Noob question about 5.1 vs 7.1

[Tungsten06GT]

Hi,

I am just starting acquiring all of the parts and pieces for my home theater system. I have purchased the Pionner 21txh receiver, which is 7.1. Is it ok to use that receiver with only a 5.1 setup for now? Do blurays give the option for 5.1 or 7.1 systems, and will I just set up through the receiver that I'm using 5.1?

 

[MidnightSensi]

Yes, if you don't use the extra two channels it will output 5.1

Most movies are 5.1 anyways, and in a smaller room 5.1 generally works better and is significantly easier to setup correctly (acoustically, not physically).

 

[shadyJ]

Yes, it's ok to use 5.1, and most blue rays do not even take advantage of 7.1. Unless your room is large, and you are in the center, you probably don't have anything to gain by 7.1 anyway.

 

[Tungsten06GT]

For 5.1, will I use the surround channels or the "surround back" channels?

My room is 13 x 20 and we will be sitting in the center, but I'm still going to be keeping it 5.1 for now...

 

[supervij]

For 5.1, use the surround channels. The surround back channels are for 7.1.

7.1 starts making sense when you have a larger room, or when people are sitting off to the sides of the room, or when for whatever reason your surrounds are close to 90 degrees or slightly more.

If it's just you watching movies, or usually just you, then 5.1 is enough.

(I added a rear centre speaker and went 6.1 and I quite like it -- but that's because my living room has an odd configuration and I couldn't get the surrounds very far back (maybe 92 or 93 degrees), so they became easily localizable. A rear centre reduced that problem considerably.)

cheers,
supervij