Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 9.2 vs 7.2, any difference

Hi,

I am setting up my new play room in my new home, and while I was doing some background work, I found some talk about the Audyssy DSX. It seems to be a fairly new development and the information seems to be a little sketchy as to the benefits of the so-called 9.2 setup.

My current system is 7.1 and I am planning to go 7.2 in the new HT. I am now considering adding two more channels to get the 9.2 setup. Another alternative would be to go for a Dolby 9.2 which is easier for me to do with the shape of the room and the layout of equipment. A third alternative would be to stay with the measly 7.2 .

So, these are my questions:

1. Has anyone tried a 9.2 setup? Did people appreciate the difference between it and a 7.2/7.1?

2. Audyssy or Dolby 9.2?

3. Will the QS8V3 be a suitable match for my M80ti & QS8V1 with regards to a 9.2 setup? i.e. can I use the QS8V3's for the "height" or "width" channel?

There really are not a lot of movies out there recorded in 7. let alone 9. channels. Using PLIIx and newer decoders can matrix using those channels though. Adding a .2 versus .1 can help you even out the low sub frequencies in a room if placed correctly.

My setup it 11.2, however my Onkyo only supports 9.2 either wide or height but not both at the same time. My room is 13x21x8-12 foot vaulted. Using wide speakers in the narrow room makes a huge difference in the width of the front soundstage and helping it blend with the surround speakers. However, if you have a room that allows placing your mains far enough apart wide speakers won’t help as much.

IMO height speakers, DSX or Dolby aren’t as impressive in my room as the wide speakers. This is mainly because the wide speakers come into play during almost every scene where as the height speakers tend to be more specialized only really kicking in during certain scenes, mostly those with all-round ambient sounds like wind, rain , echoes and some music. I also think that having a vaulted ceiling helps add to their effect.


I really can’t tell any difference between Dolby or DSX height speakers. I almost exclusively use DSX because I find the wide speakers add more in my room and there is no Dolby wide setting on my receiver.


I have a pair of QS8v3 in use with my other v2 speakers and can’t hear the difference. Since they mostly produce ambient sounds I doubt any difference is going to be noticeable even with the “ti” versions.

QS speakers are the best for height channels. OTOH M2 speakers are a perfect match as wide speakers for the M80s. The QS8 don’t work very well as wide speakers compared to the M2s or M22s. Also I think the M22s are overkill as wide speakers, no need to go any larger than the M2s.

I've been using 7.1 with Dolby IIz height channels since last spring up to a week ago, then 9.2 with either Dolby or Audyssey height channels. I really like height channels, and the 9.2 system has better sound quality than my previous 7.1 system. (Next week, I'll have a chance to hear 9.2 Audyssey with width speakers, when my new speakers arrive.)

Most importantly, you get to buy 2 more speakers.

Axiom should give those 9.2-11.2 Onks away.

Bucking for a position on the customer council?

busted ... again

Thanks for your help gents.

I am going to the building site tomorrow and will check what possible placement options I can have. At this stage, I can add a conduit for the placement of speakers for both the height and width effects. If that is possible, then I will do that and then decide whether I would like to add the width or height.

Width make more sense to me because it is a long room and looks like it will benefit from the width aspect more.

I take the issue for the bookshelf versus surround. It makes sense and I will amend my initial plan accordingly.

However, the M2's will look puny next to the M80ti. So for cosmetic reasons, I will probably go with the M22 instead.

Will see.

I'll put my order in for 3008 and 2 M2's please.

What customer council?

(That's only partially a joke.)

Yes they will, however to be effective the wide speakers shouldn’t be that close to the L/R mains. I’ve tried both M22 and M2 for wides and found no difference in performance so I went with the smaller M2 because they are less expensive and give the same performance in that role. Look less obtrusive hanging off the wall than the M22s. Feel more confident about the Axiom wall mount being able to hold the M2 than the M22.

Made even funnier by your avatar.

Suppose that you have a 10 foot wide 2.40:1 AT screen. I was wondering about if you used 5 in-cabinet M80 behind the screen where it was LW/L/space/C/space/R/RW. Also assume that there is only a couple inches of free space between the screen and the wall, so no speaker could be placed on the front wall outside of the screen. Would this be a good way to do this, or would the wides and mains be too close together? The Wides and L/R would be next to each other, one on each side of a stud.


Here's an interesting layout for 11.1 from the Audyssey.com site:

Using M80s as wide speakers would IMO be a waste of money. M2 speakers work just as well as there is really no significant bass going to the wide speakers. I even swapped out my M22s wides for a pair of M2s and can’t tell the difference.

As for speaker separation I would use this as a starting point.

http://www.audyssey.com/technology/dsx.html

Placing your wide speakers close to your mains wouldn't help much if at all. It might also cause interference as the mains and their corresponding wide speakers share a lot of the same audio information in the midrange and up.

Also note that if your main speakers are farther off center than 30 degrees, say closer to 45 degrees then wide speakers don’t help much either. Unless for some reason your surround speakers are way behind your seating.

My screen is 9’8” wide and I have my L/R mains placed to the far left and right so that the front soundstage corresponds to the on screen action perfectly . . . well at least when its well mastered to match the on screen action. The wides mostly fill in the front sides with ambient sounds like crowd, office, machinery and other noises that would fill an area. Occasionally they also enhance hard pans coming from or going offstage in either direction. On well mastered audio tracks there are often voices coming from off stage L/R when a character off screen is talking. However I find this most in video games and anime titles, only a few movies are mastered to where you hear things coming from off to the left or right. Some Star Wars and the LOTR movies come to mind.

Yeah, that's good for perfect room conditions, but mine is screen from wall to wall. So, I guess that you are saying that it wouldn't benefit me, and could possibly make the sound worse. If I did go this route, then I should only use M2s. If I did do this, then possibly, putting M2s in the lower corners of the screen for Wides and M2s in the higher corners of the screen for Heights might actually work? There would only be a few inches between screen and ceiling also, so no room outside the screen boundary for heights.

Just making plans on where to run wires and mount speakers.

Kind of like this:


Also, could use QS8 for heights mounted in the same upper corner spots shown.

My screen also takes up almost all of the wall. There is no room or even place to mount wide speakers on my front wall which is why they are on my side walls. Unless you don’t have the room on the sides or just don’t like the look maintaining the angle is more important than which wall the speakers are on. That’s another reason I prefer the M2s even to the M22s is they aren’t obtrusive hanging off the front side walls.

If you have multiple rows of seating that are far enough apart you could even try using double surrounds and or double wides, one set for each row. Sort of like theaters have multiple speakers along the walls.

Only 1 row of 3 seats. It's a small theater. About 11' wide by 13-15' feet deep by 6'9" high. I think I'll plan on my layout I have above for now. All speakers will be pointed straight forward. Using M2's for wide and QS8's for heights. It may not be optimum, but at least I can take advantage of all channels and be future proofed for a little while.

I plan on QS8 for surround left and right slightly behind head position and with in ceiling mounted for rears because there won't be a rear wall that can work and I need to conserve space.

All of the above should provide an ample surround sound experience.

Edit: As an afterthought, I could leave the M2 where I had planned in the lower corners of the screen, only aim them at the side walls, bouncing the sound off of the side walls, creating a wider effect. (Or find a speaker that may be more designed for this).