7.1 source -> 6.1, 5.1, or 2.1 receiver

[pari]

Hi,

My question is about playing multiple channel sources with a receiver set at lower number of channels than the source.

What happens when:

1- a 7.1 source is played with a 6.1 receiver? Would the single 6.1 back speaker be ½ as loud as the two 7.1 backs?

2- a 7.1 source played with a 5.1 receiver?

3- a 7.1 source played with a 2.1 receiver?


for 7.1 to 2.1, is the center speaker content sent to front speakers? If so, would both fronts play the center the same way?

Do different receivers handle the missing channels the same way?

Thansks.

PS, I’ve learned a lot about AV by reading this board.

 

[MDS]

There are no 7.1 sources. You can only get 7.1 by using a matrix decoder like ProLogic IIx.

But to answer the general question of what happens when the source is multi-channel and the receiver is set to Stereo or you don't have all 5.1 speakers:

- If the receiver is in Stereo mode or you only have two speakers connected, the processor will downmix 5.1 into 2 channels. All the channels are effectively folded into 2 and are played by the front speakers.

- If you don't have a center channel, the center channel is distributed evenly among the left and right front speakers. Likewise, if you don't have surrounds, the surround channels are folded into the front channels.

 

[agarwalro]

What makes a receiver 2.1 or 5.1 or 6.1 is the ability to connect or input individual channes to it. So,

2.1 receiver will have Left, Right (generally they are 2.0 with processing to give a sub out)

5.1 receiver will have Left, Right, Center, Left Surround, Right Surround and Subwoofer/ LFE

6.1 will have a Rear Surround in addition to the connection for 5.1

So the question is, where will you connect the 7th channel in a receiver that is anything less than 7.1?

 

[j_garcia]

There are no 7.1 sources. You can only get 7.1 by using a matrix decoder like ProLogic IIx.

The PS3 is a 7.1 source and there are games that currently make use of that technology, though that is via HDMI only. Blu-ray and HD-DVD also support 7.1 channel capability via HDMI also, though I am not sure if there are any titles out yet that have such tracks.

 

[supervij]

The Blu-ray House of 1000 Corpses has 7.1 DTS-HD. That's the only one I've heard of so far.

cheers,
supervij

 

[j_garcia]

Too bad it was a lousy movie... If you have a player with multichannel analog out, it should be able to pass that via analog as well. PS3 only has stereo analog and HDMI.

 

[jcPanny]

Receiver Setup

Pari,
Most new HT receivers are 7.1 and a few entry level models are 5.1. You can configure in the receiver setup whether you have a 2.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, etc. speaker configuration and the receiver will output the audio to the correct channels.

 

[agarwalro]

Wonder where Pari went?