7.1 or 5.1? Should we get more speakers?

[StarLily]

Hello!

My fiance and I have a Yamaha RX-V663 reciever that is capable of 7.1 surround sound. But when we bought it, we were in a tiny apartment and the salesman said that there weren't many things that offered 7.1 surround sound so we didn't need to get those extra two speakers.

Well now we have bought a house and our family room is much bigger and better shaped for a surround sound system. We've also noticed that many of the Blu-Ray movies we've watched and will watch have TrueHD audio tracks that are in 7.1.

So we're wondering, if we only have the 5 speakers, what's happening to those other channels of audio? Is there audio that we are losing because we're missing two speakers? What happens if we get two more speakers and then we watch a movie that's only in 5.1, will those extra speakers buzz or throw off the surround? What if the audio is just stereo? Is 7.1 sound noticeable or worth it?

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

 

[ThA tRiXtA]

You're not really "losing" anything, your just not hearing any ambient rear center channel noise. If you have the budget and the space I would go for it just to keep up with the format... but if you're really curious before you spend the $$$ for extra speakers you can do a little experiment.

Take your left and right surround and temporarily hook them up behind you as rear left and right center channels. Put in a few of your favorite movies that has a lot of surround sound activity. I think you'll be quite surprised how little comes out of them.

As for watching a movie in 5.1 and having those two speakers sitting idle, your receiver will not out put any signal to them unless the movie is in 7.1 format.

You can however matrix 7.1 to them all them, if I am not mistaken about your receiver.

Good luck friend.

 

[davidtwotrees]

If you have the space I would go 7.1. Not so much for movies, but for listening to music........if you use one of the surround sound mixes to listen to music, you WILL get quite a bit of sound from that extra pair of speakers, and it will make a diff in a bigger room........imho.

 

[WINGNUT4772]

I would. Just set your receiver to a 7.1 matrix such as PLIIX or THX and it will sound very nice.

 

[Cpt.America]

You aren't losing any audio. If you play a 7.1 track through 5.1, the sounds that would normally come out of your surround rears, get combined into what is played through your left and right surrounds.

 

[EJ1]

What's the size of your room and what's the layout like?

 

[StarLily]

room layout

The room is about 25' x 15'. It has a very tall vaulted ceiling and carpeted floor. The TV is in the center of one 15' wall with a fireplace at the opposite end and our primary seating in the center of the room. To the right of the TV the room opens out into an attached dining area.

We have two tower speakers just to the right and left of the TV and two smaller speakers that will be mounted on the walls on either side and about 2 1/2 feet behind where we sit. If we got two more speakers, they would go on either side of the fireplace on the wall opposite the TV (about 10 feet behind us).

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You know if I ever get a huge HT room, I might just get another tower (BP7000) for the Center channel and 2 more towers (BP7001) for the back surrounds just for the heck of it.

To me, a large room doesn't quite look right with just 5 speakers.

I'm not sure if that will enhance the sound at all, but it would make the room look good.

Keep in mind that most of the movie soundtrack (50% or more) comes from the Center speaker. The other majority comes from the Front Left & Right speakers. So the surrounds really don't do very much, except add ambience & panning effects and look cool IMO.

 

[jostenmeat]

Hello!

My fiance and I have a Yamaha RX-V663 reciever that is capable of 7.1 surround sound. But when we bought it, we were in a tiny apartment and the salesman said that there weren't many things that offered 7.1 surround sound so we didn't need to get those extra two speakers.

Well now we have bought a house and our family room is much bigger and better shaped for a surround sound system. We've also noticed that many of the Blu-Ray movies we've watched and will watch have TrueHD audio tracks that are in 7.1.

So we're wondering, if we only have the 5 speakers, what's happening to those other channels of audio? Is there audio that we are losing because we're missing two speakers? What happens if we get two more speakers and then we watch a movie that's only in 5.1, will those extra speakers buzz or throw off the surround? What if the audio is just stereo? Is 7.1 sound noticeable or worth it?

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

IMO, if you have significant space behind you, 7.1 is well worth it, even if just as matrixed 5.1 tracks.

Either way, you don't lose any info, or gain any extra info, whichever track you use, for whichever setup you use.

Its sorta like scaling for a tv. We don't use separate displays for 480, 720, 1080. We have it scaled for our display. Matrixing is sorta like that for a 7.1 track.

The biggest benefit is, well, surround wrap. Stable imaging, as one set of surrounds do not need to try and straddle the side and rear areas.

The one piece of differing advice I usually give between 5.1 or 7.1 is placement. If 5.1, you will want a somewhat obtuse angle so that the surround is straddling side + rear areas. Something like 110 degrees that is often recommended.

Once you go 7.1, try to put the sides at 90 degrees, and the rears behind you. There are also different suggestions as far as spacing between rears. I believe THX Ultra setting would recommend within 4 ft of each other, but I would prefer the best stereo imaging you can get from rears.

So, one way to figure that out is to temporarily hook up main channels to the rears, and feed some stereo music. When you get the best rear imaging, I think you found your spots.

Personally, if I had to choose, Id take 7.1 lossy over 5.1 lossless for my HT viewing.

Music could be different.

 

[Cpt.America]

Keep in mind that most of the movie soundtrack (50% or more) comes from the Center speaker. The other majority comes from the Front Left & Right speakers. So the surrounds really don't do very much, except add ambience & panning effects and look cool IMO.

Which for me, dramatically increases the overall audio experience when watching a movie. I wouldn't downplay the importance of the ambience and panning affects.