Setting up new HT room - should I bother with 6.1 or 7.1 for now? (1 Viewer)

[Daniel Simon]

My current living room setup is 5.1 so I'm familar up to that point, but I haven't followed up on the current spec regarding 6.1 and even 7.1. I know a few movies have 6.1 available. And I've seen 7.1 mentioned on some receivers although I'm confused as to whether that's an actual DD or DTS spec. Should I bother with setting up for 6.1 or 7.1 in my new HT room in the basement, or just stick with 5.1? I plan on running the audio for a 7.1 placement*, but am undecided on if I'll actually bother with the 2 extra speakers for now.

* If just doing 6.1, where does the 6th speaker go? Rear center? If 7.1, are the 2 extra rears spaced evenly apart from each other and the wall?

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Yes and yes.

 

[Daniel Simon]

Ok, that helps. As for recommendations, what do you think is best for a new HT - stick with 5.1 or go with a 7.1 setup?

 

[SamNavy]

Can you go to a local dealer and have him demo a 5.1/6.1/7.1 in the same room and switch between the three surround modes in real-time? Then you can get an idea of how much "better" the experience "might" be with one or two extra speakers in your own home.

There really isn't any advantage to looking for a 5.1 only AVR if this is going to be all new gear you're buying for a dedicated HT. If you're in the price range I think you are, the AVR you're going to buy will have 7.1 anyways. So then it's only the cost of two more speakers since you're already doing the wiring. Did you have a price in mind for an AVR...? You can go really cheap like my Onkyo TX-SR602 7.1 refurbished from ECost for $199... or a TX-NR1000 7.1 THXultra2 for $4500.
Like I said, if you've got the interest and dough for a dedicated room, just about every manufacturer has a more-than-adequate $1000 7.1 THX AVR out there(if THX is your thing). It doesn't make sense in that price range to seek out just 5.1. And if you're below that price range, just de-THX the specs and there are even more options.

 

[John S]

Your are really only talking about the spekaers here. There are zero advantages to finding a 5.1 AVR compared to the multitude of 6.1 / 7.1 AVR's on the market now. You just only buy the speakers for 5.1 and use it that way.