AV amp and only 2 speakers - can it be done?

[AmitG]

I have a HDTV and a Blu-ray player. I would like to add more sources to my setup; specifically, a games console and HD cable TV. I also want to integrate my hi-fi system into the setup. The obvious answer is to get an AV amp and connect all the above sources as HDMI inputs with the HDMI video output going to the TV and the audio going to speakers.

However, when it comes to sound, I want to go with just 2 speakers. I don't want to clutter up my living room and have cables everywhere. I don't really like surround sound. I have a nice, expensive pair of floorstanding speakers which are currently connected to my hi-fi and want to just use those. Obviously I won't get the full surround effect but I do want to make sure that I hear the full soundtrack and that nothing is getting dropped.

Will it work? Or do you *have* to use a full set of surround speakers with an AV amp? Is there any special feature on the AV amp that I need to look out for?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Amit

[Hoover.]

My processor has a setting which allows you to play in stereo as you may not want surround sound all the time...... so yes it can be done

[chazola]

pretty much all av amps have a 'stereo' setting for music listening, so you can just run it in that mode. Even with a digital input, when your amp would normally decode the signal into 5/6 channels for surround sound, if you put it in stereo mode it should 'mix down' the full signal to 2-channel stereo so you'll still hear everything through your L/R stereo speakers.

Edited by chazola on Sunday 11th December 14:29

[dave_s13]

You should at least get a centre speaker. It locks the speech to the image, if you know what I mean.
Blending it out into a stereo sound doesn't sound as good IMO.

I would also say get a sub too but this would be less important; you can definately do without rears though, if that isn't your bag.

Any half decent AV amp should deal with whatever set up you have.

[Sleepers]

The best AV setup I've ever heard was only two channels, Quad ELS63s fking amazing

[AmitG]

Thanks everyone for the advice. It sounds like it can be done. I'll follow up with my local friendly AV dealer...

[Clivey]

Yes, it can be done. I have this set-up at the moment (Denon AVR-1911 & a pair of Cambridge Audio S20 bookshelf speakers) whilst I'm waiting for the rest of the speakers to arrive.