Scott Adam
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2003
- Messages
- 63
Hello Again Friends,
While I continue to take under advisement the suggestions that were made to me regarding my last post about calibrating my Onkyo TX SR600 "properly" with an SPL meter and such (see "Issues With My Onkyo TX SR600..."), I have some more questions for you insightful, most helpful lads -- a question that I never really understood the answer to when someone attempted to provide such an answer under a totally different post...
As everyone in here knows, Onkyo's TX SR600 is a 6-channel unit, but because my system is set up in a studio apartment and the listening area is small, I am only running a 5.1 speaker array; my couch and sweet spot is smack right up against a wall, with the wall unit housing all my surround gear opposite on the facing wall; there's only about nine feet between the sweet spot and the wall unit. And so, I opted not to buy that back surround channel because it would literally have to sit on the wall right behind the listener's head. Now, I have heard all the debates regarding whether or not 6.1 and 7.1 is worth the effort, heck I have started a lot of them---but I had just thought because of my apartment's space, 5.1 would do fine...if anyone has any disagreements on this, please fire away...
But my dilemma is this: I have a handful of DVDs in my collection which have "extended" 6.1 soundtracking -- off the top of my head, I believe this includes Gladiator (DTS-ES), The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen Before (DD EX) and Attack Of The Clones (DD EX)...all the rest of the discs in the collection are all standard 5.1 Dolby Digital or standard DTS. Even though I do not have that sixth back surround channel to enjoy DTS-ES or DD EX films, I always choose the DTS ES or DD EX soundtrack from a certain film's menu before beginning the DVD because I actually HEAR a distinct difference between the sources; for instance, when I play back Gladiator, I CHOOSE the DTS-ES soundtrack on the menu---NOT the DD 5.1 soundtrack---because I can swear it sounds SO MUCH better...yet, I have no back surround speaker(s) for this DTS-ES mode...
So, my question is this...what is "happening" when I play back 6.1 processed DVD information WITHOUT that sixth channel in my system? Am I "losing" any information by playing back a soundtrack with six channel sound yet I have no sixth channel? I have heard COUNTLESS theories on this topic; people have told me that because my receiver is set up to acknowledge that there is no back surround speaker, when I play back soundtracks with 6.1 sound, that sixth channel's sound is actually being MATRIXED and fed between the two rear surrounds and what I am hearing is a ghost or phantom center surround effect when sitting directly between the two rear surrounds...should I be playing DTS ES or DD EX soundtracks even though I only have a 5.1 setup? Is anything being "lost" here? And what is happening in my system when you choose for a DVD to play back in one of these modes --- DD EX or DTS ES --- and yet there is no extended sixth channel present? Am I hearing that back surround channel in a "ghosted" matrixed signal between the rear surrounds?
If someone can explain this as plainly as possible, I would greatly appreciate it.
"Someone in this camp aint who appears to be....right now thats one or two of us...by spring it could be all of us...."
-Kurt Russell, "John Carpenter's The Thing"
While I continue to take under advisement the suggestions that were made to me regarding my last post about calibrating my Onkyo TX SR600 "properly" with an SPL meter and such (see "Issues With My Onkyo TX SR600..."), I have some more questions for you insightful, most helpful lads -- a question that I never really understood the answer to when someone attempted to provide such an answer under a totally different post...
As everyone in here knows, Onkyo's TX SR600 is a 6-channel unit, but because my system is set up in a studio apartment and the listening area is small, I am only running a 5.1 speaker array; my couch and sweet spot is smack right up against a wall, with the wall unit housing all my surround gear opposite on the facing wall; there's only about nine feet between the sweet spot and the wall unit. And so, I opted not to buy that back surround channel because it would literally have to sit on the wall right behind the listener's head. Now, I have heard all the debates regarding whether or not 6.1 and 7.1 is worth the effort, heck I have started a lot of them---but I had just thought because of my apartment's space, 5.1 would do fine...if anyone has any disagreements on this, please fire away...
But my dilemma is this: I have a handful of DVDs in my collection which have "extended" 6.1 soundtracking -- off the top of my head, I believe this includes Gladiator (DTS-ES), The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen Before (DD EX) and Attack Of The Clones (DD EX)...all the rest of the discs in the collection are all standard 5.1 Dolby Digital or standard DTS. Even though I do not have that sixth back surround channel to enjoy DTS-ES or DD EX films, I always choose the DTS ES or DD EX soundtrack from a certain film's menu before beginning the DVD because I actually HEAR a distinct difference between the sources; for instance, when I play back Gladiator, I CHOOSE the DTS-ES soundtrack on the menu---NOT the DD 5.1 soundtrack---because I can swear it sounds SO MUCH better...yet, I have no back surround speaker(s) for this DTS-ES mode...
So, my question is this...what is "happening" when I play back 6.1 processed DVD information WITHOUT that sixth channel in my system? Am I "losing" any information by playing back a soundtrack with six channel sound yet I have no sixth channel? I have heard COUNTLESS theories on this topic; people have told me that because my receiver is set up to acknowledge that there is no back surround speaker, when I play back soundtracks with 6.1 sound, that sixth channel's sound is actually being MATRIXED and fed between the two rear surrounds and what I am hearing is a ghost or phantom center surround effect when sitting directly between the two rear surrounds...should I be playing DTS ES or DD EX soundtracks even though I only have a 5.1 setup? Is anything being "lost" here? And what is happening in my system when you choose for a DVD to play back in one of these modes --- DD EX or DTS ES --- and yet there is no extended sixth channel present? Am I hearing that back surround channel in a "ghosted" matrixed signal between the rear surrounds?
If someone can explain this as plainly as possible, I would greatly appreciate it.
"Someone in this camp aint who appears to be....right now thats one or two of us...by spring it could be all of us...."
-Kurt Russell, "John Carpenter's The Thing"