Simplify 6.1 for me please. (1 Viewer)

[LowellG]

In simple english please. How does 6.1 work in this situation.

6.1 Receiver EX and ES

6.1 DVD encoded movie

5.1 speaker setup

Can I just say no rear center? If so, will the sound that should go to the rear center go to the L/R surrounds? If so, will it project the sound so it sounds like it's coming from a rear channel.

Thanks, I checked for other threads, but they went a little over my head.

 

[LowellG]

One other question, if I only run a 5.1 setup, will the power that would have went to the 6th channel be divided between the other 5 speakers? Thanks.

 

[LowellG]

bumping up for an answer from somebody with more knowledge than me. Thanks.

 

[John Kotches]

Lowell,

The 6.1 feature will only engage when you have 6 (or 7) speakers. In a 7.1 setup the rear channels have mono information.

The information in the 6th channel is common to L/R surround, so you aren't losing anything other than (possibly) some imaging specificity for rear center.

Regards,

 

[derek]

See my faq for more info.

 

[LowellG]

I am debating on whether or not to buy a 6.1 receiver or not. I will most likely not run more than a 5.1 speaker setup for a long time. However, Yamaha mentions a "phantom rear center" with there RXV430 and 530. Is that just a marketing scam, or are they onto something. They also mention "steering technology".

They are the only low end receivers that claim to decode EX and ES with the phantom rear mode. The only bad thing is the I would have to move up to the 630 to get A/B speaker hook-ups. It is a true 6.1 receiver, that's why I am wondering about running it with a phantom rear as the 430 and 530 do.

Onkyo's new 500 does not say it will decode ES and EX like the entry level Yamaha's. The 600 is a true 6.1 so I see why it says that.

Am I making any sense. I want 6.1 decoding with a 5.1 setup. It sounds like it's possible on the 5.1 Yamaha's, but is it possible on a 6.1 setup to run a phantom rear center?

Thanks for all the replies so far. Lowell

 

[Ryan Schnacke]

A "phantom rear center" would work just like a "phantom front center" - tell the receiver you don't have a center speaker and the signal that would have gone there is redirected to appropriate speakers to mimic the effect of sound coming from the center. A 5.1 receiver automatically does this for 6.1 tracks. What would have gone to the rear center is played through the surround right and surround left.

There's no reason to think the Yamaha's are any more capable at doing this than any other 5.1 receiver. If they're using some special processing to "enhance the phantom effect" then that may mean that they're adding reverberations or other effects that are not present in the recording. So all that work you did to put together a system that accurately reproduces the soundtrack is ruined by some processing "feature". Some of the higher-end Yamaha's utilize "front effects channels" and some processing to derive a signal for them. This kind of processing may just be redirecting some sounds in the recording to a new speaker location. I have no idea if this is accurate or effective.

As far as "steering technology" goes, the real steering of sound is built into the recording. Yamaha just may be saying that they've gone to extra efforts to ensure that whats encoded in the right front channel gets reproduced in the right front channel, etc. Its likely that all manufacturers put a lot of effort into this as well, but some just don't feel that it needs to be advertised.

If you think you'll want 6.1 later, then save a step (and some money in the end) and get a 6.1 receiver now. Or at least get a receiver with preamp outputs for all channels so you can make a homebrew 6.1 system later with a spare (or used) pro-logic receiver.