Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Should I move from 5.1 to 6.1 or 7.1?

I have a short listening position at 9 feet. I was thinking about moving the couch out from the wall just far enough to put a small speaker on the floor firing upward for 6.1.

Any thoughts?

I would not put it on the floor, as the recommended location is above the surround speakers.. Also, the couch may take the sound effect away all together.

The reason for this thought....been there done that. I thought I could get away by not poking holes in the walls...but it just didnt create the effect. Mounting the speakers about 2-3 feet higher then the surrounds made the rear surround stand out in as far as effects from various sources.

I don't have a surround to place as a back so I was thinking of a speaker I have that is like an M3 that would fire directionally upward.

Doug, similar arrangements have been used by others who didn't have room for a conventional setup. The results were reported as being fairly worthwhile, and certainly it'd be worth at least trying.

mikei:

When I started with Axiom, I did a little time with a rear channel (6.1). After a while I decided to complement the Matrix7 decoding or the Enhanced Stereo (all the L/R speakers), so I went for 2 M22's for rear.

I consider this very nice for music, and the M22 I use them by themselves sometimes. they are awesome.

For movies, the M22 pair in the rear really fullfill the space, being just a foot less separated each other than the fronts, to help the rear/center image, but looking at your space behind the couch (just 2ft) I think that will be better to have 1xQS in the rear. 2ft for a pair of M22 will not be enough to have separation between them if you want to have a good soundstage and stereo imaging at your listening position at the same time that reproducing the effects of a rear-center channel in 6.1 movies.

At least, this is how i perceived the 6.1 vs 7.1 in my place.

How separated are your M60's and how far?

Regards

I had 5.1 setup for about a year and added extra pair of QS8's recently. In many cases they are almost silent (most movies even with DPLIIx engaged send very little to the back). When they do however the effect is very tight. For example one of the final scenes in Spiderman 2 when there are voices from the back is very disctinct. I have second row very close to the back wall and so I went with QS8 and not direct radiating speakers such as M2 or M3. I don't regret - otherwise I think that would be too localized to a speaker just over your ears.
For DVD-Audio and SACD playback (using analogue 7.1 inputs on the reciever) I bridged the inputs for rears and the sides. This pushes surround information to the side-rear pairs and to me sounds much more balanced than when just the sides were playing (my "sides" are slightly to the front of the seating, especially the second row so this bridging brings it more in line with Dolby recommendations).
Axiom Setup

My m60s are about 8 feet apart. One on each side of the big screen. I will my front setup from left to right.

1. My component rack.
2. 1 m60
3. Big Screen TV
4. 1 m60
5. EP 500

My rear qs8s are about 12 feet apart from each other and about 7.5 feet up, mounted on the wall. They are about 12 to 13 feet from the m60s across the room.

Unfortunately, if I were to get additional speakers (6.1 and 7.1) they couldn't be wall mounted due to the window behind the couch. I would have to place them on the stands. That would make them about 3 feet lower than the existing qs8s.

Let me know your thoughts.