rear center speaker in 6.1 system -- inherently bad?

[johnuustal]

I have heard warnings against 6.1 layouts becayse any speaker directly behind the listener can confuse us into thinking that the sound is coming from the front. Can anyone with a 6.1 system comment on this? Is it really a problem? Is there anything we can do to reduce or eliminate the problem?

 

[mike c]

7.1 was created exactly to remedy that problem.

the 6th channel is reproduced by BOTH the rear surrounds (6th and 7th channels).

voila, no more speaker directly behind you.

 

[no. 5]

Well, I have 6.1 and have yet to experience that problem; partly because there is so little content comes from the rear center, but mostly because my rear center is not directly behind any of my viewing postions.

 

[MDS]

The 'front to back reversal' problem is a potential problem but not necessarily something you will always notice.

 

[supervij]

Yeah, put me down as another guy with 6.1 who doesn't notice the front-to-back reversal problem. I usually watch movies with my gal, rather than by myself, so the rear centre is not directly behind either of us. And even when I watch stuff by myself and I'm sitting in the exact centre, I don't think I've ever noticed the FTBR. (So, basically, ditto no. 5.)

cheers,
supervij

 

[jake5717]

It seems like if the 6th channel was between 2 seating positions it would cancel out some of the effects. For example if there was an effect coming from the rear left speaker the person in the right seat would get the effect from the left but the person in the left seat would get it from both sides. Here’s a lame diagram of what I’m talking about.


.......seat...........seat
L................c.................R

 

[no. 5]

It seems like if the 6th channel was between 2 seating positions it would cancel out some of the effects. For example if there was an effect coming from the rear left speaker the person in the right seat would get the effect from the left but the person in the left seat would get it from both sides. Here’s a lame diagram of what I’m talking about.


.......seat...........seat
L................c.................R

I like the diagram.

Well, if you had a soundtrack that had a brief or constant sound from a single surround and the rear center, then I suppose there could be some 'confusion' for the viewers; but remember that we hear with directionality, and the rear speaker setup for 6.1 mirrors the front speaker setup, so if there is a sound coming out of the FL and the C, and you are sitting between the two, you can still hear that the FR channel is not active; the same is true with the surrounds.

Also, my experience with the rear center is that it is used in audio panning (Pirates Of The Caribbean for example), or by itself (The Village, for example), so I have yet to find its implementation distract from the movie watching experience.... but then again, there aren’t many movies in 6.1.

 

[jake5717]

How about movies that are 5.1? Isnt the 6th channel just a combination of the LR and RR?

 

[no. 5]

How about movies that are 5.1? Isnt the 6th channel just a combination of the LR and RR?

If the movie viewer wants the rear center active, yes it would be some combination of the left and right surrounds.
But that is up to personal preference; when I watch a movie that is in 5.1, I do not have the rear center active.

 

[jake5717]

Do you have to make that adjustment every time on the receiver?

 

[no. 5]

Do you have to make that adjustment every time on the receiver?

On my receiver, I would have to tell it to activate the rear center any time I would want to have it on for 5.1 materiel.
I would guess other receivers are similar.

 

[supervij]

I have to hit only two buttons on my remote to activate EX/ES processing with my gear -- not a whole lot of a pain. But then it's on for the rest of the time the receiver itself is on. And a lot of 5.1 movies decode beautifully with EX/ES processing.

I remember watching Casino Royale with some friends, and during a scene when Bond enters the hotel room, my friends were astonished to hear the sounds of the shower exactly where they should be -- directly behind us, not on both sides of us. Thanks to EX decoding. And the friend who noticed it the most was the one who was bang in the middle of the room, and she didn't think the sound was coming from the front; she turned around in astonishment to look at the rear speaker!

So, yup: it works, and works well.

cheers,
supervij

 

[Dolby CP-200]

Thanks to Dolby-EX encoding LOL, its all in the mix and Digital only means it can have an encoded signal or flag to trigger the switching!

The magic really stated here with the Dolby CP-45 cinema processor which is an improvement over the Dolby CP-50 that was produced around the early 1975 time? The CP-45 came at around, I think late of 1998? The Dolby SA-10 around early 1999 and was installed for the use of Star Wars Episode 1 the Phantom Menace and few other films of that nature that had so called “EX encoding.”

Dolby CP-45

Dolby SA-10

Also I own “Casino Royale” region 2 DVD and the mix sounds great on the surrounds that pass though from the main AVR Kenwood KRF-X9050D THX Dolby digital to the Yamaha DSR-70 Dolby Pro-Logic which works in the basic way as the Dolby SA-10 would.

Its magic is in the stereo or split-surround mix if you can figure out how to make it go even further in the home like how I’ve done it, I’ll tip my hat to you.