? on whether 5.1/6.1 or 7.1 is the right choice

[Unregistered]

First, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post here. I'm new to AV and the information I have found here has been great. One thing that I haven't seen explicitly discussed is whether there is a relationship between the overall size of the room and whether you should select 5.1 6.1 or 7.1 format. I know the ratio of length to width can cause resonance issues, but what about gross room size and format selection?

I have a new room that measures approx 13'x22'. It is going to be a dual use with part having a small dining area, and the rest acting as a family room. Let's say that the family room section will be 13'x11' or 12'.

My question is, should I be looking at 5.1/6.1/or7.1 system? I'm going to be using Athena AS-F2 for mains and plan to use and AS-C1 for center. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mtrycrafts]

First, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post here. I'm new to AV and the information I have found here has been great. One thing that I haven't seen explicitly discussed is whether there is a relationship between the overall size of the room and whether you should select 5.1 6.1 or 7.1 format. I know the ratio of length to width can cause resonance issues, but what about gross room size and format selection?

I have a new room that measures approx 13'x22'. It is going to be a dual use with part having a small dining area, and the rest acting as a family room. Let's say that the family room section will be 13'x11' or 12'.

My question is, should I be looking at 5.1/6.1/or7.1 system? I'm going to be using Athena AS-F2 for mains and plan to use and AS-C1 for center. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

I would say that the it is somewaht easy to decide between 5.1 and 6.1 and that woul dbe the ability to place you surround speakers properly and your seating location. If you have side and back walls and distance from the listening position you should go 6.1.

7.1 is an issue of preference as the effect is matrixed and not even encoded on the disc.

 

[Unregistered]

Ok, that's good input. The couch is going to be toward the middle of the room. If I understand correctly, the 4 & 5's would go immediately behind the listener. If that's not right, please correct me. If it is correct, how close can the rear surrounds be to still be considered properly placed?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[cam]

My experience with 6.1/7.1 was not a sound I was thinking I was going to get. Let me explain. I first set up a 5.1 system with di-poles for my surrounds set exactly to the sides up on the wall. My room is 14 x 25. Sound is absolutely huge. My di-poles give a HUGE 360 degree effect. I love them. I use to have bookshelf speakers for surrounds But I found them distracting at times because I knew exactly where the sound was coming from. When you go to the theater you get a sense of space which is exactly what my di-poles do for me. My receiver supports 6.1 so I did some research and from what I learned as long as your couch is not up against the back wall, then going to 6.1 would be well worth it. I set it up and what was a huge, wide surround field now became very narrow. 5.1 with di-poles made me feel like I was in a huge 360 degree bubble of sound, 6.1 made me feel like I was in a narrow rectangle. I was disappointed but was told that my problem was a needed two speakers for the center rear. I traded my paradigm cc370 that I used for my center rear and I bought a pair of paradigm mini monitors. I put about 7 feet between them and your not going to believe what it did to my surround sound. Squat, it played havoc on my sound. Very narrow, I calibrated everything with my rad shack sound pressure meter so I know it was calibrated properly. I played it this way for another two weeks trying desperately to convince myself that more speakers the better but I finally broke down and returned my speakers for a full refund. I'm sure glad my speaker guys like me, or I would have been stuck with speakers I was not going to use. Don't let me stray you away from 6.1/7.1 because there are alot of people who love it. First dial in a 5.1 system and then see if you can borrow a pair of your buddies speakers and try them out to see if you like the effect. But for me it is 5.1 with di-poles all the way. Cheers!

 

[Unregistered]

Cam,
Thanks for the reply. What you are describing is actually almost exactly the effect I was concerned with. This room is not going to be a "home theater" per-se and I am concerned that 6.1 may just be too many speakers for it. I am llooking to put together a receiver and speaker combination that is going to enhance movies but also provide good music performance without too much trouble.

I have even been considering bagging the surround idea completely and just going with a receiver that can handle TV/DVD audio as well as music in standard stereo. That said, I am still considering a surround receiver. Do you know if most 6.1/7.1 receivers can also be run as a 5.1 config?

Mike

 

[cam]

All receivers can run as a 5.1. It is just a matter of going into the menu and turning on or off whichever speakers. Remember, if you buy a powerful receiver with 6 or 7 channels and you only run it as a 5.1 set up, you will not be wasting those watts to those unused channels. The power supply will be common for all so when run as a 5.1 you will actually have more power to each speaker then if it is run as a 6.1 with 6 or 7 speakers.

 

[Unregistered]

Cam,
That's great to know. Would the same hold true for running the receiver in a Main/Center/Sub config w/o the two rear satelite speakers? I would really like to do this and add the additional speakers later if required.

Mike

 

[mtrycrafts]

Ok, that's good input. The couch is going to be toward the middle of the room. If I understand correctly, the 4 & 5's would go immediately behind the listener. If that's not right, please correct me. If it is correct, how close can the rear surrounds be to still be considered properly placed?

Thanks,

Mike

Not totally clear here. If you are going the 6.1 route, your left and right surround would be on the side walls, left and right of the listening position, and the rear center channel, either 1 or 2 speakers, behind the seating position on the rear wall. So, the 3 rear channels woul dbe 90 degrees apart, not all three on the back wall.

 

[Unregistered]

Thanks for the clarification. I'm still getting up to speed on the different configurations. Right now I am leaning more towards a 5.1 setup instead, but buying a 7.1 for future expansion.

 

[cam]

Cam,
That's great to know. Would the same hold true for running the receiver in a Main/Center/Sub config w/o the two rear satelite speakers? I would really like to do this and add the additional speakers later if required.

Mike

Yes that can be done. Also you can run your mains and surrounds and have no center channel if you so choose. The way you are going by getting the mains and having a timbre matched center to start is the way to go, and then expand as time and money permit. Sometimes people get mains only and then add the center and surrounds later and they find out that they can not locate the center that will match sound wise. Having a non matching center no matter how good it is will wreck your front soundstage, having mismatched surrounds is not as importent for movies but 5 channel music it is crucial. Even if you never go 7.1 it is still a good idea to have a receiver that supports it anyways. Chances are you will not beable to find a 5.1 only receiver.