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Should I go 7.1?


wally flick

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So we just pulled the wire for the speakers in our soon to be finished basement. Anyway, my wife was standing there looking at the extra cable we pulled on the chance we might upgrade to 7.1 in the future and she said, Why dont we just buy two more speakers? Helluva woman huh?

Ive got a 7.1 receiver just waiting to jump out of the box when the construction is done. Looks like many of your posts to the Lets see YOUR Home Theater thread have 7.1 set ups. Are there enough DVDs available for me to drop the extra $? Will I hear a difference 7.1 vs 5.1?

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Yes I would recommend it. There are not many films with discrete 7.1 out there but they are increasing and most receivers can matrix the surround sound to extend the 5.1 to 7.1 anyway. The quality with which each receiver does this I am sure varies, but in my case it works great.

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There isn't any discrete 7.1 material out there...the most right now is 6.1, which the Dolby EX and DTS EX formats support. As far as matrixing goes, every reciever uses the same algorythm (as long as they use DPL II or DTS Neo).

I wouldn't be surprised to see the new blue laser format support 7.1 in discrete channels...heck, maybe even 11.1 (which movie theatres use). Some yamaha recievers include options for front effects speakers which are basically two extra mains that you mount up high near the cieling, which project a much larger sound field. Anyways, the future of medium formats are such that more and more channels will probably be added.

Anyways, I personally would prefer 5.1 with higher quality well positioned speakers than 7.1 with lesser quality.

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I noticed the Denon 5805 is a 10 channel receiver or is that just two full 5.1 zones? I already have the 5.1 system purchased so converting the extra $ to a better 5.1 rig is not an option. I was just wondering if it was worth it since Ive got all my walls open now. I also have a hunch that 6.1 and 7.1 might pop with BluRay or other Hi-Def DVD formats.

I guess you should try and future proof whenever possible.

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It's not about quality, it's about quantity. Just kidding, but seriously, I couldn't justify NOT going 7.1. Even with 5.1 programmed material, the 7.1 benefits can be heard in my experience. I will say, however, that DD EX and DTS ES material sounds pretty darn nifty compared to non EX/ES material.

~Cheers~

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"There isn't any discrete 7.1 material out there...the most right now is 6.1, which the Dolby EX and DTS EX formats support. As far as matrixing goes, every reciever uses the same algorythm (as long as they use DPL II or DTS Neo)."

DD EX isn't 6.1 discrete either. They just matrix encode the third channel into the surround L/R channels same as DTS ES. DTS ES Discrete 6.1 does have a discrete sixth main channel of info but for backwards compatibility that channels info is also matrixed into the surround left/right for playback on regular DTS or DTS ES decoders without looking the info in that channel.

For expansion from 5.1 to 7.1 the options available are PLIIX on top of 5.1 DD or DTS or Logic 7 (Lexicon or H/Ks) on top of DD/DTS.

Shawn

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My NAD T163 can take any 5.1 signal and matrix it up to 7.1 so for me it is worth the extra speakers. It also has dual subwoofer outputs so I run a 7.2 configuration. The Star Wars films are DD EX and the use of the vertical Cornwalls in the rear along with the Klipschorn's makes a substantial difference I can assure you.

I have the ability to jump it back and forth from 5.1 to 7.1 and depending on the DVD soundtrack it makes a noticeable difference jumping to 7.1.

Just my take on it.

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" keep the speaks but you will find that the same sound is coming out of both speakers for now"

That isn't always true. With Logic 7 you can have sounds that pan from side right to rear right to rear left to side left.

Shawn

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----------------

On 6/18/2005 12:31:56 AM boomer9911 wrote:

WHY....WHAT FORMAT IS "OFFICIALLY" RELEASED IN 7.1....CURIOUS....
6.gif

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I believe the main issue is data transfer. We hit the limits of SPDIF with 6.1.

Also, if your 7.1 is making the rear two channels identical, its time to get a Lexicon. I can testify to what Shawn points out, as my rears pan for sure.

JM

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"I believe the main issue is data transfer. We hit the limits of SPDIF with 6.1."

Not really. 5.1 DD uses less then half the bandwidth of regular stereo 44.1kHz PCM audio. There are SPDIF transmitters that can do 192kHz stereo over SPDIF now. IOW, there is plenty of additional bandwidth on SPDIF for more channels if it is compressed.

Shawn

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