7.1 in a Family Room...is it worth it ?

[RickX]

Before I pose my question, here's my equipment list for my family room. None of it has been setup yet.

TV: Sony Bravia XBR 52" LCD
Receiver: Sony STR-DA3300ES
Speakers: KEF KHT3005SE + 2 Additional KEF HTS3001SE speakers (making it 7.1)
BD-Player: Sony PS3 40GB

The room is approx 14' x 15', has 3 walls, hence is not enclosed (like a dedicated home theatre room). My sofa is placed flush against the back wall of the room.

So my question is, is it worth installing the rear surround speakers at all ? It's recommended that these speakers are set up behind the listeners, but I don't have that option since the sofa is up against the wall already.

My plan is to set up the 5 satellite speakers at ear level. And then I had an idea of mounting the additional 2 satellites at ceiling level on the same wall as the left & right surround speakers. But I'm not sure it's worth the trouble (and wiring !)...

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Driver_King]

There's no good reason why you should not think having a home theater setup in a room that isn't enclosed, small, or large is a good idea. I'll be glad to assist.

[RickX]

Ok. Thanks for your reply.

With regard to the placement of the rear surrounds (i.e. the additional speakers that I purchased), where would you recommend I mount them ? Would you say that ceiliing level is a good choice (when the other satellites are set up at ear level) ?

Thanks.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by RickX

Ok. Thanks for your reply.

With regard to the placement of the rear surrounds (i.e. the additional speakers that I purchased), where would you recommend I mount them ? Would you say that ceiliing level is a good choice (when the other satellites are set up at ear level) ?

Thanks.

Only if that is your only option.


And for your first question, 5.1 vs. 7.1 I went from 5.1 to 7.1 myself in a family room (with an open wall going into a dining area) for the wiring requirements, size constraints (my room is larger than yours also, so I couldn't imagine doing it in a 15x14 room ) I am not going to say that I can't tell a difference, but depending on how important it is to you, it may not be worth the upgrade price.... fortunately my stuff is moving to a dedicated theater soon, because the wiring, the "wife" factor, kids, etc... just too much for a family room.

A properly setup 5.1 system is still very nice, and many movies don't have a 7.1 track anyways..... if you've invested in hundreds of blu-rays then it may be worth it to you.... if you're like me, and still have a LOT of DVDs that you still watch... 7.1 isn't even used.....

It's a matter of how important it is to you.... The jump for me from 5.1 to 7.1 cost me an extra $1,600 or so.... ($800/speaker) so believe me when I tell you, if I was saying "Oh you gotta have 7.1 everything else is inferior ...blah blah blah) it'd just be me trying to justify my own madness

For marginal cost, you can get a lot of improvement, but it's not worth sacrificing the room asthetics, in my opinion......

[hanser]

If your sofa is directly on the back wall, 5.1. is the right way, in my opinion. Otherwise you probably will localize the back surrounds too much since they are too close.

I have a similar situation as yours. I tried 7.1 and is was distracting.

I would mount the surround speakers a bit higher than ear level and not directly pointing to the sofa.

[jsteinhauer]

If you have 15 feet, you can very well sit closer to your display, leaving room behind for rear speakers. With the sofa along the back wall, it would not be worth it. You say you have three walls, though, not four, so I'm not sure of your room configuration (is it an open floorplan?), but there may be another option. It's not ideal, but not all of us (me included) have the ability to have an ideal home theater room in our homes. My room is probably about 18 feet by 50 feet. I have the display at one end, and the sofa sits about 8 feet from the display. About 8 feet behind the sofa, I built a fake beam on the ceiling that does two things. It defines the "home theater" space from the rest of the room, and it supports the rear surrounds and serves as a channel for the wires. It sort of depends on your speakers, though, whether they forward radiate or side radiate. For side radiators, I prefer my setup, but if you have forward radiators, floor stands in corners would work just as well.

[kingofgrills]

Since the room is 14x15, and the couch is against the rear wall, I'd stick with a 5.1 setup making sure it's calibrated correctly. I'd also advise against placing the surround channels at ear level right by the couch. In that position they will distract you from the primary front channel information and prevent you from having an immersive surround sound field.

Place the rear surrounds higher up on the walls, pointing slightly down toward the listening sweet spot. After doing that, definitely calibrate your whole setup with a SPL meter. There's a very informative sticky on the speaker calibration process you can use.