I have been very happy with "only" a 5.1 setup. I have long figured that going from 2.0 to having two surrounds would be a much bigger gain than going from 5.1 to 7.1. But having said that, I am in the mood to tinker with my HT setup and wonder what the best speakers to add would be.

My center is a VP-150, fronts are M60's and my rears are QS-8's. I believe I have my QS-8's connected to surround plugs as opposed to the surround rear plugs.

1) Will I gain much by going to 7.1?

2) Which pair of speakers would be ideal to add and would then where would I place/connect them in conjunction with my current QS8s? To clarify, would I add another pair of QS8 speakers and use them for surround back and surround or would an M22 be better for surround back and keep the QS8s for surround where they are now?

3) My biggest concern is placement. I currently have my surrounds against a wall on the Axiom stands. Since my HT room is open at the rear (it is a section of my downstairs basement) I am not sure where to even place additional speakers. If they need to actually be in the rear facing the tv screen I may have to pass. I could possibly mount them on the ceiling but that may be more trouble than it is worth.

Thanks.

Greg

If ceiling is an option Dolby atmos as 5.1.2 is a far better move than 7.1 in your open back room. Go immersive and don't look back.

Agreed. I have 7.2.4 (ok, 7.1.4 with dual subs), and I will never go back. A good 5.1.2 or 5.1.4 setup will beat a 7.1 setup for total envelopment in sound.

Let me also throw in my hat to recommend the 5.1.2 route over 7.1 if you can accommodate it. I faced this dilemma back in June and actually have my room set-up to play 5.1.2 or 7.1 based on the disc I'm playing (i.e. older DVD's). Truth be told, even on older DVD's, I enjoy DTS Neural:X simulating 5.1.2 over Dolby EX 7.1.

Not sure if I'm happy hearing you guys say this or not.. I was finally starting to get sufficiently motivated to go from 5.1 to 7.1 (M2's in the back, firmware update my HK 630 to add 7.1 support).

The firmware update is apparently a bit risky in the sense that if anything goes wrong the receiver gets bricked and the repair is tricky (sounds like the microprocessor is soldered down) so I had put it off for a while... and during that time it became really hard to find a PC with an RS232 port. Waa waa...

I guess the "good news" is that if I brick the receiver then it was probably time to get a new one anyways in order to support 5.1.2 etc...

I wonder if the "inverted V" shape of the room is going to help or hinder with Atmos ? I might actually be able to make use of the pre-wired speaker cables up on the angled ceiling, assuming those were not the cables that got eaten by the floor sander (long story).

Odd, thought the HK630 was 7.1 out of the box. I faced a similar issue with my older Yamaha 540 (it was only 6.1). Anyways, when I was forced to upgrade (mostly related to HDMI connectivity but a dead subwoofer out was the catalyst) I grabbed an ATMOS capable Onkyo. I have to tell you, watching ATMOS coded movies is a joy. Be it the paper/origami creatures walking above you in "Fantastic Beasts" or the final battle in "Harry Potter 7 part 2" with the fireballs literally flying over your head!

ATMOS is truly immersive and 3D. Guess next step will be embedded floor speakers with titanium grills that can be walked on?

I had decided I was going to be happy with 7.1 in my tiny HT room and ignore the latest updates. Now you've got me considering how I'd manage to squeeze in Atmos. But then my QS8's have to be changed out for direct firing...I'd need to figure out my ceiling joists and decoupling channels and ventilation for running speaker wire overhead...I'd have to buy in ceiling Atmos speakers...I'd need to update my receiver...I just upgraded to M5's this year for the front LCR's...then since the receiver would need to be upgraded I'd need to update to an HDR capable UHD TV...curse you upgradeitis!!!!! **shaking fist**

They are 7.1 in terms of amplification, but my recollection was that the earlier units didn't support whatever decoding ended up being the standard for 7.1 on most disks. Looks like I was thinking about Dolby Pro Logic IIx, which I suppose is more of a stopgap these days since AFAIK it expands 5.1 to 7.1 rather than supporting "true" 7.1:

http://www.audioholics.com/trade-shows/2...0-a-v-receivers

OK, now this is starting to come back to me. If I want to support any of the more recent audio formats I'll need a player that can decode them plus 7 channel RCA from the player to the receiver. Something like that anyways. Maybe upgrade the player first, making sure I get one that can support Atmos properly, and go from there.

The trouble with upgradeitis is that it keeps mutating. Just when you think it's cured, something else comes along...5.1...7.1...7.2...9.2...11.2...atmos...atmos plus...atmos holographic....atmos holographic "Plus"(has real smells and explosions)....

Bleah... just realized that Atmos decoding seems to happen in the receiver not the player... but I'll need a player capable of at least supporting TrueHD which my "free" Walmart/Sony BD player is almost definitely not.

That said, I have had really good luck with firmware upgrades keeping the player current, so maybe there's something for TrueHD as well.

EDIT - Holy **** there is:



Looks like I still need a receiver with Atmos support and HDMI input/output though... at the moment I believe I am running HDMI from player to projector and coax from player to receiver.

On the other hand I do have 7 channel input which is apparently fairly rare these days... so maybe someone makes a BD player that decodes 5.2.1 Atmos to analog

Wait. So you are only using DTS and Dolby digital right now? The jump will be shocking to immersive. It is big to HD formats.

This is exciting. Cool!

I think so... the TrueHD firmware update seems to have happened back in 2008 so I'm already running with it, but since I am running audio over coax to the receiver I believe the player would have fallen back to Dolby/DTS 5.1.

It would be funny if I ended up having to update just the receiver and not my Walmart/Sony BD player.

Looks like I may want to skip more vertical oriented speakers and go horizontal. Need to figure out a mount and what to do for power.

Thanks and sorry for the late reply.

So which speakers to add to my 5.1 system to go to 5.1.2? M22's or do I need a specific speaker designed for downward firing?

NC

That's exactly how I feel like. Too many options…

I almost miss using a virtual center in front of my 50" plasma. Simple and effective.

Greg - in-ceiling M3's is the way to go.