Advice on # of speakers

[LT4play]

Newbie here, please forgive the stupid questions...

My family room is wired for 7.1 (two fronts, two sides, two rears, center, sub). I have the Denon AVR-2105 receiver. I am trying to decide if I should buy six main room speakers and do a 7.1 setup (using bookshelf speakers mounted on the wall), or if I should buy just four speakers and do a 5.1 setup.

I had always planned on doing a 7.1 setup, but the guy at the audio store yesterday told me it was a waste (and to do 5.1) because movies are only encoded in 5.1.

Also.. How do I read the literature for the AVR-2105 (just purchased it)..
It says ( http://www.denon.ca/hapdfs/avr2105lit.pdf )
"
 Dual-Channel Surround Back Power Amps for 7.1 Surround
The AVR-2105 is equipped with a total of 7 power amps including one for the Surround Back channel speakers to give you more clearly defined sound localization at the rear for 6.1-channel surround sources such as DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, DTS-ES Matrix 6.1, Dolby Digital EX., Dolby Pro Logic IIx and DTS-ES NEO:6.
"
What does it mean, it has amps for 7.1 but only supports 6.1? I don't understand..

 

[mike c]

6 speakers for 7.1 or 4 speakers for 5.1? i don't understand why the number of speakers are one less than 7 and 5.

5.1 vs. 7.1
movies are starting to come out as 6.1 ... but the movies that are 5.1 are converted by the receiver to play on 7.1

 

[CaliHwyPatrol]

My receiver is capable of 6.1, therefore I run it that way. I figure, if it can do it, then hey, why not?


~Chuck

 

[j_garcia]

The guy at the store isn't entierly off base, but he doesn't exactly sound like he's helping you. I had a 6.1 setup until I moved. I'm now back to 5.1 and I can't say the difference is much, which is why it hasn't been an issue for me to get back to 6.1. There are plenty of 6.1 movies out there now, with more coming every day.