Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Here we go again.

Audyssey Labs wants us to use 10-channel surround, Audyssey
Perfect for those with incurable upgradeitis, more speakers, new receiver. Whats next.

I always feel like a target when they draw a circle with all them speakers firing at the poor (now poorer) listener sitting at the center.

Would you refuse the blindfold?

The blindfold would interfere with the higher frequencies. Duh!

What do you want on your tombstone?

Pepperoni.

This aggression will not stand, man.

They base their improvement over 5.1. Addressing what their system would add incrementally. They dismiss surround backs as not that important. I think in my particular room with the back wall being 16' away from the list. pos., that the SB spkrs. mounted on my ceiling 7' behind, provides content that would not be perceptible if it needed to be reflected off my back wall. This, of course, just speaks to 7.1 in my particular room. But, being all about me, who cares about all the other yahoos!

I was wondering if I should consider springing for a new Denon 4310 with the two high front 9.1 speakers. Wondering if 'that' feature combined with the better (I am assuming) amp, power supply, DACs, (+GUI), etc. would be worth doing over my 1909. The possibility of amps going to 11.1 (DSX + 7.1 backs) makes me think that I keep the 1909 for a year or two (or more) for these possible new technologies to settle into the market. It's not like I am 'suffering' with the 1909!

Interesting they state the 'wides' are more important than the 'heights'. I wonder if marketing has colored this opinion a bit. Implying the new height channel offerings of some the 2009/2010 AVR models, it seems it could be a convenient preemptive one up over the 'front height' AVRs coming out soon. Maybe I am just too cynical. Maybe not.

Dave, I have a feeling that if you wait a year or two for the "latest" 11.1 AVR you will also hear rumours of the new Denon "10,000" to come out in 2015 which has 19.3 with in-floor surrounds!

With exactly one soundtrack certified: "Tremors VII: The Re-Tremorizing".

I'll pass.

Oh, cool, then I'll wait for that.

My point was more that I put much less weight to the new front height speakers as one of several criterion to decide if I should spend my hard earned (not quite) discretionary income on. This was one of the unknown's that my mind had me sucking up the marketing promotion on (front ht. spkrs.) Now, my upgradeitis has been quelled for the time being.

Dave, as long as you keep telling Axiom I did an audition for you, I encourage you to go for as many speakers as possible.

ha! Mental image. Great movie.

It seems like the more experiments are done with more than 7.1 speakers, like the new Dolby PL IIz, the more evidence there is that suggests they don't add much. the latest being the review from cnet of the Onkyo 607 which offers PLIIz. They couldn't hear the extra speakers at all until they got up near them.

linky... :o)

my apologies, that can be found here

Intersting read.
from Cnet.
"The bottom line is we didn't feel that Dolby Pro Logic IIz processing added much to the value of the TX-SR607, and we wouldn't recommend people going through the hassle of setting up their home theaters in that arrangement."

I do have a 7.1 setup and think there is a difference. Being surrounded by speakers really improve the experience. A 5.1 setup is enough to satisfy almost anyone but 7.1 is better. The hardest thing to do is the speakers placement, if you mess that up, it's pointless to add more.

I've been experimenting with movies in my 'probably destined to never be finished) HT room". Early experiments with 7.1 in my small room where the rears were only a foot or two behind me proved boring enough that I went back to 5.1 rather than have speaker stands back there in my walking pathways.

In the new room, I have dug out the rears again and they are 8 to 10 feet behind me. I am getting more of a rap around effect and can now definitely see benefits. Rear effects are much more distinctly rear and wrap around effects flow smoothly from the side, left to right in the rear and up towards the other side.

The benefits of 7.1 seem to be very room and dimensionally dependent in my new found opinion.

I have always felt 6/7.1 is only beneficial with very wide rooms and/or very long rooms with the rears at least 3-4 ft behind the listener.