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System consists of Sony STR DA777es receiver, Sony DVP-NS900 DVD, Sonus Faber Concertino Front and Surrounds, with Solo center channel, REL Storm sub-woofer, Sony VPL-HT11 projector and Stewart Filmscreen Grayhawk. It's great and I love it. The question is: is it worth it to upgrade electronics and add two speakers to go to 7.1? Thanks for your thoughts.
Follow Ups:
DLS and board,
With all respects to LarryS.,;
The Sony DA777Es receiver is hardly out of place with the aforementioned gear.
The '777's production run was ended prematurely due to widespread speculation that it competed too cheaply with Sony's own separates, the 9000 series pre-amp and amp.
At a $1500.00 price point, the STR-DA777ES was one of the great deals and steals of the last 20 years, audio-wise- majorly overbuilt with top notch electronics. I'm not selling mine, no-how no-way until they prey it from my cold dead remote.
BTW, it is 5.1 and thats fine with me. Has anyone listened to the Prologic sound of Bladerunner lately? That sounds fantastic!
Craig
I just noticed you have some very nice speakers. Your video is high quality too. But that receiver of your's - - seems out of place with the rest of your equipment.I'd suggest an upgrade is in order. Those speakers deserve better.
I have a Proceed AVP that I'm still very happy with. Since Harmon Kardon killed off the brand, I purchased an ADA 6.1 decoder, and a Parasound ZAMP. Combined with some matching speakers I'd kept from a prior upgrade, I've got 6.1 for a pretty low cost. Has made a noticable difference on some films. Was worth it.
Since most (if not all) of the media is 5.1 or less, I would say not. Anything put out by a 7.1 is interpolated in some manner if it's not specifically made for it. The furthest I've gone is 6.1, but that's mainly because my last new receiver was an older ProLogic.A lot of others in here have talked about the fill and gaps. I would think this to be more a problem with the speakers than with the receiver. If you're itching to spend some money or improve the surround effect, consider getting some dipole speakers in there instead of direct radiators. They'll help spread the sound around for the sides and back so that you can't pinpoint the source as easily.
I know that AxiomAudio sells two different surrounds (they're actually quadpoles, but same basic difference) that are a little more pricey; however, they get great reviews.
Fluance also makes some cheap dipoles... no idea how they sound, but here they are for the curious .
I would vote for 7.1 if you would like to use 5.1 and 2 channel in another room or upstairs/downstairs.The room size and size of your speakers will determin if you can use 7.1
I went 7.1 because it allowed me to use the second set of speakers upstairs. (most formats will be in 5.1 (HDTV etc... to get them to move to 7.1 and above would require a huge investment and throughing out their new stuff. ( remember they are all switching over to 5.1 from 2 channel stereo.) and then to tell them to go to 7.1 !!!!
I can see it happening but not for at least 10 years or more.
I would wait. unless their is something else you want. eg when I switched prologic II and Neo 6 Which is a must have. but if you have it already then I would't upgraded. I would have looked for a used 2 channel for upstairs and ran extra cables for CD)
I'll vote that going to 7.1 is worth it, while 6.1 is just a *perhaps*. Two rear speakers (5.1) just can't complete a seamless surround (though can be plenty good) - 7.1 is better in this regard and I think it's worth it.6.1 I'm not sure though,...having just the single rear speaker can be easier to locate as a point in space, calling attention to itself in a distracting way.
Many of the newer processors can make faux 7.1 out of even stereo channels and this can be good for movies - so while real 7.1 is rare (and really does stand out as *best*), you can still get plenty of miles out of the rear speakers.
Finally, I've found the speakers don't have to be as good as the rest and like them best set 1 to 3 db lower than the fronts (so get ambience and fill and effects and lowest chance of distration of speakers calling attention to themselves ...)
I find that there is a lot of confusion (not on this board) about 6.1 and 7.1. There is really only one extra channel and it is a mono channel derived from the original rears in a method very simliar to the old Dolby pro-logic. Like pro-logic, the one channel can come through one speaker or two. There are precious few films in 6.1/7.1 and those that are make little use of the rear center channel. I think the money can be better spent elsewwhere, perhaps on classic films software.
I agree that it depends on the room and usage, if you have a very long room with several rows of seats it could be worth it, otherwise I dont think so, and I did test it on a 13´by 26´ room, I preferred 5.1
Depends on your room. I have a 26x19 room where the longest dimension is front to back. In this case, I could probably benefit from a 7.1 setup. if the side-to-side dimension is larger, I would suspect 7.1 is wasted. In this case, a 6.1 with rear center might work better.I may go to 7.1 when I get a processor upgrade and/or decide to replace my aging 5.1 speakers with new set of 7.1 speakers. the current setup leaves "holes" in too many places for a complete "immersive" sound experience.
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