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7.1 or 5.1
#319890 08/24/10 11:50 PM
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Hi, new to the forum and was wondering if anyone has any opinions on whether it is worth going with a 7.1 or 5.1 setup. Also which package of speakers would be best for the room layout and dimensions?



Re: 7.1 or 5.1
Bleevin #319892 08/25/10 12:03 AM
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Welcome to the forum Bleevin. Do you have a budget in mind? Is your space already finished or are you building? Are your ceiling standard 8 foot height?

Personally, I would go with a 7.1 setup with that kind of space. The difference between 5.1 and 7.1 isn't huge, but there is a difference - how much can depend on the room. also, it looks like there's a lot of open connected area, so without knowing all of your relevant details I would tend to go with larger speakers (M60/80) with a good subwoofer to make sure you get good 'room filling' sound. The real experts will be along shortly - I'm just a hack at this stuff having a good time along the way! whistle

Cheers,


Dan
On-Wall M5HP LCR, QS8 & EP500 in 7.1
Re: 7.1 or 5.1
cb919 #319893 08/25/10 12:10 AM
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Originally Posted By: cb919
Welcome to the forum Bleevin. Do you have a budget in mind? Is your space already finished or are you building? Are your ceiling standard 8 foot height?


Thanks for the reply...

Budget = about 2200 cdn
The whole space is in the process of renovations so the ceilings are ripped out and most of the walls. It's basically a complete canvas. The ceilings are actually about 10feet but in the middle of the media room is a bulk head that drops about 2feet and is about 5feet wide and then it opens up to 10feet ceilings again.


Last edited by Bleevin; 08/25/10 12:14 AM.
Re: 7.1 or 5.1
Bleevin #319906 08/25/10 02:37 AM
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How about 7.1 but put the extra two up front (height or wide)? If you have purchased a receiver yet, might be wroth looking into.


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Denon 4520, EPIC80/500/VP180 Speakers
Re: 7.1 or 5.1
Hansang #319914 08/25/10 03:08 AM
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I had the same debate. After much hand wringing I went with the 7.1 setup using QS8's.

We just watched "Saving Private Ryan" this evening.

Get the 7.1


M22's x 3, QS8's x 4
SVS PC12-Plus, Denon 3311ci
Ear-to-ear grin? Priceless!
Re: 7.1 or 5.1
Scamp #319918 08/25/10 03:36 AM
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With a speaker budget of $2200, I think I would start with a 5.1 system. That is a lot of cubic feet to fill and you may want to consider a good sized sub, EP400 might be a good place to start. I think you will get a better bang for the buck this way. Make sure you wire for 7.1 and you can always ugrade later.

I have a dedicated HT room at 4000 cubic feet and am running 5.1 and it sounds great!

paul


paul

Axiom M80, VP180, Qs8, EP500
Epson 3020
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Re: 7.1 or 5.1
Worfzara #319920 08/25/10 04:15 AM
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Since you have no back wall, assuming the top of the 13x23 area is your HT I think you would benefit from 7.1 as long as that doesn’t make you compromise on what speakers you will get. In which case I would start with 5.1 and move up to at least 7.1. Reason being is that w/o a back wall to help develop a rear “phantom” soundstage with your surrounds I don’t think the experience will be nearly as enveloping as it could be. While you can always move your 5.1 surround speakers farther back than 90 degrees to each side to assist in creating a rear soundstage w/o the wall behind you, you loose the benefit of the reflected sounds coming off that wall. If you do move the surrounds far enough back then you will likely get a gap in the sound stage between the mains and the surrounds unless you are sitting fairly close to the front. Basically no farther back than the distance between your left and right mains.

The farther back from your mains that you sit including the more rows of seats you have the more you would benefit from adding rear and possibly even wide speakers as you stretch out the soundstage lengthwise.

With 10 foot ceilings height speakers could be nice but I’ve found that if the surround and rear speakers are elevated at least a few feet above ear level then the height speakers don’t add that much IMO.


3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
Re: 7.1 or 5.1
grunt #319921 08/25/10 04:30 AM
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I haven't purchased a receiver yet but I'm partial to Denon as that is the receiver manufacturer I've been using for the last 7yrs. If anyone has suggestions for a good model I'm all ears.

The HT will be located by the guest bedroom wall.

There will be a back wall but the back wall is about 10 - 11 feet from the planned seating position. One of the rear speakers will have to be mounted above a window which would put both rears around 8 - 9 feet off the finished floor. I'm not sure if that would make a difference in the sound of the rears?

Last edited by Bleevin; 08/25/10 04:39 AM.
Re: 7.1 or 5.1
Bleevin #319923 08/25/10 04:44 AM
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Sorry I didn’t pay enough attention to your picture now I see the speakers drawn in. I think you are a great candidate for at least 7.1 with that room configuration. With your seatin 12 feet back I think wide speakers would help but not as much as rear speakers would.

My room is 13x21 so close to yours. I sit 15 feet from the screen but only 12 feet from the speakers as their drivers are about 3 feet out from the front wall. I’ve tried only 5.1 in this room and found that moving to 7.1 really helped fill out the 360 degree sound field. Since it looks like your surrounds are fixed at about 12 feet due to the right one I really think that you would find it worthwhile to use rear speakers.

Personally I prefer using QS8s for both surround and rear speakers but if your closest seat to the rear speakers is 10 feet I think you could use M2 or another bookshelf speaker as a rear and save some money.

Because of the distance to the mains I find that wide speakers also help make the sound field more enveloping but it’s not as noticeable to me in a long room as adding rear speakers is.


3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
Re: 7.1 or 5.1
Bleevin #319935 08/25/10 08:33 AM
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Bleev, welcome. Yes, you have plenty of room behind your listening position to mount 7.1 back surrounds for a rear sound field. That height is a little more than the typical 3' above ear level, but still excellent with QS8s.

As to a receiver, for the most cost-effective purchase, consider a factory refurbished unit which should be at least as reliable as a brand new one. I'd suggest that you also consider Onkyo models such as the 1007 and 3007 from Accessories4less, but if you want to stay with a similarly excellent Denon, a very good buy at this time is this 990 for about $640 plus shipping.


-----------------------------------

Enjoy the music, not the equipment.


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