7.1 & THX Ultra 2 speaker placement (1 Viewer)

[Anton_B]

Ok I have a question, I am looking at placing speaker outlets in my unfinished 12'x20' dedicated theater and i am confused. I am wanting to wire for THX Ultra 2 and 7.1 which I think are the same (feel free to correct that sentiment) When i look at the speaker placements on the THX web site it shows the surrounds to the sides of the primary seating area and the rears straight back side by side. But when i look at pictures of some of the awesome theaters you guys have built, the surrounds are on the back sides and the backs are in the back center. So where are the surrounds supposed to go? Does anyone have a good website address with really good illustrations and dimensions and explainations of why things go where?

Thanks

Tony

 

[John Titan]

If you are going to set-up your theater to THX specs than you'll have to put the speakers side by side (to get true thx specs all of the audio equipment will have to be thx certified including speakers, reicever, cables, etc.)

If you read a bit on this and other forums you'll see most people don't put much weight behind thx certification. Not that thx certified equpment isn't good just that alot of companys pay to put the logo on their equipment for the purpose of better sales. Most higher end stuff doesn't even bother with it. But it still comes down to preference.

You may feel your system sounds better this way. Dolby.com web site offers speaker placement options as well which are more well regarded.

As far as the ultra 2 goes it has more to do with the room size. Most ultra 2 recivers are very expensive so they happen to be 7.1 already.

 

[John Garcia]

Ultra2 is 7.1 by definition, and it will be more than enough for that room. If you have 8ft celings, you actually could get by with a THX Select receiver, which is rated for a 2000cf room. Ultra2 = 4000 cf.

Don't worry about the placement of other people's systems - this is YOUR system Follow the THX and Dolby guidelines and you should end up with a nice system.

Companies do not pay for THX certification, though they may pay a small amount for licensing the logo, but it adds little or no cost increase to the consumer.

 

[John Titan]

I thought that any company that wanted to have their equipment thx certified would have to pay Lucas to test and certify it. I would think if they do it for free more company's would go with it no?

My Yamaha is 7.1 and it's Thx select. Didn't they use ultra certification on 5.1 equipment before 7.1 became popular.

I could be wrong on both accounts, this is just the way I've always understood it.

 

[John Garcia]

I read an article that was an interview with THX in Home Theater Mag. I'll have to dig it up and review it, but it basically said that the THX cert adds no cost to the receiver at the consumer level. IIRC, they have to license all the processing functions as well, so there IS a cost associated, but again, cost per unit is supposed to be negligible.

*edit - I read in another interview with them online and THX said they could not comment specifically on cost to their licensees. They said that it generally takes about 40hrs to certify a product.

My Marantz 8300 is also Select cert and I *never* use THX processing, though I also don't have THX speakers which are designed to take advantage of that processing. In my current setup THX post processing rolls the highs off too much.

Ultra was for rooms up to 3000cf. I'm not sure on Ultra2, I thought it was 4000cf, but that may not be correct, but THX states "for all but the largest rooms". *edit - Ultra2 is good for rooms 3000cf and larger. Ultra I believe was 6.1, and ultimately was what DD-EX was created from. Ultra2 is intended for up to 7.1 use.

6.1 and 7.1 are the same thing also - the only difference is the extra speaker; the processing is the same and there are no 7.1 tracks.

 

[John Titan]

Same here.