is my room too small for 7.1?

AdamRagland

i'm upgrading my mains to rti150's and so i now have the opportunity to have a 7.1 setup. it would be as follows: mains:rti150 center:csi30 SS:fxi3 RS:rti70

sounds fun and all but currently my HT room is quite small. i would estimate 12x12. too small for 7.1 you think? what would your suggestions be for setup?

dephinistr8

not at all..my room is 12x13 and my setup is in the sig below..I love it, it is totally enveloping for movies and games...

dephinistr8

Here are some pics...for reference...

arg..can't post the pics...

AdamRagland

ill pm you my email and you can email them if you want

lakesailor

I think it is a matter of preference. Personally I would not put a 7.1 setup of a room that size.

Face

I tried it in a 11x16 room and went back to 5.1.

avguytx

I have a 7.1 setup but my living room is 20 X 24 so it works well because of the size. It's all preference really. 5.1 would do the job fine and you could always use dipole speakers for the surrounds which works very well. Most all new receivers are 7.1 now which doesn't mean much...it's really as easy for them to build that as it is a 5.1. YMMV.

lakesailor

The problem I have found is that most source material remains 5.1 and personally I think you need a good sized room to make 7.1 worthwhile

avguytx

True.....all of my HD DVD discs are in 5.1 and if I want to hear them in 7.1, I have to switch the digital input on my receiver from HDMI over to Optical so it will decode via Dolby Digital EX. What a pain. More a reason that I hate HDMI and all this digital rights management ****.

dkg999

I would move the FX's to rear surround and use your Rti70's as side surrounds. I would try to find a CSi40 for your center. And yes, 7.1 will work in your space, try it and see if you like it. If not, then go back to 5.1.

ShinAce

If I had to put a new system in that room, I would go 5.1.

If you already have the speakers, try for the 7.1 .

AdamRagland

yea my next step is to replace the csi30 with the 40 but my brother seems to be upgrading soon and will probably sell me his for <100. dkg, why do you suggest the fxi'a as rears over the 70s?

lakesailor

avguytx wrote: »

True.....all of my HD DVD discs are in 5.1 and if I want to hear them in 7.1, I have to switch the digital input on my receiver from HDMI over to Optical so it will decode via Dolby Digital EX. What a pain. More a reason that I hate HDMI and all this digital rights management ****.

I could not agree with you more. I turfed my 7.1 and upgraded back to 5.1 in my HT system. Much happier. I think the whole 7.1/HDMI is getting far to driven by marketing and related $$$ over anything else.

The whole HDMI 1.1 vs 1.3 and resulting firmware issues is beyond me why people put up with it.

I have also eliminated HDMI from my H/T system as well. I run component, coax, and toslink where applicable.

fumoffu

I have a 7.1 set up and I am able to take full advantage of the latest stuff with my onkyo 705. I have played 2 movies in which were true 7.1. Pan's Labyrinth with 7.1 DTS-MA and War with 7.1 PCM. There is also the DTS-ES and DTS-EX material back there. I don't find the addition rear information a big deal. Yea a few effects you can get a better location on. I just re-watched War last night, and it did some cheese things with drums moving around the rear channels.

The reason I choose 7.1 is because I have 2 rows of seating and needed to smooth out the sound. I think 7.1 is good for this, and the matrixing of the amp with 5.1 source works well for this goal. I think 7.1 can improve the sweet spot. Or at lease have so many speaker firing at you that it doesn't matter so much.