[EdwinM]

Ok, I have the sony DA5es which is a 6.1 system. I am using 5.1 speakers and was wondering if I had to disable the "sorround back" in setup, since I don't have the 6th speaker. When I leave it as the 6.1 and run the sound test configuration... I get a pause as it goes from the right sorround to the centre sorround(sorround back) to the left sorround. That is, the sound goes to that centre back speaker but is not audible since there is none. So, if I want to enjoy movies encoded in DTSes and Dolby EX, should I leave it as 6.1 or should I disable the sorround back in the receiver setup?

Please give some advice on this as I would like to leave the system's setup in the best possible way.

Also, could you recommend which speaker is best to use as a center rear(sorround back) Should it be the same as the sorrounds? or as the front centre speaker?

Thanks very much for all responses.

[SvenS]

I also have the DA5ES and am VERY pleased with it.

In regards to the setting you most definately want to set the rear surround center to off so the receiver re-directs the audio (meant for the 6th speakers) to the two rear side surrounds. This will allow the two rear surround to simulate the rear center surround and you will hear all the sound you are supposed to. Leaving it set to on will only lead to missing audio when playing DVD's!

The best thing for a rear center speaker is to go with the exact same speaker as you are using for your rear side surrounds. In fact you should really use the exact same front center as the other two front speakers as well. And the absolute best way to go is to have the same speakers all the way around (front and back) to get the best panning of sounds from left to right, front to back. But this is not always possible in people's setup so it is best to at least get speakers for your centers (front and back) to be timbre matched (using the same mid-range and tweeters from the same manufacturer) with the other speakers.

[Jerome Grate]

Sometimes in dealing with multi channel audio including speaker placement, we can forget that well positioned speakers will create the imaging you desire. Definetly set the rear center channel to off on your Sony, if the Surrounds are equally distanced from the listening area, they will image a rear center channel. On some movies it's a toss up, between rear center and no rear center, but other movies really sound better with one.