5.1 vs 7.1

[Tspoon]

Guys, this is my very first post. I've been reading here for a while now, and gotten alot of help. My question is, at this time, would it be advisable to buy a 7.1 receiver instead of a 5.1. My room is relatively small (17 x 15) I am in the process of building a new system. Any help would be appreciated. Also, does anyone know where I could purchase RBH sound speakers other than the RBH website.

 

[MDS]

If you have the room for decent placement of all 7.1 speakers, then sure buy a 7.1 receiver. If you only intend to use 5.1 speakers, then a 7.1 receiver can still be useful because many have a zone 2 capability where you could use the additional 2 channels to drive an extra set of speakers located elsewhere, say in your Patio for when you have a cookout.

It's getting harder to find 5.1 only receivers. If you know you will never do more than 5.1 and don't care for zone 2 capability, you could just stick with a 5.1 receiver and save some money. Onkyo has a new 5.1 receiver - the TX-SR302. Maybe check that out and see if it meets your needs.

 

[Leprkon]

7.1 in and of itself is a myth. There are no recordings currently available that have 7 discrete recorded channels plus the sub. There are also no systems that could decode seven channels if they were there. Please note that top notch systems like the upper line (ie $ 5K) Denons have 9 channels available, but they have no decoding developed to run them.

You can find a few DVD's that really are mixed in 6.1, but every system out there claiming to be 7.1 just uses a processing algorithm to split the sixth channel in two. It is moderately effective, at best, and solely depends on how well the algorithm's guess matches the sound track mix on the DVD as to how good the additional channels will sound.

Somewhere down the line, somebody will have a home version of the "real" 7.1 or 8.1 or 9.1 sounds systems in use at the theaters, but there's nothing out there right now.

For the size room you have, I don't think you would get enough spacing between the side and rear speakers to actually get much out of the extra two speakers. You might get better results using "prescence" speakers, a Yamaha 7.1 technology, that works with front speakers instead of rears, and doesn't need any extra space.

I think Ray from RLAhometheater.com is a retailer for RBH speakers.

 

[sjdgpt]

For the size room you have, I don't think you would get enough spacing between the side and rear speakers to actually get much out of the extra two speakers.

Completely agree, as it is better to "do" a 5.1 system very well, than to "do" a 6.1 or 7.1 system poorly.

If you balance your speakers, your room size could work for 6.1 (maybe). Remember, you can always upgrade at a later date. So start with 5.1 and then build from there.

 

[MDS]

It's true that are no discrete 7.1 discs available and to be accurate there are no 6.1 discrete discs available either (DD-EX, DTS-ES, and DTS-ES 'discrete' actually have the 6th channel maxtrixed into the surround channels and so are technically 5.1), but that has no bearing on whether or not to purchase a 7.1 receiver.

7.1 receivers have 7 amplifiers, matrix decoders like PLLIIx, and DSP modes like 7 channel stereo that will send sound to all 7 speakers. If you have the space for 7 speakers, then a 7 channel receiver may be of value. In that small room, it probably won't work well and he should just stick to 5.1 but could still buy a 7.1 receiver for the other reasons I mentioned.