Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Is 7.1 really worth it?

I am thinking of updating my 5.1 system to 7.1. Although, I wonder if the two extra speakers will really change the overall sound from DVDs. The surround speakers in a 5.1 system don't really get used much except for special effects. Adding two more speakers seems like a waste.
I would appreciate your feedback.
My system:

2-M60
VP150
2-QS8
EP500
Denon AVR4806

Tell us about your room, too. In smaller rooms, and even in larger rooms with certain seating arrangements, moving up to 7.1 will result in little to no appreciable difference.

I have a 7.1 setup. My rear channels are handled by 4 Energy Take5 satellites. The extra two rear channels make a difference but on only a very select few DVD's. If the DVD has a DTS-ES or Dolby Digital EX encoded track, then you can hear the difference. There are not many DVD's out like this. The only ones I can name off the top of my head are Star Wars 1-3, the LOTR trillogy, and Gladiator. In certain scenes the sound does seem to move more smoothly behind you, and it is an improvement. In non-ES/EX encoded stuff, I can force my receiver to continue to use the 7.1 surrounds, and I would say it does very little - if anything - to the surround sound experience.

If you have a receiver capable of doing it, and the extra speakers lying around, then there's no harm in a 7.1 setup. However, if you're talking about a receiver upgrade + speakers just to get 7.1, I don't know if I'd say it's worth it just for that.

I would say that a properly setup 5.1 system would be more 'enveloping' than a poorly setup 7.1 one.

That said, my receiver has different modes for the extra channels. Now set to 7.1, I can change that to sacrifice the rear two surrounds and instead bi-amp the front speakers. As soon as I break down and purchase M60's or M80's I'll be going that route.

As others stated... the main issue (I think, at least) is whether your physical setup will work well for 7.1. If you can't get proper placement, many people might argue you're just putting up "more ambient sound", which won't do much if you're 5.1 setup already does great ambient sound.

However, if your setup will allow for "good" placement, i.e., surrounds to the side in the "correct" spot, and rear surrounds behind you at enough distance from the regular surrounds so that you can tell the difference, I'd say it is worth doing.

If it is raining in the movie... it probably won't make a difference. If a helicopter is flying from behind you... you might notice the difference (for *cough* a few seconds). So, what you'd want to do is get a movie about helicopters. Helicopters that fly around a lot. Or, just get a movie you like in 7.1 and watch the same scene over and over.

I'd suggest, if you can do "near ideal" placement... why not do the 7.1? (Aside from reasons like "speakers aren't free"... "speakers take up space"... "more speakers require more ugly or difficult wiring"... blah blah blah.)

If you can't do "ideal placement"... skip it. Although seven speakers are cooler than five speakers. If you like speakers. Which I think we all do.

(Oh... and next, decide whether you want quadpole or monopole speakers for your rear surrounds! Lots of debate on that too. I vote for monopole! They're cheaper! And I'd think that for "directional" effects, the fact that they're more localizable would actually help. I say that having never, ever owned a 7.1 setup! But I am scheming to do so...)

I bought a second amp and a pair of M2i's to make the jump to 7.1 and was very unimpressed. I ended up selling the amp and moving the M2i's upstairs and on to my computer. I love them up there.

I've also been unimpressed with 7.1. I bought M2's for the back surrounds and have noticed that they're very rarely utilized. And anyway, the QS8's are so good that you'd think you have 7.1 anyway.

I'm in much the very same boat as you, but I've decided to wait until 7.1 becomes more of an issue, say when Blu-ray or HD-DVD's start coming out with 7.1 audio tracks. I'm also entertaining the idea of meeting in the middle and going with 6.1. That single rear speaker may have the same effect as two if they aren't far enough apart to bring any real separation.

I echo the same sentiments. I had my HT wired for 7.1, then I moved the system to another room and did not bother putting back the rears. I have the speakers and 7 channel of amplification, but I really did not notice any appeciable sound improvement in a 7.1 config, so I decided that I was going to install the system in 5.1 "for now" and get to the other 2 speakers "later" .. well it's been 6 months and I have yet to put them up.. don't think it's going to happen anytime soon either.

Cheers,
Stephane

Wow! Rarely have I seen such unanimity of opinions! Is this generally known? I can't imagine that speaker companies would want this to get out. (No offense meant to Axiom).
Thanks to all those who answered. I guess I will wait on getting more speakers.