Upgrade my reciever, or my 5.1 to 7.1?

[airnmol]

I have a Sony str dg800, Standard receiver with 7.1 capablities. I have a 5.1 set of polk audio rm6750's, and an extra subwoofer. my room is currently set up 5.1 , i have some gift cards and money to upgrade either my 5.1 to a 7.1 or even a 6.1, or i can upgrade my reciever for one that has dolby digital tru hd, and dts hd and master. So i guess my question is which will be a better use of my money? which will make the biggest impact, does a person notice the diffeference in the sound fields, or not worry about expanding my speakers setup espcially being most movies don't even use 7.1? Please feed me help or opinions. thanks

 

[m_vanmeter]

I don't believe you will notice much of a difference in the audio codecs with the limitations of a small speaker set like the RM6750's. The perception of sound quality has much more to do with the quality of speakers than with the electronics.

Your DG800 has what Sony calls "Multichannel IN" inputs for direct connection to a blu-ray player with separate channel pre-outs. This would allow the blu-ray player to decode the HD audio and send it to each channel on the receiver directly (if the player had pre-outs, some do, some don't). So you don't need the receiver to handle audio over HDMI when it can handle it as direct input.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Hey Airnmol,
Welcome to Audioholics and
Please try to avoid in future from double posting.
About upgrading avr to 7.1? Nah, better spend your money getting better speakers, room treatment.

 

[airnmol]

vanmeter, i use my ps3 as my blu ray player, and i use optical for my audio, i use hdmi for my ps3 and directv, into my reciever that switches my inputs for me and sends it to the plasma. So this pre outs that you talk of, is that better than optical? Also is pre outs like a rca style for each channel? < may be a stupid question. I'm pretty up on my electronics but not everything. Also your opinion, is optical the best or would fiber optic sound better? I have money to do something with and just want to use it the best way possible. thanks

 

[airnmol]

Bored, sorry i'm new on here as you can tell. I"ll keep that in mind next time. Are my speakers not that good? I know i didn't spend a fortune on them, but that's all i could spend at the time, which even then i had to talk the wife into spending more on them. lol So when you say upgrade, do you mean to a 6.1 or 7.1 or do you mean upgrade my whole speaker system? Also since that would be out of my budget what should i do, get matching polk for my 6,7.1 or do you recommend other speakers? Also my reciever is 7.1 capable i just have to buy the extra speakers. which speakers, I started the post because i didn't know if it would be worth it to upgrade my perfectly good receiver to get dolby digital tru hd and dts hd, if it makes that big of a difference. But know i will upgrade my speakers, maybe i will move my low grade polks to my rear surrounds and buy two matching higher quality polks for my front surrounds? and suggestions?
thanks...

 

[JerryLove]

Bored, sorry i'm new on here as you can tell. I"ll keep that in mind next time. Are my speakers not that good? I know i didn't spend a fortune on them, but that's all i could spend at the time, which even then i had to talk the wife into spending more on them. lol So when you say upgrade, do you mean to a 6.1 or 7.1 or do you mean upgrade my whole speaker system?

I believe he means "replace your existing speakers with better ones, starting with your L/C/R.

Also since that would be out of my budget what should i do, get matching polk for my 6,7.1 or do you recommend other speakers? Also my reciever is 7.1 capable i just have to buy the extra speakers. which speakers, I started the post because i didn't know if it would be worth it to upgrade my perfectly good receiver to get dolby digital tru hd and dts hd, if it makes that big of a difference.

You won't really get to enjoy the difference between DTS-Master / DD-Tru and the major codecs you can listen to on your gear. It's not going to be a worth the upgrade.

But know i will upgrade my speakers, maybe i will move my low grade polks to my rear surrounds and buy two matching higher quality polks for my front surrounds? and suggestions?

That's not a bad idea: but you really want three (L/C/R) if you are upgrading speakers in a 5.x / 7.x system. If your L/R speakers have different timbre than your center: it's likely to be very noticeable.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I believe he means "replace your existing speakers with better ones, starting with your L/C/R.

Thanks, This is exactly that I meant to say !

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

You could get 3 identical speakers for L/C/R , use your Sat's at surround and enjoy much bigger and open sound then your current satellite speakers (Nothing wrong with em, expect they must be crossed-over at higher points - about 130-150 Hz - which makes subway position easily locatable - which pretty much forces you to keep sub in front of you - this is why at any Bose demo sub is ALWAYS directly in front of listener, sales person would even forces you to stand at certain point.)

These:
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/MORDMS304SLV/MORDAUNT-SHORT/Ms304-Premier-2-way-3-Center-Channel-Speaker-Silver-/1.html might be not bad choice for you as Mordaunt-short is very good established brand, plus at a4l you are getting very good deal on them. Just add pair of Speaker stands of L/R. They rated at 100Hz-20Khz so change your sub x-over to 90-110... until you are happy...

Just make sure to borrow/buy/steal spl meter to equalize volume levels.

 

[krzywica]

As already stated if you had "good" speakers I would say go for the new receiver as I can (personally) tell a night and day difference from normal surround bitrates (DTS, DD) and HD surround bitrates (DTS-HDMA, DD-TrueHD). As you are going from a max of 1.5 MBps to around 5MBps (G.I. Joe and a few other movies). The way I would describe it is that there is just a tighter more accurate sound to my system when playing back HD audio. I notice it the most in the lower ranges as after being accustomed to listening to HD audio tracks if I switch back to regular surround it sounds a bit muddy.

BUT!!!

This is only if you are happy with the current sound of your speakers and aren't wanting "more". This means that your system is calibrated properly and you are happy with the speakers characteristics.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[m_vanmeter]

"airnmol" - the direct input I mentioned will not be of any use to you since you are using the PS3 as a blu-ray player. It does not support individual channel pre-outs like some dedicated blu-ray players do.

Your optical connection is the best you can get with your receiver. I do agree with the others though, upgrade your front 3 speakers before considering upgrading your a/v receiver.

 

[airnmol]

Thanks to everyone who replied back i got alot of good feedback and have some decisions to make. Dont quite think i will have enough money to buy more speakers, especially decent ones. Also convincing the wife about new speakers when i just bought these earlier this year. I feel like i'm happy with the speakers i have now, but who's to say i would be if i could here a movie in comparison with my speakers, i've never heard a good quality theatre set. Soooo, either i will save up more money, or figure out something else to spend the money on. * Another question for anyone, if i buy extra speakers to make a 6.1 or 7.1 and i'm watching a movie in 5.1 will any audio come out of those speakers? or does a movie HAVE to be filmed using 6.1 or 7.1?

 

[JerryLove]

Many recievers have phantom modes where, if told, they will guess what should go to rear surrounds and put it out. Check your receiver's manual.