7.1 Reciever & only 5 speakers

[nb79]

Hi,

I am looking at buying a 7.1 Reciever but only really have room for 5 speakers at the moment. Reason for buying the 7.1 Reciever is that i am moving to a bigger house within 12 months and will then have room for more speakers and don't want to have to buy another reciever.

Will it be fine if i only connect 5 speakers? ( Missing the Surround Back L/R)

Obviously i won't get the full audio experience from the Bluray movies, but will i lose audio channels? will it majorly disrupt the audio? Will I still recieve a good audio experience?

i have a Onkyo TX-SR606

thanks

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Yes that is fine. The surround back effects will just be sent to the surround speakers.

 

[Adam]

You'll be just fine with five speakers. You'd just set up the receiver to not use the surround back channels. I think that it will matrix the surround back audio channels into the two rear speakers that you have connected (I'm not positive about that, though, especially for the newer codecs).

So, do you already have an Onkyo 606, or is that the one that you are thinking about getting?

EDIT: P-Dawg (aka "The Man") beat me to it.

 

[ThA tRiXtA]

Your getting slow in your old age Adam Gotta turn it up a notch

 

[Adam]

Your getting slow in your old age Adam Gotta turn it up a notch

So true, so true.

I'd like to think that it's because Greg is getting faster, though.

 

[nb79]

I have ordered a Onkyo TX-SR606, then got into a panic that I may have stuffed up because of the 5 speaker thing

 

[ParadigmDawg]

A lot of us just run a 5.1.

I have ordered a Onkyo TX-SR606, then got into a panic that I may have stuffed up because of the 5 speaker thing

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yes that is fine. The surround back effects will just be sent to the surround speakers.

You'll be just fine with five speakers. You'd just set up the receiver to not use the surround back channels. I think that it will matrix the surround back audio channels into the two rear speakers that you have connected (I'm not positive about that, though, especially for the newer codecs).

So, do you already have an Onkyo 606, or is that the one that you are thinking about getting?

EDIT: P-Dawg (aka "The Man") beat me to it.

And these guys are both RAT A$$.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

A lot of us just run a 5.1.

I actually run 6.6.6.

J/K.

Surrounds are way overrated IMO. Sure, they are nice for that ambience effect. But when you realize that the Center speaker comprises 50% of the movie soundtrack and the Left & Right most likely take up 30-40%, the surrounds aren't getting much, except for the ambience thing.

 

[Adam]

I really like my surround speakers. I also run 5.1, and I jumped on the Dolby Digital train as soon as it passed through town back in 1997. I love the discrete audio in the rears. Maybe I'll step up to 7.1 one of these days, but my room layout (and, as mentioned in other threads, crushing apathy) doesn't really lend itself to adding two more speakers in the proper locations.

Take that for what it's worth. I am, after all, a RAT A$$.

 

[Blankman]

Question on sound quality

I'm planning to buy a bluray player with internal 7.1 decoding, keep my old 5.1 system, connect the bluray's audio output via 7.1-ch analog connections. My purpose is more on taking advantage of the lossless format rather than add more channels.
If the equipment decodes 7.1 audio and you tell the system to disable the 2 rear surrounds, then run it on a 5.1 system-- correct me if I'm wrong-- but won't that revert the audio back to a lossy 5.1 format? Or will it keep the lossless format and just try to skip on the missing channels? Pls bear in mind all set-up will be done on the player. Also, will the player's processing enable the side and rear surround to get matrixed?
I guess my interest is more on the quality of the 5.1 audio rather than the additional channels running through it. As mentioned, I want to take advantage of the lossless format.
Appreciate any feedback. Thanks!