Just some thoughts and comments. Yes, those white speakers are Paradigms. They just had them out for show, and they weren't connected to listen to.
As for 5.1 vs. 7.1, I was leery about 7.1 for a long time. Now that I have it and there are a lot of blu-rays with a 7.1 mix, I really enjoy it. I do think that everything has its place though. If you have a small room, then you probably won't benefit as much from the extra 2 channels (there IS a benefit though) vs. someone with a larger room. When I was using a 12' and then a 15' front to back sized room, 5.1 was perfectly fine (there also weren't many 7.1 mixes anyway), now that my room is 24' from front to back with 2 rows of seats, not only do the rear 2 channels really fill in the gap between the 2 side surrounds, but there is (as mentioned already) more content for 7.1... a lot more. Then again, the bigger the room, the more other needs... more LFE is needed (thus I had to add a 2nd sub), the room modes are a bit crazier to resolve with room treatments, at least until you hit a monster size room, etc.
As for the general population, yeah, they are fine with a sound bar and thinking that they are getting great surround sound. At CEDIA there were actual training classes on how to prove to people that the sound bar, while better than tiny TV speakers, still isn't giving people the sound that they really want. There was a part 2 for that training which was less technical and more "sales" oriented. I didn't go to either, but "experts" agree that the world, as a whole, could care less about audio (or video) quality, let alone a 5.1, 7.1, or immersive setup.
Keep in mind that CEDIA is for people that are setting up and installing home theater spaces, home automation, etc. From the $10,000 to the $1,000,000+ installations. These are not people looking to sell a HTIB or sound bar, although there were at least 2 sound bar companies there. I guess a full theater experience at a client coupled with a sound bar for the bedroom or something???? It is definitely a niche market, but there is clearly a lot of money to be made in this market. While I am no Custom Integrator (boy was I asked a ba-zillion times if I was a C.I. while I was there), I am an enthusiast for sure. I just want to do it all myself instead of paying someone to do something that I could do. For me, immersive audio (Atmos and DTS:X) are a MUST after everything I heard. Yes, Mad Max, whether you liked the movie or not, has an amazing 7.1 soundtrack, and yes it is even more impressive in Atmos. I heard that demo more than most because it was such a solid sound mix in any format, so vendors liked it the most.
So those of you that have 5.1 setups and are happy little clams, hey there is nothing wrong with that at all and I am not going to tell you that you need something else. For those that want something more than their 7.1 setups, yes Atmos is the real deal. DTS:X sounded just as good (they just need to get it out there) too. Auro 3D? Meh. Not impressed. I wasn't impressed when I saw The Maze Runner: Scorched Trials in an Auro 3D theater last month. I was not impressed with any of the Auro 3D demos at CEDIA either. Yes, it adds more sound, but it just fills the room more than creating a "point in space" ability for sound. Hard to explain, but it just sounded like they just added more speakers is all, vs. having distinct sounds coming from any point in space like with Atmos and DTS:X. When I saw The Martian this past week in Atmos, wow. It was a great mix.
Last comment on DTS:X that makes it a bit special (I am sure that Dolby will try to figure out something similar in the future), but they can take dialog, the one thing that more people complain about not being able to hear, and instead of cranking up the entire center channel of a movie (and thus cranking up a LOT of the "non-dialog" sound too), you can actually play back the dialog as an "object" and not only just increase the level of only the dialog, but also mess around with where it sounds like it is coming from. This is HUGE for people with center speakers above and below the screen as you can set DTS:X to play the dialog so it sound like it is coming directly from the center of your screen. Nice.
And last comment about Atmos and DTS:X (although, it is a bit more for DTS:X) You can still benefit from these sound formats even with a traditional 5.1 layout. Sure, you won't get any "height" information, but you will get a lot better "ear level" sound, which is still, in my opinion, 75% of the total effect anyway. So you can hate the idea of 4 more speakers overhead or bouncing off of the ceiling, but eventually you too will benefit from these 2 formats as it isn't *just* about overhead speakers. So hate the speakers, not the formats.
