Could I get away with a 7.1 setup with a 9'x11' room? (1 Viewer)

[Ferdinand*T]

Hey guys I have a Denon AVR-4802 receiver and its a 7.1. Now my question is I'd like to take advantage of it but I'm not sure if my room size will permit it. My room is 9' wide, 11' long, and 9' high. Based on a 7.1 THX Surround EX setup I was told the rear two speakers would sit close to each other about a foot or two away. If this is the case the distance between the front, sides, and rears would be 5 feet. Is this enough space for this to sound good or should I stick with the 5.1 setup? If I leave the rears spaced out that would leave about 4 feet between all the speakers if I went with the 7.1 setup.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

The real determining factor is how far behind YOU will the speakers be. I tried 7.1 for awhile in a 12'x13' apartment living room, but the rear surround speakers were directly behind the listening position between the couch and wall. There was less than 1ft between my ear and the speakers. This made the back channel dominate attention on 6.1 soundtracks, even when properly calibrated. It also muddied the rear soundstage when matrixing 5.1 sources. I've decided to stick w/ 5.1 while at school and do 7.1 when I'm at home for the summer and have room for it.

Hope this helps

 

[Ferdinand*T]

I'll have about 3 feet is this enough to sqeek by? See I don't want to have all these speakers in this room if its just going to sound like one giant speaker. I'm looking for a great soundfield here. What to do.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

I would probably just stick to a 5.1 system. My room is just a tad bigger than yours (about 11' by 15') and there was no way I could get by with a 7.1 system, although it would have been nice.

Even with 3' it is just squeezing so much in there that it doesn't make sense. I would have to say just stick with a 5.1

 

[Andrew Pierce]

Actually, I've got a room where the rears are too close to the seating position, but my 7.1 setup, by splitting off the surrounds into more speakers putting out less sound each, smooths out my surround field, cutting down on the whole 'there is that surround speaker barking right into my ear' effect that I have with a 5.1 setup. I think it also widens the 'sweet spot.' I don't think that your room can be too small for 7.1, if you have room for the speakers.