Settings for 6.1 EX/ES (1 Viewer)

[Jim Mcc]

I have a JVC-7030, 6.1 receiver, and I just hooked up a back surround speaker. It has a button to set EX/ES to ON, OFF or AUTO. I'm wondering if you guys with a 6.1 system keep EX/ES set to "ON" all the time, even with 5.1 movies?
What do you recommend? Thanks.

 

[Dave_vega]

I keep my receiver on "6.1 decoding" all the time..this is just a matrix rear centre (same as your ON setting)..basically the same concept as DD EX, because DD EX is just a matrix rear centre anyway..the receiver is just doing it rather than being told to do it from the source..sounds just fine..

 

[joseFMJ]

Same here, I have 6.1 speaker set up so why not use all. I use DPLIIx as default with TV and DD movies.

 

[Mark Dill]

Personally, I hate using a rear speaker on 5.1 material. It produces some weird effects in the rear soundstage. For example, when there is a crowd cheering, and it would normally come out of both surround speakers, only the rear center is used and it sounds terrible.

DD-EX and DTS-ES both sound great with the rear center, though. So I am always going into my Onkyo receiver's Speaker config menu and turning the rear center on/off, which is annoying. I would like that button you have, especially if AUTO means it only uses the surround center on DD-EX and DTS-ES material.

 

[Blaine_M]

I leave mine on all the time, the only issue I have found is just as Mark describes, crowd noise many times will come out of that one speaker. I think when I set mine to auto it ends up turning the 6.1 on with about everything.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Will the receiver send the signal to back surround with all DVD's, or just certain ones? That's where I'm confused. Thanks.

 

[Will.MA]

I'm fairly certain it depends on the decoder selected on your receiver, the chip used on the receiver's mainboard for decoding, as well as the mix provided on the disk.

Nowadays, unless you have an older receiver, most entry-level units perform 5.1 playback satisfactorily -- meaning they handle front to back sound field transitions without distraction. I have the Yamaha 5790 set to AUTO. If DTS material is detected, the receiver defaults to thx + DTS ES. If DD, then DD EX + Yamaha 70mm Cinema. I have a seven speaker setup and I have never noticed problems playing back any effect sounds, croud cheering included. If croud noises are a problem for some, based on my own trial and error in the past, I'd venture to say it's because you have the gain set too high for your rear surrounds. Either that or speaker placement may be at fault. My head unit calibrates itself for both conditions using a mic and an internal program so perhaps that's why I no longer have that particular problem.

 

[Blaine_M]

I did some experimenting last night, I've got a Marantz SR5400. When I leave the ES/EX turned on, any DTS or DD material that is in at least 5.1 is played in 6.1. I turned it to auto and that is not the case, it depends how the disc was recorded and some DD EX material didn't trip the stereo into realizing it was EX like SW Episode II. But when I put in Return of the Jedi, it did trip the EX on. When ES/EX is turned on my stereo is still in sort of an auto mode (ie if the sound is just in stereo it switches to PL II), so I'll leave the ES/EX turned on and let the stereo decide what to do with that. I also replayed some crowd stuff and I don't think I had a problem. Tried Gladiator......a couple others were fine as well so I'm not sure what I was thinking in my post earlier.

 

[Blaine_M]

Also Jim to answer your question, if you have a receiver that does 6.1 or 7.1 generally it can take any 5.1 source material and turn that into 6.1/7.1. It matrixes out the rear center channel. Some movies are in DTS ES Discrete (Like all the extended Lord of the Rings movies), but not very many are in discrete. Also true discrete 6.1 can only be found on DTS. DD is always matrixed for EX.