.

Thanks for the help

M

Yes....it will do straight 2-channel stereo. Keep in mind that the analog signals are converted to digital where bass management is applied and converted back to analog. The 5.1 direct mode gives you a pure analog path, but you lose the benefit of bass management.

thanks for the info-I'm asuming I could not run a subwofer and two sattelites in straight 2 channel, but would somehow have to mix it down from surround?

If I understand your question correctly, you are planning to hook up two small speakers as L/R stereo mains, and a subwoofer to handle the bass.

Given that assumption, you would simply wire the sat's to the 1050's front L/R speaker terminals and run a single RCA cable from the 1050's sub/LFE output to your sub's lowpass input(RCA). You than select one of the 1050's (6)possible crossover settings(60,80,100,120,150 or 200hz)which directs the highs to the speakers and the lows to the sub. There is no "downmixing" involved since you will not be using any DSP modes such as "Stadium" or "Jazz", just plain old "Stereo" mode. You need to tell the 1050 that you have "Small" speakers connected so the bass management will do it's job.

Hope that helps!

To get sub/satellite, you'll need the unit's bass management in the loop. That means an analog stereo source would be converted to digital so that the bass management could be applied, then converted back to analog so it can be fed to the internal amps or the pre-amp outputs. There would be no surround processing of the source (which I think is what you mean when you refer to downmixing) if "stereo" was the active processing mode, but there would be an A/D/A process and of course the bass management would divide the signals around the crossover point so that the satellites received everything above the crossover and the sub received everything below the crossover. Using the left and right channels of the 5.1 input would keep the signal in the analog domain all the way through, but would also bypass the bass management and therefore leave the sub silent. All of this falls by the wayside if we're talking about a digital audio input - in that case, selecting "stereo" would yield a stereo output with bass management applied if the mains are set to small.

my thanks to both cadboy and gonk for taking the time to decipher my vague descriptions. I think I understand. I have two bookcase speakers, but would like to hook up a sub eventually. The only imput would be SACD and MD players.

I'm wondering if I'd be better served by the 2150, but would like to kep options open if I ever get a home theatre system (But I guess I'd have tp get a TV first.)

Again my thanks!

M

The 1050 is a very nice piece of gear (I enjoyed mine quite a bit, and I've got a co-worker who borrowed it for about three months after I upgrade to a Model 950 in 2002 and still misses it). Based on the reviews so far, the 2150 is probably going to be a stronger performer if all of your sources are stereo analog audio (the 2150 doesn't have a digital input aside from the USB port). It will also cost more of course (probably close to twice as much) and will not offer an easy upgrade path to surround, but if you expect to be staying with stereo for a while to come (even if you plan to add a sub, since the 2150 offers analog bass management) the 2150 may make you happier. Plus I suspect the 2150 will hold its value well, so if you ever did decide to move to a home theater setup and needed to upgrade to a surround receiver or processor you could probably recoup much if your initial investment by selling it online at a place like Audiogon.

OT: Do you happen to be a Classical Musician? I only ask because it's the only way I can think of someone using mainly those two sources. SACD for the best classical recordings and MD for listening to lessons/rehearsals/concerts. Otherwise, you're on the two opposite poles of the audio fidelity spectrum. Just wondering...

Back on topic: I love my 1050 for multi-channel SACD playback. You need a good recording for the full effect but when it works, it really works.

Hi jason J-very pereceptive-you're right-and very wrong!

I love Classical Music, but I have no talent or skill.

But you were right on the recording aspect-my son is a budding rock god (ahem), and we got into MD to record his music for demos and archives. (Talk about polar ends of the audio spectrum indeed-I'm a Puccini man.)

I love hi-fi, and SACD has proven worth the investment. But I love to hear my kid's (he's 21 today) lo-fi grunge banging out of my speakers.

I hope he'll become the next Neil Young, so he can keep me in amps and diapers when I'm an old man!

Thanks for the astute comment-happy listening.

And thanks to gonk and cadboy for the 1050/2150 cage match comparison.

I'm leaning to spending the extra and getting the 2150. Think it will suit my needs better at the moment. I want something simple for my second rig.

I'll let ya know what happened-again thanks to all!

So close...

If you're tired of the MD "sound", I just picked up a really neat little recorder. It's made by M-Audio and called the "Microtrack 24/96". It records stereo audio onto compact flash cards. It can record mp3 files up to 320kbs and .wav files up to, well, 24/96. Best of all, you can "drag and drop" the files you record right onto your computer. It's very slick and sounds way better than any minidisc I've ever heard.

More info:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack2496-main.html

It sells just about everywhere for $400.

thanks Jason-looks really neat. But what about all my hello kitty minidiscs?

Will email the link to my kid.

have a good weekend!

M