7.1 same as 6.1 is this true

[estehepens]

Hello

I was told by a certain store sales person that the 7.1 is and will alway be the same as the 6.1. Meaning that the sound in the last two speakers gives the same sound it is not a seperate sound. He said unless i had a large room 6.1 will be fine.

In other words, the back sound will be like having a center speaker behind you regardless of 6.1 or 7.1.


hope this makes sense

 

[MDS]

7.1 can only be created by a matrix decoder - there are no discrete or matrixed 7.1 formats at present.

ProLogic IIx can take any (analog or digital) 2 channel, 5.1, or 6.1 format and extract 2 stereo rear channels. The two rear channels are stereo and hence different. THX certified receivers also have THX post-processing, one of which is adaptive decorrelation, which will also create independent stereo rears. '7 Channel Stereo' will also have two independent rear surround channels because it simply duplicates the left and right front channels to the sides and rears (and sums them to mono for the center). So for those cases, the salesman is wrong.

You can use 7 speakers with a 6.1 format or decoding mode that creates 6.1 and in that case the two rear channels will be identical - just played back over two speakers. So in that case, the salesman is correct.

The problem with many salesman is that they only know half the story. They aren't as familiar or experienced with the technology as forum regulars.