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RE: I've been wanting to post about 7.1

Posted by David Aiken (A) on March 13, 2009 at 14:18:07

In Reply to: I've been wanting to post about 7.1 posted by grantv on March 13, 2009 at 07:04:23:

I've got a 6.1 system having added the 6th channel a couple of years ago back when I was buying a few DVDs with DTS ES discrete 6.1 soundtracks. I know the arguments in favour of using 2 rear surrounds but that is physically impossible in the relatively open plan space my system is set up in but a single, centred surround speaker in the rear was possible so I went with that. There were no 7.1 soundtracks on DVD. I do have a couple on BD.

My take on channels is that I think playback sounds best when you play the disc back using the same number of channels as encoded on the disc. I built my system by moving from 2.0 to 6.1 in a number of steps and I found that adding side surrounds and getting that info out of the front L and R speakers produced a significant gain in clarity, as did getting a centre channel that was tonally matched to the L and R front speakers. Centre speakers that weren't tonally matched delivered improvements in some areas, especially clarity, but the tonal shift as sounds or speech moved between the front L or R speaker and the centre was too distracting.

The move from 5.1 to 6.1 was the last change I made, still back when I only had a DVD player. I liked the increased sense of envelopment I got from 6.1 soundtracks but the gains in clarity were very much smaller and, overall, I felt that the 6th channel was pushing my limits in the "value for money" stakes. I did a fair amount of experimenting with using Do;by PLX II or DTS Neo6 to synthesise a 6th channel from 5.1 material and decided that I tended to prefer 5.1 in 5.1 rather than synthesised 6.1 so the 6th speaker ended up only getting used for discs with 6.1 soundtracks. In fact I leave PLX II/Neo6 turned off for discs that don't have 6.1 soundtracks and I even prefer to listen to mono or stereo soundtracks in mono or stereo.

I did much less experimenting when I bought my PS3 and started watching BD movies. I find the higher definition audio soundtracks much more involving than the compressed DVD soundtrack formats but, overall, I find I still prefer 5.1 soundtracks in 5.1. There are no 6.1 tracks I've come across on BD so I only use the 6th speaker with 7.1, folding the rear 2 channels into one. Once again, I find the increased envelopment obtained with the rear surround channels beneficial but only when those channels are present on the disc. I don't find synthesising 6.1 channels out of 5.1 any more preferable to just listening to them in 5.1 with the BD audio formats than with DVD. I do think I would find 7.1 marginally better than 6.1 and I might be tempted if I could comfortably place 2 rear surrounds in my open plan area but that's impossible.

My feeling is that there's big gains in moving from 2.0 or 2.1 to 5.1, or even 3.1 or 4.1. There is a gain in adding rear surrounds for discs with 6.1 or 7.1 soundtracks but it's a much smaller gain. I don't see any advantage in having a 6.1 or 7.1 system when playing 5.1 discs. Small sound gain and few discs with rear surround info makes it hard to justify going to 7.1 on a cost benefit basis in my opinion.

So that's my take. Until there's a lot of 7.1 channel discs out there and you're viewing a fair number of them, I'd recommend sticking with 5.1. You'll lose a little with those movies that do use rear surround soundtracks but not much, and you won't lose anything on those discs with 5.1 or fewer tracks. If you're feeling indulgent and want to go for 7.1, knowing that you are indulging yourself, I think you'd enjoy it but I never regard indulgences as providing good value for money. That doesn't stop me from having a few. I went into 6.1 thinking it was probably going to be an indulgence and I haven't decided differently. It's an indulgence I enjoy when the soundtrack does have rear channels but it's not an everyday indulgence for me.



David Aiken

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