Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 7.1 or 5.1

1. Rears are Harmon Kardon bookshelves of some model. Rest of the system is Axiom.

2. Very few DVDs have a 7.1 track. A lot more Blu-Rays will have a 7.1 track but only some will actually have originally recorded in true 7.1 channels. Many, especially BDs of older movies first released on DVD have a 7.1 track where they just extrapolated the extra channels from the surround channels.

3. Ooops, looks like you already knew half of what I stated above. I'm not sure exactly how the logic works. I am just bored on a conference call so answering what I can.

2. Two channel movies and music can be modified into 5.1 or even 7.1 using the same built in logic if your receiver supports it. A lot of people use the Dolby Pro Logic II setting on their receiver to do just that, convert stereo to 5.1

With a room that large, I'd definitely give 7.1 a try. I didn't like it enough to keep in my smaller 12x12 room but in the slightly longer 12 x 23 room, I am enjoying it quiet a bit.

EDIT: The most important thing is to calibrate all your speakers with a db meter so that one speaker or section doesn't overpower the others and the sound comes from where it is supposed to come from.

I think it goes without saying that you should wire for 7.1 sound (two rear speakers). I think, also, you might consider (while the walls are open), wiring up two front "height" channels as well. Who knows where the next extension/innovation might be, but it certainly looks like, if 9.1 is going to happen, that's where it will be.

In re: 5.1 vs. 7.1 - here's my take:

I have a 20 X 13 room partially open to one side in which my HT resides. I have M60s and a VP100 up front, QS8s to the sides at 90 degrees to the listening position and two polk direct firing rear speakers about 4 feet behind the seating position placed on the ceiling, angled down.

With a wall about 6 feet behind the listening position (that includes an open staircase), I find that the difference between 5.1 and 7.1 is negligible at most. The QS8s do such a great job of filling up that rear space that, when the PLIIx processor kicks in (on 5.1 source material, including DTS-MA or TrueHD), the sound space in the rear isn't changed that much - no "new" sounds are suddenly behind you. Rather, the sound is better reinforced (not necessarily louder, just more specifically placed) at times. Toggling between 5.1 and 7.1 the difference can be detected, but after a couple of minutes of listening, the effect is approximately the same in both 5.1 and 7.1 environments.

ADRIEN!! Where have you been?!?! I hope you are well.

Good to see your post, with which I heartily agree.

Yes, Tom, it's been years that I've been away. 2 kids, job, etc. leave little time to pal around on the interweb. It's good to see most of the gang is still around.

Adrien, welcome back! Good to hear that your family and hopefully your practice also are doing well. Hope that you can occasionally spend a little time with your Axiom family, too.

Welcome back, Adrien! We should have a DC area meetup some time. Medic8r is starting to bore me.

Wow. Took a lot longer for you than me, apparently.

You guys sound like my wife.

If you're talking about Tom's post, good on you, man.

Ah hahaha! You made a joke about the differences that exist in MTBE for men vs women.