6.1 wasn't worth it...

[mdinno]

So I got bored and hooked up a Rear Center Channel. I ran room correction and set my AVR to EX. Well, it completely quieted down my surround system to almost to the point that I may as well have just a 3.1 front stage. There's just no content for it. Almost everything is still in 5.1 especially TV material. So it's still the Gold Standard.Even most Blu-Rays are 5.1. I don't feel like right now in taking it down so I'm just going to leave my AVR in Auto Surround or Standard and go back to 5.1. Sucks, waste of a good damn speaker.

 

[everettT]

So I got bored and hooked up a Rear Center Channel. I ran room correction and set my AVR to EX. Well, it completely quieted down my surround system to almost to the point that I may as well have just a 3.1 front stage. There's just no content for it. Almost everything is still in 5.1 especially TV material. So it's still the Gold Standard.Even most Blu-Rays are 5.1. I don't feel like right now in taking it down so I'm just going to leave my AVR in Auto Surround or Standard and go back to 5.1. Sucks, waste of a good damn speaker.

Well ATMOS/DTSX is much better than rear surrounds. You didn't mention with what avr or speakers so it's hard to comment futher that that.

 

[mdinno]

Well ATMOS/DTSX is much better than rear surrounds. You didn't mention with what avr or speakers so it's hard to comment futher that that.

I have an older Pioneer Elite SC-71 with 7.1 No Atmos just height and/or rear center. NHT SuperTwo towers with NHT SC2 Center and SuperOne 2.1 surrounds. Even my front stage it's like I added lower sensitive speakers and have to raise the volume to get to where I was with the 5.1.

 

[3db]

I have 6.1 in my main system and I didne experience any issues with the other surround speakers. Its true that there arent all that many 6.1 titles out there.

 

[everettT]

I have an older Pioneer Elite SC-71 with 7.1 No Atmos just height and/or rear center. NHT SuperTwo towers with NHT SC2 Center and SuperOne 2.1 surrounds. Even my front stage it's like I added lower sensitive speakers and have to raise the volume to get to where I was with the 5.1.

If you're 7.1 you have two rear channels and I'm not sure if running it as 1 mono would effect anything. If you are just looking at the volume number and you recalibrated to reference, the number on the dial may be different then what you are use to.

 

[lovinthehd]

Never found 6.1 to be worth much myself. 7.1 is just a bit more versatile but still depends on room mostly I think.

 

[shadyJ]

Dr. Floyd Toole discusses the rear channel in a six-channel system in his book. He cites research that showed the rear channel was nearly useless and wasn't able to contribute anything given the way that human hearing works.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Dr. Floyd Toole discusses the rear channel in a six-channel system in his book. He cites research that showed the rear channel was nearly useless and wasn't able to contribute anything given the way that human hearing works.

I recall this too. IIRC Dolby also found that it was basically useless. A single rear center actually made the presentation worse overall and could comb filter with the front center channel.

 

[mdinno]

I actually get more out of my surrounds from a 2channel played in Dolby Pro Logic then I do from Digital to Digital EX. Switching between Digital and Digital EX was like night and day. My surround speakers were almost non existent and it was all front stage in EX or Neo X: Cinema.

 

[ryanosaur]

With my freshly purchased BMR, courtesy of an acquaintance from that other forum... I am going to experiment with a rear center. This has been something I've been wanting to play with for a little but because I do have several DTS5.1 CDs that utilize the Rear Center. Though the signal is parsed to my Rear Surrounds as is, I know the Marantz supports that Rear Center and if it works out I can utilize those existing Wall mounted Surrounds as Rear Height, and add Front Height later when I get caught up on my Speaker builds.
Just a grand experiment to see for myself.
The BMR is also one of the older cabinets with the curved sides, larger internal volume, and presumably DM hand-built XOs instead of the manufactured ones in my existing BMRs... I will get to see his original design work first hand! Considering I'm learning Speaker Design... this is a win-win for me.

Cheers!