7.1 to 5.1

[LoungeRat]

So first off...The Hobbit sounds great. Love native lossless 7.1 movies. Ok...so assuming and hoping Hollywood goes this direction, I'm curious as to this scenario as it relates to my basement.

I have an "almost" properly set up 7.1 in my great room. For my new basement theater though I'm thinking the way the room will get set up I don't think 7.1 will work due to the couch mushed up against the wall. I'm trying to tell myself that it'll be ok because:

• I have dipoles (ML Motion FX) for surrounds.
• I can re-use the Motion 4's for front height speakers or in my bedroom so they won't sit unused

My first question is this. I realize I'd keep the lossless quality in a 5.1 setup, but if Peter Jackson decided to put a dwarf sneeze solely the rear-right channel and I'm not using 7.1 am I just outa luck or will the sneeze get bumped over to my right surround?

Next question. Could/Should I angle some rears down from the ceiling (maybe 1-2' behind and 5' on either side - about 6 or 7 feet from my ears as the crow flies) and move my surrounds a bit forward and use my position presets to only turn on the 7.1 when there's only 1 or 2 people watching (otherwise other listeners would be way too close to the rears)?

Here's my room. Couch on the right side...I'm estimating 12-14' wide sectional, so it's big. Also of note, I plan to have a small soffit hanging from the ceiling on the right side of the couch, along the back wall, and across the sofa table on the left of the couch. The surrounds will get angled down from this. I'm using the soffit to add some ceiling accent lighting and to give the room the feel of it having 2 separate spaces.



Last question, more of just a curiosity. 9.1 is adding the front height speakers. If/When I sell my house, how would I advertise a wired theater with 5.1 AND front heights (but no rears)?

 

[LoungeRat]

To respond to the obvious easy fix - shifting the room 90 degrees clockwise and doing it the long way like an actual theater... I just can't. Had it that way for a while and I want more of a hang-out area with kickass theater capabilities rather than a 3-4 seat dedicated theater.

 

[j_garcia]

7.1 is overrated IMO. I had a 6.1 setup for a while and went back to 5.1 after moving because I didn't have a place to put the rear center. It made very little difference and still sounds great.

You lose no information even with discrete 7.1 audio tracks because it is rerouted to the speakers you have.

 

[LoungeRat]

Awesome thanks. That answers 66% of my questions. Mr Garcia - you are my favorite person on this forum you know right?

 

[j_garcia]

LOL. Depending on whether you use analog or digital, you simply need to configure the device processing the sound (if analog the player, if digital the receiver) for the type of setup you have (5.1) and you will get the whole deal.

 

[LoungeRat]

Good ... I do want the whole deal.

 

[vecc76]

I would have to agree with J_Garcia, 5.1 or in my case 5.2 if setup properly sounds excellent. I recently went back to 5.2 after a few upgrades, and it made a huge difference on sound quality!! I just watched snow white and the huntsman and the horses breathing to my right and left were a little to real Oh and I didn't even have any cocktails

 

[fuzz092888]

I'll be the odd man out here. I love 7 channels and would be up to 9 or 11 if I had room. Even for movies in native 5 I let the receiver upmix to 7 channels. For native 7 channel movies like The Hobbit I think my setup really shines. At lower volume it might be a bit less noticeable, but when I watched The Hobbit I was up to -5 for most of the movie and the amount of rear surround content made having them more than worth it. Plus I felt that with the extra two channels it made the sound stretch well behind me and helped extend the overhead sound back as well. For instance when the eagles flew overhead, it wouldn't have sounded as if they were coming from behind and overhead without those rear surround channels.

YMMV, but I love my extra channels and notice a huge difference when they're active.

 

[j_garcia]

When you don't have 7 channels, the rears should be behind IMHO, so the sounds that come from behind will still come from behind In my 6.1 setup I did notice that it expanded the rear stage and transitions from front to rear were more discrete. For the most part though, I can't say that it truly upped my experience. I had it that way for a long time and when I went back I was surprised myself that I really didn't feel a need to figure out a way to get the rear center back even though I had a very large room that would easily have supported it - I would have had to stand mount it in the middle of the room though :{

 

[fuzz092888]

When you don't have 7 channels, the rears should be behind IMHO, so the sounds that come from behind will still come from behind In my 6.1 setup I did notice that it expanded the rear stage and transitions from front to rear were more discrete. For the most part though, I can't say that it truly upped my experience. I had it that way for a long time and when I went back I was surprised myself that I really didn't feel a need to figure out a way to get the rear center back even though I had a very large room that would easily have supported it - I would have had to stand mount it in the middle of the room though :{

True, what is it, 20 degrees behind the main seating position? I had my side surrounds in about that position before I moved up to 7 channels, but for whatever reason (my imagination included) find the extra two channels help create a more enveloping sound bubble, while also creating a more seamless transition (or maybe more depth?) to sounds that come from behind and sweep around the room.

I can guess that in my own setup, if I was to use a single speaker as my rears instead of the two I have it would drastically change what I hear and not for the better. I'm not saying going up to 7 would definitely change your experience for the better either, I just know that these rear surrounds do something I really enjoy that I highly doubt a single speaker could do in their stead.

This is also from a guy who's invested more than $400 in the side surrounds alone so there's that as well.

 

[j_garcia]

I had a near perfect room for 6.1 in that setup when I had it too and I also had to stand mount the rear center because that back wall was entirely glass. I was using an actual center channel as my rear center, so it did a pretty good job and all 3 surrounds were at ear level. The problem was my seating position, not the speakers, but it still sounded good. I am not saying 7.1 isn't worth it at all, but it won't benefit in every room and if it means going with four cheaper surrounds vs two really good ones, I'd opt for the better speakers. In the OPs case, the speakers are already bought, but sitting against the wall with them right there is less than ideal and is a good example of when I most likely wouldn't do it.

Up until recently my surrounds were identical to my mains and they weren't cheap I swapped them to my other system as mains in a 2.1 config and moved those to the primary system. My current surrounds list for around $750 fully built to the specs I have them at, but I bought them used and rebuilt them myself so they cost a little over $400 also

 

[3db]

Room layout plays such a big roll. I don't think that moving up to 7.1 from 6.1 would benefit me at all.

 

[LoungeRat]

Well...I have no "behind" in my setup plans...so rears are probably out of the question. If someone told me I'd lose out on possible 2 channels worth of audio material I'd maybe consider moving my room around...but if it gets re-routed I'm cool with it. I agree though - I do really like the Dolby IIx and having the rears on in my upstairs living room. I always go in and notch the surrounds and rears up .5db or 1db after my auto-setup does its thing.