Video Asylum

Posted by tuneman (A) on August 24, 2004 at 08:58:38

In Reply to: 5.1 vs. 7.1 posted by badgerdms on August 23, 2004 at 08:21:34:

I would find a high end A/V dealer in the area and see if you can listen to a demo with 5.1 and 7.1 surround. A great movie to use for a demo is "Cast Away" as it is encoded in DTSes(a 6.1 format), which also works well with 7.1 surround. I have 7.1 surround and for some movies is is great, that is if they are encoded for Surround EX or DTSes, but it seems that most movies still cling to the 5.1 standard. Most processors will create the rear center channel even if the movie is not encoded for it. Although, I listened to "The Last Waltz" in 7.1 surround and the rear center distracted from the rest of the sound, so I switched the rear surrounds off and went with a 5.1 set up. I would not buy a 7 channel amp or even a 5 channel amp if you ever plan on upgrading, as they don't seem to hold as much value as a 2 channel amp. The best of both world would be to do a 6.1 channel set up with 3 stereo amps, they should all be the same amp, but don't have to be.