Your advice regarding 7.1 is something I thought of initially and I agree. My Pioneer 1019 does support 7.1 audio but I thought there wasn't much point given that DTS and Dolby are only 5.1 audio paths. Does the receiver automatically duplicate the rear surrounds to the sides with 5.1 content?
Dolby ProLogic IIx, don't just duplicate the side surround content to the rear, but actually looks at the content and steers it in a very convincing mix around the rear.
I like my surround speakers directly to the side of my head (that's were my ears are), but found that with 5.1 content which pans from side to side in the surround channel, it seems to go over-head rather than around behind me.
Enabling PLIIx with rear speakers fixes that. Though another way to fix it, is to place the surrounds slightly behind the listening position.
So just because there's not much 7.1 content, doesn't mean you can't have the rears active for all material. Heck, ProLogic IIx creates a 7.1 mix from even stereo content.
