Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 5 to 7 Channels

Let me shed my opinion in on this. I think the biggest contributor to all of this is the receiver. Having tried two different receivers myself now, and having a friend who has now owned two different receivers (albeight his 2nd was just the new version of his previous one) I'm convinced that a great deal of it has to do with how the receiver matrixes the movies. Receiver 1 did an excellent job of playing movies in their discrete form, but sucked it up when it came to matrixing so I thought of just going to 5.1 also. But, Receiver 2 is quite the opposite and does such a good job at matrixing that I can see not being with 7.1. It really fills the whole back end of the sound spectrum.

So before blaming it on how many speakers you have, ask yourself how good a job your receiver is doing IT'S job.

Just my personal opinion from personal experience.

could you be so kind as to tell us which 4 receivers these were, and which one did the fabuolous job?

bigjohn

The 4 receivers were the Harman Kardon 630, the Yamaha RX-V1500, the Denon 3803 and the Denon 3805.

The Harman Kardon 630 was my first receiver.
- Great for 5.1, suck up job on matrixing to 7.1
The Yamaha RX-V1500 I've had for a day.
- I can already tell a big difference in the matrixing. Way improved for 7.1. Though I'm still adapting to the sound from the H/K. More on that after I get it fully tweaked.
My friend had/has both the Denon 3803 and 3805 (current).
- The Denon 3803 performed similar to the Yamaha in that it did a great job matrixing to 7.1. I haven't heard his 3805 yet, but he says it's even better than his 3805.

I will probably try out the Denon 3805 myself sometime. Right now I'm spending time with the Yamaha RX-V1500 and I'll post perhaps in a couple weeks how I think they compare.

Right now, Day 1, the Yamaha has much better matrixing, but the Harman Kardon has a better, richer sound.

I guess I'm on a quest for the Holy Grail

In reply to:

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So before blaming it on how many speakers you have, ask yourself how good a job your receiver is doing IT'S job.

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I ran 7.1 with an Yamaha RX-V1, Yamaha RX-Z9, Onkyo 800 and a few others. I now run a Denon 3805 as a pre only and 7.1 is still a joke.............just like it was with EVERY receiver I have had. Not bad for music but very little going on when it came to HT. I even tried 9.1 with the RX-Z9 and it was average at best with HT but not so bad with music.

At the end of the day however, I could not justify the cost in speakers etc for so little gain. I get the same results with a good 5.1 set-up everytime.

Well, perhaps it's a case of different strokes for different folks. A factor, also, is how far apart each speaker is, and how far you are from each speaker. If they're all bunched together every two feet, and you're only a couple-few feet away, then yes, it's probably overkill.
I'm about 7+ feet from each surround speaker, and each speaker is roughly 6 feet apart from each other, so to me that creats enough space for a wide soundscape. Otherwise my two surround speakers (albeight QS8s are great) are 15 feet apart from each other. And they do a good job, I'd go so far as to say most of the job. But there are times where there's a sound RIGHT behind you that speakers 7 feet to the left or right can't duplicate.

My 2 cents is, I can justify the spending of two more speakers. First, you'd never get to play 6.1 discrete movies. Some may say that's overkill. That's fine. 5.1 is really great, but I like 7.1 better. It really comes down to a matter of opinion.

The bottom line is, NeverHappy, is that I might have agreed with you, up until a week ago. Most movies ARE in 5.1. Though some are in 6.1 and 5.1 EX/ES movies are made more for 6.1 and 7.1 systems. This sort of kept me on. But again. 5.1 was generally enough. Until I played Master and Commander in 7.1, chapter 4. I heard sounds fill the room like I hadn't heard before.

Most people who already have a newer 5.1 speaker setup probably have a receiver that'll at least do 6.1 or 7.1. So, to all you out there on 5.1 and are curious...go find a friend, or look in your garage or basement for an extra speaker or two that you have or can borrow and test it out for yourself. It's free. Granted, if they aren't a high quality speaker it won't sound the same as if you have an Axiom back there. But it's just for fun anyway.

But I will go on the record as say, "Yes, 7.1 is a negligable difference over 5.1."

But I did it because I could, because I wanted to, because I thought it'd be fun, and I thought it made a difference.

I'm sure the 5.1 vs 7.1 debate will go down in home theater history up there with good vs bad speaker wire, powerconditioners changing your sound and picture, and speaker break in...

To each his own. Enjoy the sounds!

Nah, the 7.1/5.1 debate is much more civilized!I'd love to do 7.1, but the house just isn't built for it. Nor is my budget... Although 6.1 with a QS4 and a hell of a lot of flat speaker wire might work...


Since my Qs are mounted so far forward, I think I would probably benefit from such a setup.