Comments on: Upgrading to 7.1 – The Real Deal http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/05/upgrading-to-7-1/ technology making our lives more futuristic and fun Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:25:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Michael Smith http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/05/upgrading-to-7-1/comment-page-1/#comment-4088 Michael Smith Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:27:11 +0000 http://www.michaelsmith.tv/?p=885#comment-4088 7.1 is much more forgiving than 5.1 in terms of speaker placement. With 7.1 if your speakers are not in the exact right place it will still *surround* you with sound. With 5.1 you can hear the sound coming from a speaker more than from an area of the room. At least in my setup, 7.1 has that movie theater sound and just sounds amazing. To me 7.1 sounds MUCH better than 5.1. As much of a leap as 5.1 was over encoded surround. True if you don't have a large enough room there could be speakers everywhere. But then that's not really much of a home theater in other ways. BUT one of my points is that you need an amp that decodes audio over HDMI or you won't get that Dolby EX even in 5.1. Coax and optical don't have the bandwidth to move that sound from your player to your amp. Once you get an amp that a) decodes audio over HDMI and passes through the video, and b) supports all the new audio codecs - you are looking at a 7.1 system. Now - if your room is too small, you can set that 7.1 system up as 5.1 and use the other 2 for audio in a different room. Also check out the followup to this post... my review of the Harmon Kardon.. <a href="http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/11/review-im-enjoying-the-harmankardon-avr254/" rel="nofollow"><a href="http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/11/review-im-...</a>" target="_blank">http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/11/review-im-...</a></a> 7.1 is much more forgiving than 5.1 in terms of speaker placement. With 7.1 if your speakers are not in the exact right place it will still *surround* you with sound. With 5.1 you can hear the sound coming from a speaker more than from an area of the room. At least in my setup, 7.1 has that movie theater sound and just sounds amazing. To me 7.1 sounds MUCH better than 5.1. As much of a leap as 5.1 was over encoded surround.

True if you don't have a large enough room there could be speakers everywhere. But then that's not really much of a home theater in other ways.

BUT one of my points is that you need an amp that decodes audio over HDMI or you won't get that Dolby EX even in 5.1. Coax and optical don't have the bandwidth to move that sound from your player to your amp. Once you get an amp that a) decodes audio over HDMI and passes through the video, and b) supports all the new audio codecs – you are looking at a 7.1 system. Now – if your room is too small, you can set that 7.1 system up as 5.1 and use the other 2 for audio in a different room.

Also check out the followup to this post… my review of the Harmon Kardon.. <a href=”http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/11/review-im-…” target=”_blank”>http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/11/review-im-…

]]> By: chuckdaly http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/05/upgrading-to-7-1/comment-page-1/#comment-4042 chuckdaly Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:21:19 +0000 http://www.michaelsmith.tv/?p=885#comment-4042 First off you gave no reason why 7.1 was better than 5.1. Also, more isn't always better. 95% of the population have rooms that are not large enough or seating setup to benefit from 2 extra surround channels. I know of zero AMC, Showcase, IMAX, etc theaters that are capable of running 7.1. BTW, Dolby EX was 5.1 with 2 extra Pro logic processed rear channels. First off you gave no reason why 7.1 was better than 5.1. Also, more isn't always better. 95% of the population have rooms that are not large enough or seating setup to benefit from 2 extra surround channels. I know of zero AMC, Showcase, IMAX, etc theaters that are capable of running 7.1. BTW, Dolby EX was 5.1 with 2 extra Pro logic processed rear channels.

]]> By: jayse http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/05/upgrading-to-7-1/comment-page-1/#comment-3927 jayse Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:57:28 +0000 http://www.michaelsmith.tv/?p=885#comment-3927 guess it's time to buy a new receiver... so - with only the 3 HDMI - are you sad you didn't get the sony? would YOU buy yours again? I guess I'm shopping now. guess it's time to buy a new receiver… so – with only the 3 HDMI – are you sad you didn't get the sony? would YOU buy yours again? I guess I'm shopping now.

]]> By: Michael Smith http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/05/upgrading-to-7-1/comment-page-1/#comment-3919 Michael Smith Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:35:15 +0000 http://www.michaelsmith.tv/?p=885#comment-3919 I have a feeling that 1000's of people are listening to stereo all while thinking that it's 5.1. I have a feeling that 1000's of people are listening to stereo all while thinking that it's 5.1.

]]> By: jayse http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/05/upgrading-to-7-1/comment-page-1/#comment-3258 jayse Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:32:56 +0000 http://www.michaelsmith.tv/?p=885#comment-3258 goooooooooood info - i feel my 5.1 is very flat - i figured I just hadn't calibrated it yet - but now it's clear - my optical in is the problem! Big thanks! goooooooooood info – i feel my 5.1 is very flat – i figured I just hadn't calibrated it yet – but now it's clear – my optical in is the problem! Big thanks!

]]> By: Shashi http://www.tomorrowland.com/2009/02/05/upgrading-to-7-1/comment-page-1/#comment-2605 Shashi Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:30:08 +0000 http://www.michaelsmith.tv/?p=885#comment-2605 I concur that 7.1 is total awesomeness. Thanks for the explanation. I concur that 7.1 is total awesomeness. Thanks for the explanation.

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