Should I go 6.1 or 7.1?

Nightfall

So I finally convinced board member Mystery to sell me one of his 100 pairs of speakers, a pair of Peerless Monitor 4's. I am now timbre matched all the way around with the same tweeter. Now I have these two extra Monitor 4's here, with the triangle plastic covered tweeters (SL1500?) and am wondering if I should go 6.1 or 7.1 with them or if I should leave them out of the equation. I am in a studio apartment and the way everything is arranged is the major deterrent. Here are some pics to give you guys an idea of what I'm working with.







If I go 6.1 I could put one of the Monitor 4's ontop of the fridge. Not sure if that is going to be too high and cause any issues. If I go 7.1 I'd have to find 2 more stands but could slide them in and out of place when needed.

On the other hand not much stuff is encoded any higher than 5.1 and it sounds good the way it is.

What would you guys do?

rooftop59

Dude do you want to be tripping on speakers? LOL. I think with that small a space and pretty good size speaks 5.1 is probably great. I am running 6.1(2), but that is because most are in-ceiling and the rear center really helps fill in the gap. Plus my room is probably as big as your apartment lol. I mean of course the best answer is try it and see, but in that size room it doesn't really seem like an advantage...

Nightfall

Without pulling a tape, and I'm sure to be off here, but I'd estimate the room is 20 feet wide and 15 feet front to back, from seating position.

tonyb

I would leave it alone, looks like you everything pretty crammed in there. Why are those surrounds practically on top of the couch ? Way too close man.

Nightfall

tonyb wrote: »

Why are those surrounds practically on top of the couch ? Way too close man.

I can move them a few inches back but not much more before they'd be in the way, how far away should they be?

tonyb

A good 3 ft if not more. You'll blast your ear drums out like that. lol. Seriously, when they are too close to your ear, you don't get that all encompassing surround sound, it becomes too localized when that close.

Nightfall

I just checked out the Dolby website and it shows them being about equidistant from seating position as the front speakers. This is not going to be possible for me. The best I could do, I think, is lower them a few db in the AVR setup.

westmassguy

Nightfall, is it possible to mount 2 pairs, back to back, in a dipole setup for 5.1? I know it's a rental, and mounting anything on the walls is questionable, but those surrounds are way too close to the seating area.
BTW, nice doggie.

boston1450

My first half way decent HT set up was in a 16 wide + 24 length living room & 5/1 worked quite well. But then again that area looks open i see. But you probably dont sit in kitchen watching movies often. I know i couldnt have those that close to my ears without fitigue. Lowering the rears too much may take away some of the effects you may want to be hearing in Ht. Placement problems lots of us have too.

boston1450

Our house now has small living room. Rears are2.5ft from couch. I have same problem now with our couch-so when our daughter moves on(or sooner)OUT goes the couch & in comes his / her recliners. Im going to be Archy Bunker yet

EndersShadow

Just keep it at 5.1.

I have a room that is 14x25 and its setup perfectly for 7.1, but I haven't gone 7.1.

A proper 5.1 setup will sound better than a poorly executed 6.1 or 7.1 setup.

canadianicon25

5.1 is the max you would need for that space. the only reason 6.1 and 7.1 exist is for larger and larger rooms to fill in the gaps where there may be a dead spot.