7.1 speaker placement question

[SPIDERone]

Hey everyone,

I have 7.1 speakers and am getting a new 7.1 surround system tomorrow - My 'decent' sized/powered speakers are a center channel, 2 fronts (L/R) and 2 surround (L/R). I also have some smaller sized speakers (bookshelf sized?) and wasn't sure where they would fit in. Would those be better as the "surround back" speakers or the "surround" speakers? I do plan to get replacements at some point.

I'm trying to keep it in a way that the typical surround/louder parts are going to my better (and larger) speakers, and the parts that wouldn't come up as often would be going to the smaller bookshelf-sized speakers.

Here's a back of the receiver.

I've got everything planned out except for these.. do the small ones go to "Surround" or "Surround Back"?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by SPIDERone

Hey everyone,

I have 7.1 speakers and am getting a new 7.1 surround system tomorrow - My 'decent' sized/powered speakers are a center channel, 2 fronts (L/R) and 2 surround (L/R). I also have some smaller sized speakers (bookshelf sized?) and wasn't sure where they would fit in. Would those be better as the "surround back" speakers or the "surround" speakers? I do plan to get replacements at some point.

I'm trying to keep it in a way that the typical surround/louder parts are going to my better (and larger) speakers, and the parts that wouldn't come up as often would be going to the smaller bookshelf-sized speakers.

Here's a back of the receiver.

I've got everything planned out except for these.. do the small ones go to "Surround" or "Surround Back"?

Are your speakers powered or is that a typo? If they are powered, it means they have their own built-in amplifiers and you need to connect them to the preouts on the back of the receiver with RCA cables. I don't see any pre-outs on the back of the receiver. Do the powered speakers have speaker type terminals?

[SPIDERone]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Are your speakers powered or is that a typo? If they are powered, it means they have their own built-in amplifiers and you need to connect them to the preouts on the back of the receiver with RCA cables. I don't see any pre-outs on the back of the receiver. Do the powered speakers have speaker type terminals?

Sorry for the confusion - I meant "decent sized / decent powered" (in terms of watts and overall size of the speakers) compared to the smaller bookshelf sized ones, not that they're powered.

The speakers are connected via standard speaker wire (in banana plugs).

Just trying to see if the Surround Back should be the smaller speakers and Surround be the larger ones, or vice versa

[bobbydrugar]

I would put the smaller speakers as back surround as not many mixes yet include 7.1 so the 5.1 with the better speakers as side surround would be the better choice.

T

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by SPIDERone

Sorry for the confusion - I meant "decent sized / decent powered" (in terms of watts and overall size of the speakers) compared to the smaller bookshelf sized ones, not that they're powered.

The speakers are connected via standard speaker wire (in banana plugs).

Just trying to see if the Surround Back should be the smaller speakers and Surround be the larger ones, or vice versa

I would put the smaller speakers as the surround back speakers. Most sound tracks are 5.1 so there is more coming from the surrounds. You can always matrix a 5.1 so the rears are getting the same info as the surrounds.

[Big Daddy]

Check the following threads. There are helpful diagrams and guidelines on how to intall your main and surround speakers. Use the smaller speakers for rear surround and use Dolby PLIIx to convert all 5.1 movies to 7.1.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/speakers/6...rs-part-i.html
https://forum.blu-ray.com/speakers/1...s-part-ii.html

[SPIDERone]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Check the following threads. There are helpful diagrams and guidelines on how to intall your main and surround speakers. Use the smaller speakers for rear surround and use Dolby PLIIx to convert all 5.1 movies to 7.1.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/speakers/6...rs-part-i.html
https://forum.blu-ray.com/speakers/1...s-part-ii.html

Thanks everyone! This has been very helpful.

Now my next question would be - which audio mode works best for movies? I've owned a few previous SONY receivers and they don't seem to have a "just use whatever signal comes in" mode, they all seem to apply processing.. either NEO6, DPLII, DPLIIx, or one of Sony's cinema modes.

This one seems to have HD-D.C.S., PLII Movie, PLIIx Movie, PLIIz Height, Neo6 Cinema.

Or would I want to switch between them depending if I'm watching a 7.1 BD or a 5.1 BD/DVD?


EDIT: ..and another question.

I don't have a way to fit the "Surround Rear" speakers behind me - they'd pretty much be on top of the "Surround" speakers.
The receiver allows either "Surround Rear" or "Front High" speakers. Which would be more beneficial (although neither is ideal..)

Stacking the bookshelf speakers on top of the Front L/R and using "Front High"

or stacking the bookshelf speakers on top of the surrounds and using "Rear Surround"?

[bobbydrugar]

Personally If you are going to Matrix the 5.1 to 7.1 I prefer the PLIIX Music setting. On my Reciever its actually THX Music+PLIIX which adds a little extra processing but of the PLIIX matrixes (Which I think are vastly superior to the NEO6) I Have tried the Movie mode which literally moves Front L/R into the Center and boosts the Center Channel too much Game mode if you have it just sounded a little flat to me but Music was actually customizable to manage the width of the front stage how heavy you want the Center VS Front L/R to be and was the perfect sweet spot that sounded closest to the Original DTS-MA/TrueHD non processed track. OtherWise go with the DTS-MA or TrueHD thats provided on the disk for an exact Bit for Bit reproduction of what the sound engineer wanted you to hear.

PS I like matrixing with the Music mode its really fantastic,

T

If you don't have the surround Back then Matrix is not an issue just let the Audio pass through in its native format. If you use the front Height you will need to engage the DPLIIz I believe to move data to the front height speakers.

[raygendreau]

Originally Posted by SPIDERone

Thanks everyone! This has been very helpful.

Now my next question would be - which audio mode works best for movies? I've owned a few previous SONY receivers and they don't seem to have a "just use whatever signal comes in" mode, they all seem to apply processing.. either NEO6, DPLII, DPLIIx, or one of Sony's cinema modes.

This one seems to have HD-D.C.S., PLII Movie, PLIIx Movie, PLIIz Height, Neo6 Cinema.

Or would I want to switch between them depending if I'm watching a 7.1 BD or a 5.1 BD/DVD?

You may be interested in this response re NEO6 for watching movies with 2 channel audio.

http://forums.audioreview.com/showpo...1&postcount=21

[SPIDERone]

Thanks everyone - this has all been very helpful!

And to throw even another question out there -

The receiver does Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HDMA, Dolby Digital+ and LPCM - my previous receivers have only done DTS and DD, so I never really looked too much into these formats (knew they were better, but my receiver never supported it, and my speakers are still nothing too great) - if given the option, is there one that I would prefer to go with? DTS-HDMA or LPCM, for example.

I'll look into these a bit, and I realize it probably depends on the disc, but just trying to get a basic idea on which will usually provide the better output if given the choice.

And lastly, this receiver has an Auto Calibration feature - it has a microphone that measures tones from the speakers to calibrate the levels. In the past I've done manual calibrations to the best the receiver allows (distance, height, size) - any experience (good/bad) with the auto calibration features in these systems?

Going to look into these a little more now

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by SPIDERone

Thanks everyone - this has all been very helpful!

And to throw even another question out there -

The receiver does Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HDMA, Dolby Digital+ and LPCM - my previous receivers have only done DTS and DD, so I never really looked too much into these formats (knew they were better, but my receiver never supported it, and my speakers are still nothing too great) - if given the option, is there one that I would prefer to go with? DTS-HDMA or LPCM, for example.

I'll look into these a bit, and I realize it probably depends on the disc, but just trying to get a basic idea on which will usually provide the better output if given the choice.

And lastly, this receiver has an Auto Calibration feature - it has a microphone that measures tones from the speakers to calibrate the levels. In the past I've done manual calibrations to the best the receiver allows (distance, height, size) - any experience (good/bad) with the auto calibration features in these systems?

Going to look into these a little more now

Give the first post in this thread by Big Daddy a read to help you understand. It is big but it explains them well.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/audio-theo...io-codecs.html

[smeesmay]

I would look into maybe adding front heights instead of surround backs, if you can't get the proper spacing they really just blend in with the surrounds and theres no distinction.

[-RONIN-]

Originally Posted by smeesmay

I would look into maybe adding front heights instead of surround backs, if you can't get the proper spacing they really just blend in with the surrounds and theres no distinction.

This is absolutely great advice. When I moved I ran into space issues and I was unable to properly setup rears. I was kind of disappointed and setup the front heights with a "no other choice" mentality. Now that I have I can honestly say I'm not so sure I would want to lose the heights. Personal opinion for sure but my point being is that smeesmay is right about going heights if you can't do rears properly.

[arc trooper]

i like having all my speakers the same size but then i have the room for it