reynolr Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I have an onkyo ht rc180. It says it is a 7.1 receiver. I know they have receivers that say they are 9.1. My question is can I run my onkyo with 9 speakers? 3 main 2 side surround 2 rear surround and 2 front heights? Thanks for your help. What is they difference between the stated 7.1 and 9.1? My onkyo has all the inputs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Unless your receiver has separate pre-amp or speaker-level outputs for a 9.1 setup you can't do it. The difference is a different amplifier and processing setup in the receiver that allows for front heights and I believe 9.1 can also be configured for front wides. I guess technically if your receiver has pre-amp outputs for your front main L & R speakers you could feed that to an external 2 channel amp and then power two separate speakers to use as front heights. Definitely wouldn't be recommended, though since those extra speakers would be playing the same information as your front main speakers and would cause several audio abnormalities as a result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reynolr Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 So I should either pick front height or rear surround? I am planning on getting an xpa-5 so would that make a difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightguy Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 http://www.thx.com/consumer/home-entertainment/home-theater/surround-sound-speaker-set-up/ Rear surround is mandatory. Front height is not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reynolr Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 I understand that the height speakers are an 'extra' option. My question is with my receiver am I able to power 9 speakers? Or is buying both rear surrounds and front height surrounds s waste of money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reynolr Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 Also my receiver had speaker inputs for rear surround, front height, and front wides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusaDude Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 You do realize all of these questions are answered in the owner's manual? But the short answer is no... you can't do 9.1 because your receiver only has 7 amplifier's in it. Those amps can be configured several different ways including... 5.1 with bi-amped front speakers, 5.1 with 2 back surrounds, 5.1 with 2 front height, 5.1 with 2 front wide, or multiple rooms/zones. The difference between 7.1 and 9.1... Blu-Ray supports up to 7.1 channel (L, C, R, SR, SRB, SLB, SL, SW) playback, though not all Blu-Ray discs/movies use all the channels. Some newer receivers/processors support 9.1 channel playback, but the extra 2 channels are generated/derived from the others to allow for the front height or front wide speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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