***Official MERGED "Should I get 6.1 (or 7.1) - Is it worth it?" Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[peter m. wilson]

Hi,
In the event that getting a pair of rear surronds is not in the budget yet, and since the rear channels are 6 and 7 respectivly I would suggest that if you can get your hands on one speaker (a center channel would do nicely) you can experience the full benefits of the only true 6 channel software that exists which is DTS-ES Discrete.

I have a Denon and they suggest (in the on screen receiver programming) to setting the rear surrounds to 1 speaker insted of two. The connection of that speaker should be to the left channel.

Your processor may be different but the results are excellent.

I have tried with both one and two speakers and finally settled on using the same center speaker as I use in the front.

I should mention here that my HT is small 10-12w x 15d x 8h.

Peter M.

 

[justinDreyer]

Is 7.1 worth it ? I know if the fromat wont suppoert it that it wont work. My receiver claims to simulate a 5.1 fomat into 7.1 and how many DVDs and programs are 7.1 ?

 

[Philip Hamm]

IMO, no. I had 7.1 for a while and found the ultra-wide rear soundfield distracting. I like 5.1 just fine.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

yes 7.1 provides a nice rear-ward capability and better immersion, how significant it is depends, it's not nearly as significant as the move to 5.1, but it is a nice improvement. No sountracks are in 7.1 per se, many are in EX/ES 6.1, matrix or discrete, and you can always expand 5.1 soundtracks using EX/ES processing. 7.1 array playback is preferred for 6.1 sources or other sources processed to "6.1", in addition many receivers have the capability as in PLIIx to make the rears stereo, for a "7.1" playback.

I think this is probably covered in the FAQ fairly well?

 

[John S]

I think it is worth it. But I will admit a better 5.1 is much prefered by myself over any not so great 7.1....

 

[Ray_R]

It appears it looks like I'll need to build a custom speaker to fully enable my 6.1 receiver. Currently I'm 5.0 on a 6.1 sound system and let me tell ya I miss having my sub-woofer hooked up. Can't hook up my current sub to the new-ish receiver since it came in my home theater in a box back in 2000. Pondering about modding it and installing an amplifier and the jack port for both a power output and the actual sub-type RCA port plug-in. Now, my housemate's Dad knows how to do all this since it's one of his hobbies but he can't find the appropriate amplifier for our project. I have the appropriate diagrams and such for 6.1 speaker set-up it's the actual remaining items I need to take care of I'm perplexed about.

 

[peter m. wilson]

Hi

I don't mean to dump on your HTIB but rather than invest any more money into it you might want to visit a site like audiogon or in Canada canuckaudiomart or audioeden and find a previously enjoyed 7.1 receiver with a set of 8ch analog inputs.

That way from an audio format side you'll have flexibility for the next 20 years and you can start saving for a good set of speakers and even ad an amp to that as time goes by.

Now that we have 1080i video coming out of our ears, the impressive improovments in the new dvd formats will be on the audio side which IMHO is more than 50% of the HT experience.

I'd hazard a guess that if everyone in the world could listen to "Saving Private Ryan" through a good and properly setup audio system, it might be the end of war as we know it.

Peter M.

 

[gary*w*]

I've got a 7.1 Yamaha RX-V750 with Infinity Primus 360's as mains, 160's as sides, 150's in the rear, a C25 Center and PS10 sub.

I listen to alot of 2 channel music in DTS Neo6 and I really enjoy the extra channel,it seems to fill the room better. I also listen to DVD-A and SACD stuff but those formats dont support 6/7.1 so the extra channels aren't nessicary. But the 2 channel stuff sounds great in Neo6!

As for movies theres not a huge diffrence between Dolby EX/DTSES and the 5.1 versions of the soundtracks (That I've noticed). Occasionally there's some neat effects out of the rear channels but nothing amazing. I own the LotR and Galdiator ES editions as well as the Star Wars films in Ex.

I'd much prefer to have a reciver that had HDMI inputs than 7.1 channel audio. I'm on a fairly tight budget so I'm gonna hang on to what i've got until the HD DVD format war sorts out then i'll get the stuff with HDMI or whatever the current nessicary connection is. Everything will probably be 7.1 ch. or better by then anyway.