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.

Maybe I am the only dissenting vote but I like 7.1. It however didn't cost me for extra speakers as I am using some old mission bookshelves as the back surround speakers. I find they seem to fill in the back area quite nicely. YMMV.

I'm interested in this discussion.

Is there any REAL compelling rationale for 7.1 over 6.1?

Discuss.

Maret, if you have enough room behind your listening position for a back surround effect to develop(say at least 4')then a 7.1 speaker setup can be used with advantage. This applies to both 2 channel and 5 channel source material; processing such as DPLII extracts natural ambience present(in varying degrees)in 2 channel material and steers it to the side surrounds and also the part which should be imaged in back is steered in "stereo" to the back surround speakers. with 5 channel DVDs processing such as DPLIIx leaves the front channels unaffected, but processes the side channels to extract information which should be imaged in back and again steers it there in "stereo". Use of two rather than one back surround is suggested both to take advantage of a possible left back/right back difference and to avoid a psychoacoustic "reversal" effect in which a center back sound is instead heard as being center front.

JohnK:
I have some old speakers, it can't hurt to give them a try. I have a couple cheap bookshelf speakers and 2 Bose satellites. Which do you think would be better to use.
Thanks.

Maret, to avoid disgracing myself, I suppose that I have to suggest the cheap bookshelves.

Ahh, but with the Q series the sound stays in the rear, not thrust out over you eliminating that effect.

Indeed, very true.

Depending on the source you are playing, rear surrounds can be VERY enveloping. You don't need much distance behind you either. I've only got around four feet.

Seeing how you have a wonderful AVR, I wouldn't hesitate going with 7.1.