7.1 Surround sound.

[DrMoab]

Anyone running these yet? Found a good price on a box set which you don't see too often. Just wondering if the extra two channels are worth the price.

 

[Kejtar]

Anyone running these yet? Found a good price on a box set which you don't see too often. Just wondering if the extra two channels are worth the price.

Well, I'm not running a 7.1 system but I would love to. WHat's stopping me at the moment is the realization that just getting it and really enjoying it are somewhat far appart. Not only I'd have to tweak it for optimum performance, but I'd also have to set it up in a room which has the accoustics for it (not much extra furniture and so on).

 

[d10shun]

Most of the DVDs are still 5.1 My current system is 6.1 and will probably not go to 7.1.

"Note that even though 7.1 systems use two back-surround speakers, the same channel of information goes to both of them." cnet.com

 

[GPRSDLYT]

ive got a 6.1 setup in my place.
my father sold his house bout a month ago, it had a theater in the basement. i dont know the exact dimensions of the room (but can find out), but it was top notch. raised floor theater seating, 3 rows, seated 15 or so, motorized curtains. him and i built it ourselves. alot of 2x4's, 4'x8'x1" plywood, etc etc. didnt take all that long to do. once the framing etc was finished, he had some company come in a carpet, and fabric just about everything. but its gone and all the equipment too . but it was a huge selling point.
the new place hes moving to is almost complete. and the best thing is the unfinished basement! and you know what that means! another theater. he thinks he should be settled in by feb. at the latest and we can get started. ill get my buddy to take some pics and keep an update if anyones interested?
sorry didnt mean to threadjack anybody, but home theater is one of my passions.
-g

 

[Darky]

My uncle's got a 7.1 system, sounds really good, but I haven't noticed a huge difference in it

 

[Gridikal]

I've fired so many guns and been to so many nascar races I doubt I could tell the difference.

My nice 5.1 system suits me fine

 

[chance575]

link to deal on the setup i got, dont know that i notice a giant difference, but a little difference. it was cheap so i went with it. onyko setup

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=170576&highlight=7.1

link to system from circuitcity.com good reviews on it, i bought it somewhere else though (dont like cc)

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Onky...99001308/oid/119865/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

[old_man]

The only big thing is.....when is 7.1 material going to be available?

 

[RichP]

I have had my 7.1 setup for about 2 years now, took a while to find space for the extra speakers and they will be coming down soon. I noticed no difference really between 5.1 or 7.1. The single biggest improvement is to setup your system and then use an avia disk and sound meter to get it setup correctly, the disc and the meter were well worth the cost, the RadioShack analog sound meter that the avia disc recommends was like $35. I have to do mine every time we have a power failure that lasts more than about an hour or the A/V receiver resets back to factory defaults and I loose my 'sweet spot' at the end of one of the couches... what I want next is a bigger TV, either flat panel when the prices come down or a DLP, been looking at an RCA settop box that will fit right on top of my entertainment center.

 

[P1atinum]

Really depends on the size of your room. Basicly 7.1 systems often refer to playing a 6.1 signal over a 7.1 surround setup. This is usually accomplished by duplicating the surround channel (6th channel) to the additional 7th channel. In practice, this improves envelopment of sound where a big space exists between the rear surround speakers.

I didn't find a big difference from 5.1 to 6.1 with my theater system, but I did see the impacts in my gaming system. There are Just not enough products that are Digital EX or DTS ES so the sound is matrixed to the Rear surround speaker(6.1)/speakers(7.1) which doesn't provide accurate reproduction of the 6.1 experiance.

 

[allthingsoffroad]

i play alot of computer games and it is worth it

 

[DrMoab]

Thats funny because this is exactly the system I am looking at. A local place here actually has it $50 cheaper then Circuit City.

link to deal on the setup i got, dont know that i notice a giant difference, but a little difference. it was cheap so i went with it. onyko setup

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=170576&highlight=7.1

link to system from circuitcity.com good reviews on it, i bought it somewhere else though (dont like cc)

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Onky...99001308/oid/119865/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

[P1atinum]

i play alot of computer games and it is worth it

7.1 is perfect with Doom 3 and Half Life 2. Even though it is simmulated rear surround in Counter strike it helps.

 

[RichP]

I went to onkyo's web site to look at it a bit closer, both cktcity and onkyo seem shy about showing the back and all the inputs, that bothers me a bit.
For an A/V receiver I want multiple inputs for all and that includes tos link or optical cables for sound vs coax. My digital cable box, dvd, media center pc and sat rec all have optical outputs, unfortunately my JVC A/V receiver only has two optical inputs. The other thing that bothers me is that the dvd is in the unit, generally dvd players only last a couple of years before the lasers burn out, with a 'all in one' you end up tossing the whole box.
My system here is all JVC, A/V receiver, DVD player, VCR, TV and all are connected via the JVC networking system so that when I turn on the dvd player the A/V receiver comes on, TV comes on and the correct inputs are all lined up and ready to go, no clicking for 'source, choosing 'dvd' on the receiver, etc, even the dishnetwork sat receiver is JVC and had the connection.
Sams club usually has some nice setups with seperate dvd A/v receivers for like $399. My system is about 3 years old which is *old* techwise and I've gone thru two DVD players [they used to get ALOT of use]. Just some thoughts.

Take a look at this one
http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027256&pathId=30&page=1

 

[Kittrell]

Take a look at this one
http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027256&pathId=30&page=1

JVC is not what I would consider "up there" as far as H/T goes. Onkyo, Harman Kardon, or Denon. Look at it this way, if you can buy it at walmart, don't.

 

[RichP]

JVC is not what I would consider "up there" as far as H/T goes. Onkyo, Harman Kardon, or Denon. Look at it this way, if you can buy it at walmart, don't.

Somewhat true, but then again my bro-inlaw spent about $20K on his overhead, wall screen, leather theatre seating and dvd robotic player using all high end names.
The advantage of JVC is complink that ties the components together. Same with Sony. I'm not so much dependent on that anymore since I got my Phillips pronto and dumped all the remote profiles into it.
All I really want now is a big HDTV....

 

[Kittrell]

Somewhat true, but then again my bro-inlaw spent about $20K on his overhead, wall screen, leather theatre seating and dvd robotic player using all high end names.
The advantage of JVC is complink that ties the components together. Same with Sony. I'm not so much dependent on that anymore since I got my Phillips pronto and dumped all the remote profiles into it.
All I really want now is a big HDTV....

Any High end unit is going to have coaxial and toslink hook ups. Here is the back of my H/K for reference. AVR 325 from the last line, circa '03.

 

[Kittrell]

Here is the one year old Pioneer that has been retired to the shelf.

And the 7 year old Sony that is taking it's place until the H/K gets here.

 

[GPRSDLYT]

JVC is not what I would consider "up there" as far as H/T goes. Onkyo, Harman Kardon, or Denon. Look at it this way, if you can buy it at walmart, don't.

dont forget yamaha. my brand of choice.
http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/YamahaRX-Z9.html
[drool]

 

[Kittrell]

http://www.hometheatermag.com/receivers/150/