7.1 surround
Sthrndream
Posts: 70
I have 5.1 surround right now. Looking at 7.1. Researched and it looks like its a monoaural output even though my preamp provides a right and left surround back. SO my question is, what I be better with a Polk LSI 7 (pair) or single LSI C.
I have Polk LSI 25s, LSIC, LSI FX and SVS PB12+2.
TIA
I have Polk LSI 25s, LSIC, LSI FX and SVS PB12+2.
TIA
Post edited by Sthrndream on
Comments
-
What does your gear consist of?
-
Room size will play a big part in the equation. If you have a narrow room them a single rear channel speaker would be your best choice. IIRC, rear surround speakers should be located so that the space between the speakers is the same as the distance from rear corner to the speakers and no closer than 4' between them. Basically 3 equal spaces.
-
If you have the room, go with two. If you don't have the room, just use one LSI7 and hold onto the other one for when you do or you get PLIIx. (If you don't have it but it sounds like you do not?) I think you would prefer a single 7 over the LSIC anyhoo even though the difference probably won't be too noticeable on the back channel. I use a single 9 for my center as I did not like the C. Others do this as well.Sharp Elite 70
Anthem D2V 3D
Parasound 5250
Parasound HCA 1000 A
Parasound HCA 1000
Oppo BDP 95
Von Schweikert VR4 Jr R/L Fronts
Von Schweikert LCR 4 Center
Totem Mask Surrounds X4
Hsu ULS-15 Quad Drive Subwoofers
Sony PS3
Squeezebox Touch
Polk Atrium 7s on the patio just to keep my foot in the door. -
Go for the two LSI 7's if you ever get tired of HT you have some terriffic musical speakers.
I like 7.1 -
Sthrndream wrote:I have 5.1 surround right now. Looking at 7.1. Researched and it looks like its a monoaural output even though my preamp provides a right and left surround back. SO my question is, what I be better with a Polk LSI 7 (pair) or single LSI C.
I have Polk LSI 25s, LSIC, LSI FX and SVS PB12+2.
TIA
Hi,
I believe that you may have misinterpreted what 7.1 is all about.
You've gotten some good advice. Here's a link to Dolby Lab's Room Layout and Speaker Setup recommendations to further amplify.
The link starts off illustrating and describing 5.1 setup. Under the layout drawing it provides links to the various other configurations, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby ProLogic II, and Dolby ProLogic IIx. If you click on the different configurations you'll see that if you have a ProLogic IIx preamp/receiver you will be able to decode stereo surround back signals. There are other types of decoders, such as Lexicon's LOGIC 7, that having been doing this for more than a decade.
The point is that most source material provides only five discrete channels plus a Low Frequency Effects channel. However, ProLogic IIx and LOGIC 7 (there are other brand of surround decoders as well) use the side surround channels to extract the stereo surround back channels. If the source has an additional mono rear surround channel, such as Dolby Digital EX or dts 6.1 recording, then these decoders will use that additional surround information in creating the stereo surround back channels. It doesn't matter that the source has just a mono surround back channel. In fact, as I said the source doesn't need to provide any surround back channels, your preamp will still extract them.
So in summary, if you say your preamp can produce stereo surround back, then you should definately get two surround back speakers. In fact, if you notice the Doby Digital EX configuration shows two surround back speakers even though they are playing the same mono signal (when using EX processing.) The reason for this is a psychoacoustic phenomenom called rear-front reversals. It was discovered that when listening to sounds coming from directly behind us, our hearing/brain frequently confuses the sounds as coming from the front. It was found that placing two rear speaker a distance apart reduces this reversal effect even if the signal is mono.
Larry
