Urgent - 7.1, 6.1 or 5.1 (1 Viewer)

[Louisp]

Due placement issues in our new home I only have room for one or two closely placed (two feet apart) surround back speakers. And, the speaker must be placed on its back pointing upward centered along the back wall.

My question to you is would it be better to:

A. Have 7.1 with the two SB's placed closely together and pointing up centered along the back wall.

B. Have 6.1 with one SB pointing up centered along the back wall.

C. Run 5.1.

My AVR is a HK 525. The speakers are Infinity Alpha's - 50's front, 20's surround, 10's surround back.

Thanks,

 

[CurtisSC]

6.1 systems sometimes suffer from reflection problems from the rear center, making the sound seem like it is coming from the front.

That said, a well positioned 5.1 system gives up very little to a 7.1 system.

From your description of the rear speaker situation, I'd say don't worry about 7.1 and concentrate on 5.1.

 

[Louisp]

Thanks you for prompt reply.

 

[Rokzi]

I have the same receiver. I don't think you need to point the surrounds upwards to the ceiling as long as they are at least 2ft. above your ears at the listening position.

It's probably ok to put the two SB close together since it's going to be the same sound that's going to them (there ain't any 7.1 content that I've vaguely aware of). Think of the SB channels as mono.

How did you position your side surrounds?

 

[Louisp]

The surround right and left speakers are stand mounted and positioned to the side and slighly in front of the listening position.

The surround backs cannot be mounted on the wall, a shelf or on speaker stands due to room decor. For that reason they are about 18 inches off the floor and mounted on their backs so they cannot be seen.

By the way, HK tells me that in Stereo 7 and Log 7 the 525 does send a different signal to the SBL and SBR channels. Personnaly, I beleive you are correct.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Rokzi]

I believe that is correct (and should) particularly when listening to CDs or any of the DSP modes. However in the DD/DTS 6.1 modes back surrounds play as mono as there is only one signal source for both of them. In the DD/DTS 5.1 modes the LBS have the same signal source as the LS, and the RBS as the RS.

I suppose it wasn't right to to simply say that the BSs should be thought of as mono... so it depends on the source and the DSP mode. But like I said , i think you should still be ok.

 

[Rokzi]

Another note... as an alternative 5.1, you can put your current side surrounds and stands away and wire the ones in the back as your side surrounds instead.

You might just want to try that and see if you like that better than the full 7.1 setup.

 

[David Judah]

I have a friend with the same situation(SB's pointing up from behind the sofa)and he made it work quite nicely with some experimentation, so I'd give it a try.

Incidently, DPL IIx sends unique signals to each SB speaker too.

DJ