6.1 DTS, what is the sixth speaker?

masterpp

The dvd movies that contain DTS 6.1 & dolby Digital, I wonder what is the 6th speaker? I only have 2 floorstand, 2 rear ceiling, center & sub.
Should I choose dolby digital 5.1 or DTS 6.1?
by the way, why is rear sounds so low than the rest?


I haven't seen any movies that provides 7.1.

lomic

The 6th channel is Rear Center. If you don't have a rear center, select 5.1, though if you select 6.1 I doubt there will be much difference.

Rear channels aren't as loud because they're suppose to create envolping sound without the listener being conciously aware there is sound from behind. Only specific sound effects like birds chirping, creaking boards etc will actually announce they are coming from behind, but they should still not draw people's attention from the front stage if used properly.

There isn't currently a format (that I'm aware of) for 7.1 discrete playback - 7.1 is done by the reciever/processor messing with the 2 rear channels to create an even more complete sound field.

wingnut4772

You may need to calibrate your speakers with an SPL meter http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=001495
You can get one from Radio Shack pretty inexpensively. If you are in a position to obtain a 6th speaker for 6.1, you should. It sounds really nice and fills up the rear soundstage with a more realistic movie-going environment. (I have 7.1) But, in the meantime, select 5.1.

billbillw

It doesn't matter which soundtrack you select on the DVD.
Generally the DTS soundtrack will sound better than the Dolby Digital. Don't worry about it having a 6th channel of info. Your receiver setup has a setting to specify whether or not you have a rear channel (if your receiver is 6.1/7.1 compatible). If you feed a 6.1 DTS-ES signal, it will simply ignore or mix the rear channel to play in your surrounds.

FYI: The DTS will sound better because it has less compression compared to DD.