Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Is it worth upgrading to 7.1 from 5.1

RIker

I have looked at the ATS and I think they are great. I however am very cheap and pretty handy. So I am planning to go the DIY route. I went to Home Depot and bought some 2'x4' drop ceiling accoustic tiles. They have a 3/4" fiberglass semi stiff backing and I use them yellow side out. You then take a piece of 1/4" plywood, some glue, and some fabric of my choice from Fabrick Land wrapped and stappled, and I have 2'x4' accoustic panels for about $20 / panel.

At this point I have just tacked up the ceiling tiles temp on the walls to get an idea of the sound difference and cosmetic locations. I bought 24 tiles but have only used 16 so far. I was planning to put a few on the ceiling but I am not sure I need to.

I was pleased with the improvment. Music notes become much more defined, or less mushy sounding. Bass seemed to be enhanced and more defined. It's like taking a blury picture and just adjusting a touch to get it into focus.

paul

Chesseroo

I agree with what you are saying.

I am no expert but aren't movies recorded in 6.1 or 7.1 when they play in local commercial movie theater? If the mix is already done for the theater, then why is it so hard to transfer it to DVD?


paul
paul

Paul, it appears that there's enough room from the seats to the wall behind for back surround speakers to develop a useful sound field. As Chris pointed out, even 2 and 5.1 channel source material can be expanded effectively to a 7.1 speaker setup by use of DPLIIx processing.

Thanks for the info Paul.. never thought about ceiling tiles that have insulation .. I know that Home Depot does not have Owens Corning 703 ridgid fiberglass boards.. they are very hard to find in Ottawa, in fact, I found only one place, but they would not sell me a dozen pieces or so.. I have to be a contractor and purchase in the 60 + range of pieces..

From what I calculated, I would need 6 ATS panels of 2X4' to cover 80% of my wall surface.. and that can be had for about $400 Canadian all in. So, I might just bite the bullet and save myself the headache and get them.. I to am pretty handy and I have already built floor to ceiling Bass Traps in 2 corners of my basement, but this time, I'm going to take the easy way out and just purchase them..

Cheers,
Stephane

That is exactly what I was looking for; OC 703. Then I remembered that in my last house I put in a drop ceiling in the basement and used thses tiles. I though then they migh make interesting accousic pannels.

I'll post pictures in the next coupleo of weeks when I get it all done.

pn

Any chance you could post some pics of the bass traps you built?

paul

I can for sure.. I will add them to my gallery pics tomorrow evening and let you know when I do..

Cheers

Riker: Like Worfzara, I had a heck of a time finding OC 703 to make acoustic panels. I looked at ATS, then decided to go the DIY route as well.

Luckily, I found a company willing to sell me 4 sheets of 4X10' duct board (1 1/2" thick). Made frames out of 1X4" pine boards, stretched black broadcloth over the frame, and filled it with two sheets of the duct board back to back. Please see pics:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p136/bweasner/1.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p136/bweasner/2.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p136/bweasner/3.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p136/bweasner/4.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p136/bweasner/5.jpg

Each panel ended up costing $9 US and the full panels weigh about 14 pounds. I hung them from the wall using two picture hangers, then anchored each panel to the wall using 4 small L-shaped brackets painted black.

Trust me, if I can make these panels, anyone can. If you can't find any OC703 or duct board, order the insulation from ATS and just construct the panels yourself...they are super simple to make!

How about adding the two front height speakers? If I were to add more speakers, I would go that route. 'course, you'll need a new receiver capable of using the front/height/Z speakers.

Yes, movies in theaters have 7 channels, but they are not in the same arrangement as the home. Cinema's use: Left, Left-center, Center, Right-center, Right, Left Surround-array, Right Surround-array.

The down-mix for home goes like this: Left to left, center to center, right to right, left-center 50/50 to left and center, right-center 50/50 to right and center. Then the surround arrays are mapped to those channels. But often a custom mix is done for home distribution anyway. 7.1 discs have always been remixed. Some are to just perform the same steering that ProLogic IIx would do, but others have some discrete mixing work done. The Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray has a very effective 7.1 mix.