6.1 Necessary?

candjhuntley

I am putting together a home theater for a buddy and the setup's in my sig

After buying an amp, i have completely exhausted my budget (and might have to go over - but i doubt he'd let me do that).

Now that i'm done, i'm kind of second guessing

Should i have included a center channel in the back? I made sure he had a speaker wire running to the center in the back in case he ever wanted to add one, but should i have started with one there? Does the 6th speaker make THAT much of a difference over 5.1?

If enough people say it's necessary, i might be able to talk him into letting me put up a CSM from Newegg.com for $70 - or perhaps even pick up another set of M10s for 7.1? (also $70).

What do you think? Or should i be fine with 5.1?

Thanks,
Chris

apphd

How big is the room? In most cases you will be fine with 5.1, many actually prefer it. How is that LSi front stage working out with the 806?

candjhuntley

Room is 14.5x16 approximately - seating starting about 10 feet away from fronts and going all the way back to the back wall

Unfortunately, the speakers still haven't arrived. they were supposed to have been in yesterday, but the guy's wife hasn't been home when Fedex has tried to deliver them. but i'm not really going to leave it up to the 806 to drive them - we'll be getting an amp - i'm just still in the process of looking for one

Perhaps we start with 5.1 and go from there? The only problem is that if we do something else, we'll have to re-mount the surrounds accordingly will we not?

bevo

I started out with 5.1, and it sounded great. Then I moved to a 6.1 and it was better. Now I have 7.1 and don't think I would ever want to go back to 5.1.

The best surround sound movie I have watched so far is the dvd of cars. It's in dolby digital ex 6.1 and it sounds amazing. I don't mind at all when my little boy wants to watch it, as long as it's in the theater room.

If you're not use to 6.1 or 7.1 then 5.1 would be fine. It seems like alot of people say there is no reason to go to 7.1, because there isn't much support for it, dolby ex, and their other processing formats, that brings 5.1 to 7.1 work great. I really noticed a difference when I stepped up to 7.1. The dead zones almost completely disappeared. With 7.1 the sound really does come from all around you.

As far as remounting the surrounds, you probably would. For 6.1 and 7.1 the surrounds go directly beside the main listening position. And the 6.1 goes directly behind you.
Couldn't you use stands at first until he decided if he needed the additional speakers? Kinda just test it out for a few movies?

Anyway, if he will let you spend the extra money try and go 7.1. It was worth it to me.
I just use 2 rm8s for my rears and they work fine.
I'm sure others will tell you different though. I am fairly new to this stuff after all.

bluecomet

There is a big differance I feel between a 5.1 system and a 6.1 system. If you can work in the extra rear speaker do it. I am in the process of putting together a 7.1 system so I can't comment yet about it. If you can match the center speaker to the rear center then it is a major upgrade in presentation.

Early B.

Forget about 6.1 in the size room you mentioned. If set up properly, 5.1 is more than sufficient (get an SPL meter). If your buddy is itchin' for something else to buy, go with a 5.2 setup. It'll be far superior to a 6.1 or 7.1 setup.

comfortablycurt

I'd just stick with the 5.1 setup myself. I recently downgraded from 7.1 to 5.1, and I barely notice the difference.

I was saying the same things as Bevo when I first went 7.1..."I could never go back to 5.1". It took me about 2 minutes to get used to it though when I switched it back.

I originally just set it up in 5.1 because I re-arranged and didn't have enough speaker wire to make the surround back runs. I've been running it in 5.1 for a while now...and have no intentions of spending the money on extra speaker wire to go back to 7.1. At least not for a good long time.

If it's properly set up, there really isn't that huge of a difference. There are very few movies that are even in 7.1 right now anyway. I'd use that money to go towards something else that will be a bit more substantial. The option to upgrade to 6.1 or 7.1 will always be there in the future. With that small of a room though, I'd just stick with 5.1 personally.

Kex

Early B. wrote: »

Forget about 6.1 in the size room you mentioned. If set up properly, 5.1 is more than sufficient (get an SPL meter). If your buddy is itchin' for something else to buy, go with a 5.2 setup. It'll be far superior to a 6.1 or 7.1 setup.

I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment! FWIW. 5.2 is the way to go in this case, methinks ... or just stick with 5.1 and make sure the subwoofer is up to the task ...

candjhuntley

Thanks for the thoughts guys!

5.2 is not an option budget-wise. It will cost me $50 to go either 7.1 or 6.1 - much less than the cost of another sub. I think he's agreed to it he says if i think it will make a difference

So is the general consensus that it's just not worth it?

Also - how does an SPL meter help? Doesn't the receiver come with some kind of microphone that helps us set up the speakers? Perhaps i just need to read up on SPL meters.

Thanks guys!

Early B.

candjhuntley wrote: »

Also - how does an SPL meter help? Doesn't the receiver come with some kind of microphone that helps us set up the speakers? Perhaps i just need to read up on SPL meters.

Don't rely solely on the receiver's auto calibration feature. They are not always accurate and/or they don't always set up your system according to your preferences. Relying on auto calibration is like a TV dinner -- you might like it, you might not. But you're at the buffet table with an SPL meter.

When I owned AV receivers with auto calibration, I always used an SPL meter anyway. Plus, I'd bump up the center channel and sub a couple of notches.

zarrdoss

you know I got a 6.1 and theyre are only a handful of dvd's (I dont know about blue-ray)that are 6.1 channel and even fewer 7.1. So the rear channel never works unless I use neo cimema decoding.

cheddar

If you've got money to burn, then experimenting with a rear sound field might be worth it. But I think you should settle that amp situation first if you've got limited funds. That's going to be a big bang for the buck purchase if you can get the amp right. Next up, it seems that you're using a HTPC for Blu-ray, is that correct? If you're not able to access lossless audio like TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, and uncompressed PCM, then you may also suggest that your friend save up his money to get a better blu-ray player. Even some very cheap players can bitstream the lossless signals to your AVR for decoding. And in the coming months, there should be an increasing number of quality players at better price points.

candjhuntley

cheddar wrote: »

But I think you should settle that amp situation first if you've got limited funds. That's going to be a big bang for the buck purchase if you can get the amp right.

This is true - the thought of doing 6.1 or 7.1 came to me yesterday - he might be expecting me to take the money for it out of the amp fund - perhaps i'll simply focus on the amp first and foremost, THEN talk to him about more speakers just to make sure he's still ok - good call!

cheddar wrote: »

Next up, it seems that you're using a HTPC for Blu-ray, is that correct? If you're not able to access lossless audio like TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, and uncompressed PCM, then you may also suggest that your friend save up his money to get a better blu-ray player. Even some very cheap players can bitstream the lossless signals to your AVR for decoding. And in the coming months, there should be an increasing number of quality players at better price points.

The importance of the HTPC isn't necessarily the BD quality, but he doesn't want to have to fool with discs. He wants his BD and DVDs ripped onto his hard drive to watch in VMC - more important than lossless audio. Plus, when (if) the Auzentech HD Audio card hits the market, i was planning on buying the ruler between that and the Asus Xonar to add at a later date for lossless (of course, that was before i decided an amp was necessary and i had the extra funds built in - it might not be feasible now - who knows)

Gotta love works in progress eh?

Thanks for the comments - keep em coming!

Mike21

Stay with 5.1 for now. Buy a good bottle of wine for the extra $70 and share it w/ your friend while watching Australia