5.1 vs. 6.1 (1 Viewer)

[DaveZee]

When I bought my rear speakers last year, the guy (very knowledgeable and reputable)told me I did not need a center rear (for 6.1) because his design of the rears was so good that it eliminated the need for a center rear.

Someone recently suggested to me that this is good advise since the design of speakers shoots sound in 2 directions (forward and toward center) and that there was very little DVD software sending any info. to a 6th channel (center rear) anyway.

Thoughts? And if the above is true and I don't really need 6.1, why did I get a receiver capable of 7.1 (Sony DA5ES)?

 

[Jesse Leonard]

Part of the information you received was correct . The correct part: There is not much 6.1 encoded material out there (more is always coming, though).
The incorrect part: Every thing else you were told. While his speakers may be a very good design, it really has nothing to do with the 6.1 specifications. His speakers may be perfect for 5.1 but to achieve 6.1, you MUST have a rear center. There is no way around it. Now, many will argue the benefits of 6.1 to 5.1, but the fact still remains that you need a rear center for 6.1. If you have the space and speaker, then hook it up and give it a test. Let your ears be your judge.

 

[Vic_T]

I believe what the reference that the rear speaker setup was so good he didn't need a rear center channel speaker was refering to was this: The rear center channel in a 5.1 EX system (sometimes mistakenly refered to as 6.1) is designed to accomodate for loss of performance in an inadequately adjusted 5.1 setup. Since the rear center channel is matrixed from the rear left and rear right channels, there is no "new" information in the rear center speaker that is not in the other 2 rear channels.

However, for DTS discete 6.1, there is an actual 7th channel encoded in the bitstream. But, I can't see many movies being mixed in a way were the bulk of viewers (5.1 listeners) would be missing out on important sound. So, I would assume, that the extra channel would still be comprised of information from the left and right rear channels. The advantage being that the sound engineers have more control as to what exactly is put into the rear center and how loud it is, instead of allowing the processor to take care of it.

 

[Mike Strassburg]

Dave Z,

I have a Denon 3802 which will allow me to do 6.1/7.1 matrixed from a 5.1 source. I used it for 5.1 for the first few weeks and it sounded great. Then I got the bug and hooked up a spare set of small KLH's in the back. What a difference.....you are TOTALLY encompassed by sound. Watching JP3 the other night during the scene when they're running through the field of dinosaurs you actually feel like you're in the middle of it as sounds are coming from everywhere!! Between that and cranking up my sub my father-in-law couldn't wipe the grin off of his face. Said he's never experienced anything like that before. The joys of HT....Mike

 

[itai]

i agree, 6/7.1 kicks ass!!

but only with high quality (and true 6.1) audio.

with dbs (tv) its kinda irritating, and with cd music, you can hear the reiever's chip mixing the channels on an off, it's a bit of a mess. good for partys though.

but gladiator is awsome!!