Since i am moving to the M80's i was wondering , is there any real advantage to using a 7.1 is there enough information to make it worth my while to add my M2's and which is preferable. Obviously front height would be easiest, ie less speaker wire to fuss over.I would really like to hear others thoughts either way.

I have 1 pair of Qs 8's and have lived in 4 different places with them. so i have always had 5.1. I have absolutely no desire to go to a 7.1 setup. the location of my QS8's has been from very undesirable (2" behind someone's head), to a pretty desirable location being 2-3' or so behind the sitting area. While my personal setup's have never been "perfect" with the QS 8's good surround mix's in both music and movies have been very enjoyable.

I think there has been a lot of debate as to any true advantages of a 7.1 system over a good 5.1.. Alan would be able to provide you the best answer with the most amount of experience to back that answer up. Hopefully he will share some insight.


On a side note, i have noticed that 90% of the HD material that timewarner has, is either not in surround sound, or the surround sound tracks are pretty crappy.. I have noticed that only good Blu-rays really made the surround an experience similar to the movies. i have a BD-83 as my optical device.

If they are truly spare speakers then give 7.1 a try, no need to get fancy initially, just set them on a ladder or similar behind the listening position, if you like the added effects then start planning the wire situation out. If you don't like it then remove it all and use the M2's as PC speakers or whatever, It eill still come down to your own preference. FWIW, I ran 6.1 for a number of years and my corner loaded situation the 6th channel was a great improvement; I had a HUGE gap between the L and R surround channels.

I think the smaller the room the less advantage 7.1 has over 5.1... which isn't too much to begin with. That said I designed my new HT to have speaker locations for 7.1.

I am going 7.1 because my room is 24 feet deep and with 2 rows of seats, I want a really immersive surround field. I've had 5.1 for years with QS8s in less than ideal locations too, and have been very happy.

Richard, the availability of enough room(say at least 4')behind the listening position for a rear sound field to form is significant re the back surround speaker question. As to available information, note that using a mode such as DPLIIx can send useful signals there from both 2 and 5 channel source materials.

On the back vs front question, Dean(grunt)is our member with the most experience in this area and hopefully he'll see this thread. From his past comments it appears that although he finds both back surrounds and front heights of benefit on occasion, he has the highest satisfaction with using the Audyssey DSX processing(with 5.1 source material)for front width speakers.

Nick, I would go for dual side surrounds as well as the rear channels with 2 rows of seating.

This is the kind of information i was looking for.I dont really feel anything missing but thats not to say it cant be better. I have a pretty small room. I recently purchased a denon 3311 with the audyssey dsx which is why i am considering this. I will listen to the 80's for a while then give some other option a try on a temporary basis.

Socketman, your 2 tweeters are not working...

Hey, quit trying to make me spend more money...