Receiver question

[PJL]

Hey guys Im new to the forum so please bear with me haha. My current 5.1 system consists of:
Receiver :Marantz 6007
Fronts: B&W 684
Centre: B&W HTM 62
Rears: B&W 686
Sub: B&W ASW 610XP

I'm thinking of adding another 2 speakers to change the system to a 7.1 so with this my question?

Exactly how does the power delivery between the channels on a receiver/amp work?
Say for example the power delivery on an amp is 100w per channel and it has 7 channels so the total power of the amp is 700w. If you ad 2x 350w speakers wil the amp use the total power on these 2 speakers or still only 100 w per channel?

Reason Im asking is that my system is pretty much perfect at he moment and I dont want to lose power to the other speakers by adding 2 more

Thanks in advance!

 

[ImcLoud]

Your 2 additional speakers won't make any noticeable changes to the rest of your system, IMO I would stick to the 5 channel, there is very little material recorded in 7.1, and when I tried 7 I noticed when the rears fired it sounded unnatural and pulled you from the movie.... theres a list of the true 7.1 hd blu rays on Movie Stats Page - Blu-rayStats.com , not many on here I would even want to watch, lol.. I think there is only around 40 and 10 of them are start treks films, lol.. Even on the non dolby 7.1 , I can't find 3 movies I would ever buy...

And it doesn;t seem like more movies are getting recorded in it either, 5.1 or 5.2 is about as good as it gets, I have a friend of mine that has a 8.4 system {pretty much a 7.1 with a sub in each corner and a rear center} and he has all decent equipment, the room is treated, theater seats, its a great experience but when that rear center lights it rips you from the movie material, where when your 5. surrounds light up you notice them but they don't pull you from the action, they aren't there to surprise you they are there to make you feel closer to the screen and with the rears they surprise you, and pull your attention away... It just doesn't feel natural...

Anyway welcome to the forum, Im sure you will get some great answers and opinions form the guys around here...

PS again to answer your original question, the two extra channels will not make the rest of your system sound different, and if you want to spend some more money on your system, upgrade or double the subs that will get you bang for your buck..

 

[PJL]

Thanks man! do you reckon it will make any differance when listening to music?

 

[ImcLoud]

Thanks man! do you reckon it will make any differance when listening to music?

When listening to music you should be in direct/stereo mode 2.1 or 2.0 so it shouldn't change anything....

 

[psbfan9]

Thanks man! do you reckon it will make any differance when listening to music?

Hi PJL, Welcome to the forum.

A couple of things to keep in mind; Your Marantz wattage rating isn't continuous. And, that 110w rating is also for two channels driven, not for all 7. You would have to add an external power amp to get a continuous wattage going to the speakers.

My question to you would be what are trying to achieve with adding two more speakers? If you're happy with system now, there may only be a subtle, very subtle, difference when adding two more speakers. If possible can you borrow another pair of speakers to try to see if you want to spend more money?
You have a very nice set up now, but if you're unhappy, the best change you can make is to upgrade the 5.1 you have now.

Listening to music could make a small difference but only if you listen in multi channel. I prefer two channel for myself, but some prefer multi channel listening.

 

[PJL]

Hey Thanks for all the help! I do prefer listening in multi channel and in all honesty I use the system alot more for listening to music then I do for watching movies My living area is very big and very odly shaped Its very difficult to describe the shape Its shaped like an L with the front of the room at the long part of the L but theres another room extending from the left side of the L The bottom part of the L is a pool room and I thought if I added another 2 speakers at the back I would get a bit more sound to the pool room. Psbfan9 Could you please explain a bit more about continous wattage Im going to google it because Im really interested in every last detail about setting up a perfect system Thanks all!

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum, and nice setup!

Say for example the power delivery on an amp is 100w per channel and it has 7 channels so the total power of the amp is 700w. If you ad 2x 350w speakers wil the amp use the total power on these 2 speakers or still only 100 w per channel?

Reason Im asking is that my system is pretty much perfect at he moment and I dont want to lose power to the other speakers by adding 2 more

In a nutshell, I think that you'll be fine power-wise. I believe that the peak power output is limited to a certain value, so if you distribute that over seven speakers versus five, then yes...the total power is less per speaker. That said, the important thing is - do you ever come close to hitting that limit? If not, then you'll never notice and running seven speakers will be just fine. Also, keep in mind that the rear channels don't tend to have anywhere near as much audio going to them as the front three, so they don't require as much average power.

Something to consider when moving from 5.1 to 7.1 is the placement of the speakers. There are guides to speaker placement (including the one linked here, with some images below), and you might find that you end up moving your "surround" speakers. If you do move those speakers, then 5.1 material will sound different to you because your surround speakers will be in a different location than they have been so far. I noticed this right off when I went from 5.1 to 7.1. My surround speakers in a 5.1 were located where the "surround back" speakers are in a 7.1 system, so the speakers used for 5.1 "surround" are more off to the side than I was used to. I find that I often use surround modes on my receiver that convert 5.1 to 7.1 to smooth out the back sound stage for my liking. If you already have yours setup like the 5.1 placement shown below, then you really won't be moving them much.

5.1 Placement

7.1 Placement

 

[PJL]

Thanks Adam! For your back speakers How high up did you possision them? Im stuck there a bit because if I ad rears I will be forced to possision them a bit higher then advised they will be just below the ceiling but because the room is almost 11meters long if I angle them just a little bit down I reckon they would be firing at about the heigth where you will be sitting but unfortunately they will still be ceiling heigth at the back room : (

Thanks all for the help Any of you dont perhaps have a link where I can learn more about setting up the speakers from the receiver? The receiver has a nice feature where it sets up the speakers for you but would really like to know what each setting actually means

 

[Adam]

Hi. Here's a look at my back speaker setup. I don't have the center one connected - I was running a 6.1 before I moved to 7.1 (I actually forgot all about that ). I just haven't taken the speaker down, yet. My rear speakers aren't set up per those placement guides because I have a sliding glass door on one side and a doorway on the other...oh, well. The speaker stands are 24-25" tall. There are a number of folks that place their speakers up high because that's where they'll fit, though.

Regarding the receiver settings, are there some in particular that you would like to know more about?

 

[PJL]

Well all basically haha I really dont want to waste your time because somewhere on the web def will be most to know but Im talking about things like audio delay,stage width, stage heigth, crossover as well as the settings on the back of the sub: low pss freq,low pas filter, bass extension eq basically any settings that I must be aware of to help me get the best out of the system I dont want someone to come do it for me because then I wont have learned anything

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

If the 6007 can output 90 WPC x 5CH driven, then 7CH driven will decrease some, like to 60 WPC x 7CH. But that's usually enough for most cases, especially if you use subwoofers.

 

[psbfan9]

Hey Thanks for all the help! I do prefer listening in multi channel and in all honesty I use the system alot more for listening to music then I do for watching movies My living area is very big and very odly shaped Its very difficult to describe the shape Its shaped like an L with the front of the room at the long part of the L but theres another room extending from the left side of the L The bottom part of the L is a pool room and I thought if I added another 2 speakers at the back I would get a bit more sound to the pool room. Psbfan9 Could you please explain a bit more about continous wattage Im going to google it because Im really interested in every last detail about setting up a perfect system Thanks all!

Hi PJL, your receiver is rated at 110w, but that is only when using two channels. It may hit 110w peaks when all 5 channels being run but that isn't a 'constant' wattage output like you would get with an external amp. For instance the ATI AT1805 power amp is rated at 180 watts per channel, with all channels driven. So that 180w is constant.

As someone else already mentioned, your receivers power is fine for the set up you currently have. But, a little extra power never hurts.

Have you considered setting up a second zone and having speakers in the pool room?

 

[PJL]

Thanks guys Looks like at the end of the day a seperate system for the pool room would be the best option Thanks all!