Placing surrounds...and 6th channel (1 Viewer)

[JohnCRome]

Hi everyone...after waiting over 3 years (some other URGENT expense always got in the way )I finally got my HT...(with a Sony WEGA 32" 100Hz) Sony DVPS9000ES Denon AVR3802 B&W 602s3 lcr60s3 asw600 (front centre & sub)....now my problem is with the surrounds...I've read various articles on placement but I wanted some feedback based on personal experiences - reason being that I need a speaker which is as unobtusive as possible without losing the effects and quality...in other words if placing the speaker facing up behind the couch works fine I would consider getting b&w 600s3 (far too big for wall mounting...) or if it's better to have direct then i would aim towards b&w lm1's or jamo a510's....

now regarding the 6th....benefits?...is it absoluteley necessary to use a center speaker (lcr60 s3)or can i simply add on another speaker I choose for the surround?


Thanks for any input and sorry for the long post.

John

Ps: some killer HT's y'all have....congrats.

 

[RayJK]

There are a few ways to look at surrounds. One camp places rear surrounds in the rear of the listening area (imagine that) and another camp has them placed at the sides of the listening area. Of course, some of newer equipment has provisions for both. You can get good effect from either setup.

When Dolby Digital first came out THX diagrammed dipole speakers on the sides of the listening position while Dolby diagrammed monopoles in the same position. The advantage of monopoles is that you can actually place them in the rear wall location if you don't like how they sound on the sides. A compromise would be dipole sides and a monopole rear for 6.1.

Myself, I run monopoles and let the sound engineer decide how he wants things to move around the soundfield instead of using dipole to try and modify the soundfield. YMMV.

 

[Greg*go]

now regarding the 6th....benefits?...is it absoluteley necessary to use a center speaker (lcr60 s3)or can i simply add on another speaker I choose for the surround?

The only benefit in using a center speaker as a rear center is that you can buy one, which is all you need (instead of having to buy a pair of speakers). Otherwise, you can use any speaker you want to for that puprose.

I only have a 5.1 setup, and I have my rears slightly behind all of my listening positions, and they sound good to me. Although I do have a fairly small sweet spot. Think that's another advantage of 6.1... it has a greater sweet spot. But I really don't see me switching to 6.1 anytime soon since there isn't much room for that speaker directly behind me.

 

[JohnCRome]

thanks for the replies...I finally decided for axiom qs8's. (color is next problem...arrgghhh).Being quadpolars placement isn't such an issue...I'll keep you posted...and maybe get a photo or two when everything is set up.

Ciao

J.

 

[Mark Shannon]

WAS READING THROUGH, AND HAVE A QUESTION NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO THIS THREAD...

Why is it that not many movies are coming out in 6.1?

I bought a 6.1 reciever, have a rear surround, but the only time it has ever been used was while watching Blade 2, the only 6.1 movie I've found...

My reciever, the Panny SAHE100, doesn't even use the rear center for simulated surround (from stereo sources)

WHY?

 

[JohnCRome]

been finding the same problem here...only increased...because they don't even offer DTS for the english tracks..only on the italian ones (takes up too much space on the disc itr seems)...and I'm dying to hear movies in english again...

Tomb Raider is in 6.1...


I wonder if my Sony DVP-S9000ES will play region 1 dvd's...it played the AVIA disc just fine....

hohum....

 

[Mark Shannon]

Tomb Raider is in 6.1...

I don't think it is...I own that as well (Canadian Version), and according to the back of the case, it has English 5.1 Surround, English Dolby Surround, and French Dolby Surround

 

[JohnCRome]

well..then I'm a lucky guy...6.1 in italian here...

Ciao.

 

[Jeffrey_K]

The good folks right here at HTF have compiled a list of the movies out in 6.1. Check it out:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ighlight=dtses

I have it bookmarked

 

[Mark Shannon]

The good folks right here at HTF have compiled a list of the movies out in 6.1. Check it out:

I'm not that good with that different kind of stuff....

which is 6.1? Matrix, Discrete? no idea whatsoever

 

[Mike Mundt]

Matrix is a simulated 6th (rear surround) for 6.1 surround. Discrete is a seperate 6th track in the mix. Obviously Discrete is more ideal for anyone with 6.1 because its an actual channel instead of simulated. As far as 6.1 movies go the only movie I can watch in 6.1 of my movies is, Lord of the Rings:The Fellowship of the Ring Extended DVD. More will come out just give it due time. Imagine how the 7.1 people feel.

 

[Ricky T]

John,

I used to have a 5.1 system with my couch against the back wall. I tried a single rear center speaker on the floor pointing up and it did improve the sound of 5.1 DVDs (expanded to 6.1). On monopole vs dipole, I have less experience.

 

[RayJK]

Ricky, If your couch is against the wall, where exactly did you put your rear center speaker? On the floor in front of the couch?

 

[Ricky T]

I placed the rear center on the floor behind the couch, and even raised it about a foot (on some piece of wood). About 10 inches between couch and rear wall.

 

[Kevinkall]

I bought a 6.1 receiver, have a rear surround, but the only time it has ever been used was while watching Blade 2, the only 6.1 movie I've found...

Most receivers that are 6.1 have a function that converts a 5.1 source into a 6.1 mix. On my receiver the function is called surround re-mix and it does a decent job.