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7.1 Are you setting it up wrong? (1 Viewer)

John A. Casler

Second Unit
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Apr 29, 1999
Messages
475
I continue to hear people talk about setting their 7.1 systems up with Dipole/Tripole/Bipoles on the side surrounds and Direct Raditors in the Rear Surrounds.

Does this make any sense???

Seems to me that in a 7.1 setup, the sides are the "main" surrounds and would have the greater need for a "direct" speaker, while the rears would have little benefit from a direct since they will be firing from behind the ear.

In Multi-channel Music and 5.1 Films, aren't the sides taking over the rears (of a 5.1) former duties and the Rears are now just for envelopment and ambience?

I address this in my 7.1 system by having both direct and dipoles for both sides and rears, which I can play seperatly or together.

And I think the 3' higher than listening position rule, for the sides should also "go out the window". I can still see it for the rears but if we are talking about "discrete" 5.1 converted to 7.1, I think the sides are getting the discrete information and the rears are getting the "ambience".

Anyone have any concrete info on this? I have been all over DTS, and Dolby sites and don't see any "new suggestions" to adress this or even any definitive answers to what info is going where.

John
 

Mark R. Ososkie

Stunt Coordinator
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Aug 31, 2002
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This all comes down to the way your room is set up. I have no rear walls, but i do have side walls, so i put the dipoles on the side. There is absolutely no way the dipoles could be placed behind me, so I will buy a pair of bookshelfs for my surround backs.
 

John Garcia

Senior HTF Member
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Jun 24, 1999
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Are you using a switch that compensates for load? What receiver/amp? Parallel/series? You may run the risk of straining your amp and driving it to distortion.

Side surrounds have ALWAYS been noted by DOLBY as being preferably bi/di to create diffused effects, not direct effects. The rears can be either monopole or bi/di.

In Multi-channel Music and 5.1 Films, aren't the sides taking over the rears (of a 5.1) former duties and the Rears are now just for envelopment and ambience?
No. The sides are now sides, and the rear(s) are "extracted" to provide a seemles stage as well as smooth panning across the rear. They work together. Technically, they are ALL ambiance.

Interesting that you figure everyone else must be wrong rather than you. When it comes to this stuff, do whatever you like, it's your money, your ears.
 

John A. Casler

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 29, 1999
Messages
475
Interesting that you figure everyone else must be wrong rather than you. When it comes to this stuff, do whatever you like, it's your money, your ears.
???? Not sure where this comes from. I didn't say everyone is doing it wrong, I ask if they are, and I sepcifically referenced the people who use Dipole Sides.

The idea is to find the answer. I also didn't say I was doing it right. Obviously since I use both dipole and monopole I am trying to cover the bases.

I was looking for "concrete" references about which is right.

Opinions are interesting (and desired) and I voiced mine too, but I am wondering if anyone has a "definative" answer from a source like Dolby Labs or DTS?

As we reach higher levels of multichannel sophistication and speaker performance, these issues become more significant.

If you are running Dipole Sides and the information is discrete, the sound must suffer.

Just how are the recording engineers and processor program writers thinking we are going to reproduce these channels?

When it all started we used to have 100wpc for R&L and 35 for the rest. With the advent of 5.1 that cannot work anymore.

Also I mentioned the side speakers being "ear level" rather than 3 feet above. With vertical dispersion in quality speakers being limited, placing a speaker that high will render it a "non-direct" speaker anyhow. Is that what we want now? For the sides? For the rears?

Also for Rears (6.1/7.1), if the sound is truly coming from the rear, what requirements are nessesary here? Is it nessesary or desirable to use a monopole? If the sound is coming from behind the pinna is a "point source" needed?
Or is a Dipole/Tripole/Monopole convertible, like the Aerials, or M&Ks a good idea?

John
 

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