5.1 or 7.1?

[Tom Bars]

my set up so far is a
47' LG
40gb PS3
and a lame sony soundbar

i want to upgrade to 5.1 0r 7.1...
heres my question, most of the blu-rays that i own say
'Dolby TrueHD 5.1' or 'DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1'
..so if i have a 7.1 setup for example
but the audio on the bluray says it supports 5.1 (like one of those i listed above), will any sound come out of the other two speakers.
its a newbie question i know, but if someone could briefly awnser it or kind of explain a bit better that would be much appreciated

[Steve]

If you have a 7.1 system and watch a 5.1 blu-ray and use the lossless audio trac on the disc, then no, no sound will come from the 2 surround back channels. I think some receivers allow you to "matrix" the 5.1 trac into 7.1, but you're then listening to an altered trac.

On the other hand, if you have a 5.1 setup and play a 7.1 movie using the lossless audio trac, the audio meant for the 2 surround back channels will be redirected by the receiver and combined in with the surround channels.

[Tom Bars]

oh thanks. i have heard of
'DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1'
but that is only on a select few movies,
i think lions gate movies to be exact.
what do you have?
is having 7.1 kinda of pointless or is that going to be the new 'starndard' one of the days

[Steve]

I have 5.1. You can see pics in my HT gallery if you want. I think 7.1 blu-rays are gradually becoming more common, and I expect we'll start to see more and more of them in the future. In my situation, I couldn't properly set up a 7.1 system. I don't have enough room to properly place the surround back channel speakers. Most people will tell you it's "better" to have a properly set up 5.1 system than an improperly set up 7.1 system.

[Miller Lite1]

I think going to 5.1 from surround bar will be huge difference. Will your receiver even do 7.1?

If yes then you can always upgrade later.

If no, then your answer is 5.1.

[Tom Bars]

well this is what i had in mind
HT-S7100
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=...ss=Systems&p=i
it comes with a 606 which i thought was nice, i mean that is my main reason for looking into a 7.1.

If i were to go the ' 5.1 ' route, do you have any suggestions that would follow close to the price of the HT-S7100,
still in school so my price range is kind of around 1000$

[mreilly611]

Originally Posted by Tom Bars

oh thanks. i have heard of
'DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1'
but that is only on a select few movies,
i think lions gate movies to be exact.
what do you have?
is having 7.1 kinda of pointless or is that going to be the new 'starndard' one of the days

7.1 is great if you have a big room. Take a look at my pictures to see size of my room. I watch most of my 5.1 DVD's and 5.1 Blu-Rays using a Onkyo 875 receiver with the sound field switched to THX Ultra2 Cinema and everything sounds amazing matrixed to 7.1, it makes a big difference in a big room. I cant wait for the Star Trek movies to come out in Blu-Ray they are all going to have 7.1 True Hd Sound. I would say about 5% of Blu-Rays come out now with 7.1 sound and that number should be growing in the future. So if you have the room, 7.1 is the way to go.

[Tom Bars]

got a decent size room.
thanks though.
when "matrixed",
does it sound at all strange or fake?

[mreilly611]

[QUOTE=Tom Bars;1643927]got a decent size room.
thanks though.
when "matrixed",
does it sound at all strange or fake?[/QUOTE
Not at all it sounds fuller as if you are In the center of the action. I guess a good speaker system also has a lot to do with it also.

[Tom Bars]

oh thats good,
thanks for your input.
another question,
from reciever to rears is about 35-40 ft
what gauged wire would you recommend.
if i do buy that onkyo, some forum suggested upgrading the wire because the one that it is comes with is bad quality.

[GeneD5]

No worries man...just start off with 5.1 and see if you are satisfied. If you decide to go 7.1 add in the extra two speakers later!

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Tom Bars

oh thats good,
thanks for your input.
another question,
from reciever to rears is about 35-40 ft
what gauged wire would you recommend.
if i do buy that onkyo, some forum suggested upgrading the wire because the one that it is comes with is bad quality.

You'll probably want to go with about 14. Maybe even 12. the wire that comes with Onkyo systems is very thin. Remember though, that with wire that big, you probably won't be able to fit it into spring clip style speaker connections. You'll need speakers with binding posts. I oroginally bought the HT-SP908, which is the predecessor to the system you're looking at. The included receiver is pretty good, except that it doesn't have pre-outs, but the speakers are nothing to write home about. And the included speakers do have the spring clip type connectors.

[Tom Bars]

Originally Posted by GeneD5

No worries man...just start off with 5.1 and see if you are satisfied. If you decide to go 7.1 add in the extra two speakers later!

that's what ill probably end up doing
thanks

[Tom Bars]

Originally Posted by fireman325

You'll probably want to go with about 14. Maybe even 12. the wire that comes with Onkyo systems is very thin. Remember though, that with wire that big, you probably won't be able to fit it into spring clip style speaker connections. You'll need speakers with binding posts. I oroginally bought the HT-SP908, which is the predecessor to the system you're looking at. The included receiver is pretty good, except that it doesn't have pre-outs, but the speakers are nothing to write home about. And the included speakers do have the spring clip type connectors.

i know onkyo makes a good receiver
but if i were to go with the 5.1 way,
do you guys have any recommendations for some speakers/speaker brands
that would be around 1000$