Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 6.1 worth it?

I'm reconfiguring the HT and got a new Salamander Triple. I'm rotating the room about 45 degrees. I have the option of just moving my rear QS8, including the in wall cable, OR add a 3 rear QS8. I have 5.1 now, but would 6.1 provide any improvement worth the $250 to buy one QS8?

I haven't told the wife how much the Salamander was...I'd hate to have her ask me how much another speaker cost...

Some will say "no". I will say "absolutely" if you're an avid movie watcher and care all about the DTS-ES 6.1 encodings and DD-EX encoded tracks. Those are the one's you'll benefit most from. But if you have a decent receiver that will matrix properly...then ALL movies will get a bump of surround goodness.

Honestly...I've tried 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1. There are many that swear there's no benefit to going to 6.1 or 7.1. I'd agree...if your receiver doesn't matrix well. But if you have a receiver that does do it right, like say a Denon 3805 or something, then you can benefit from it because the receiver does the work of giving you the impression of the sound flowing from the back to the sides to the front, or vice versa.

I've had three receivers in three months. Trust me when I tell you, some do it right, and some do it wrong.

The other main factor when deciding this is, how big is your room. If it's a relatively small room, you won't gain much by going with 6.1. In fact, at that point, you really need to factor if 6.1 "is" worth the $250 price tag. But if you're room is big enough where your left and right surrounds are far enough apart from each other, you'll certainly benefit from the 6th channel filling in the rear. Hey...it's really quite simple. They thought the front soundstage needed three right? So why not the back have a middle speaker as well?

Well, that's my take. Good luck on your decision!

Thanks for the info.

My room is 18' by 27'. The plasma and fronts will be at one end (18' wall). Viewing distance is about 9' to 10', same distance as where the QS8's will go. This is also driven by the current position of one of them. The system is currently driven by a Pioneer 45TX.

I'll keep thinking...

I agree with the Island of Misfit Toys I own the Denon 2805, and absolutely love listening to 6.1 material. I also enjoy using my Denons Pro Logic IIx decoding for 7.1 conversion...

I'm in complete agreement with Misfit and sirquack; if you can swing adding another rear/back speaker or two...do it! Even with the small amount of titles out there, that are in EX or ES, it is still worth it.

OK, question for you 6.1/7.1 experts. I use my system mostly for HD Tivo now, not much DVDs. The only DVDs are the ones in heavy rotation for the 2 year old. There's only so many times I can watch Nemo and Monsters, Inc...

W/ HD, some of the shows come up as Dolby DD. Is anyone aware if these are even transmitted in anything more than 5.1?

I can see less reason to jump to 6.1 or 7.1 if it's not for HT purposes. In terms of 6.1/7.1 for Dolby Digital signals, that's where your receiver comes into play in terms of matrixing the 5.1 signal into those other formats.