lets talk about front wides

[CBdicX]

Would using istead of Front Wide a second pair of Surround be more usefull ?
Surround will get more action then Front Wide, even in DSU, and very much in NeuralX, and with a 2nd pair of Surround, to full the gap, they will work most of the time.

I can do Front Wide, I use the Cinema 30, but found most of the time they are silent, where Surround is working.
So I use through the pre-out Surround a 2nd pair of Surround speakers, in the Front Wide spot, and it works great.
My Surrounds, du the the room layout, are behinde the MLP.
So filling this gap with Front Wde was my first attemp, but found they are silent most of the time

"Streaming Atmos" (Neflix-Disney ect) will do almost nothing with Front Wide, they stay silent exept for a very tiny bit of effects in some movies.
(All Star Wars movies on Disney do not use Front Wide at all, 100% silent.......)
Surround is doing 90% more then Front Wide channel.
NeuralX is doing the most for Front Wide, but also uses Surround more the DSU and sounds a bit "darker" , less clear the DSU.

 

[dlaloum]

The problem is the limited availability of "upmixers" for wides...

In theory a pair of wides would have more impact than a pair of rear surrounds.... but in practice the current AVR/AVP software works best with surrounds rather than wides.

Sad really - I find that 7 base channels (with surround rears) is only a marginal improvement over 5... and a substantial pain to set up in my room/space - hence I have stuck with 5...
But if the processors could handle wides well with all the various material (ie: a good upmixer!) - then I would jump to 7 base channels use wides.