I went from a 5.1 system to a 2.2 system to a 2.0 system, lol.
It went something like this - when I started out, the objective was always a 5.1 HT since I didn't know any better or worse.
somewhere along the way, i discovered proper stereophonic sound. Since my HT was plonked in my living room, stereo sounded better as it was more convenient to get higher fidelity through stereo amps, outboard dacs and the placement of only two speakers and a couple subs to contend with.
Next I built a 5.2.2 system in a dedicated room and I did find myself listening to a lot of Atmos tracks on Apple Music.
Which brings me to my current room - it's a 5.2.4 config in a dedicated space again but this time, I find myself listening only in 2.0 mode 100% of the time. The sound is good enough that i never feel like I'm missing out on anything, even though I'm aware of what i am (in case I've heard those tracks in my earlier system).
While I'm a big proponent of subs, I'm listening without any as a result of the rooms quirks - while it has very good tone and quite competent with spatial cues, introducing subs causes a loss of imaging sharpness and the midbass gets slightly neutered. Between the two, i chose imaging and midbass over deep bass and found a compromise - insofar as the MLP is concerned, I've sorted the latter through a pair of bass shakers attached to my recliner.
