I have heard mention of 7.1 surround sound and currently have a customer telling us he wants 7.1 surround in his house but he is buying a 6.1 receiver, I have not talked to him yet about it yet and thought this would be a good time to get my ducks in a row about it before we discuss it.

What exactly does 7.1 surround mean, I know it means 7 speakers and the .1 is for the lfe bass channel, but what receivers are utilizing this set up? Also what is the best speaker placement for a 7.1` set up and how does it process theses channels, are they just two sets of rears doing the same thing or do they act independently?
jeff

Basically you would have two side speakers and two rear speakers....If I'm not mistaken, you should place the side speakers approximatly halfway between the listener and the front speakers, with the rear speakers behind the listener...

The jury is still out on what type of speaker to use in these cases, maybe a dipole on the side walls and monopole on the rear???

Currently I think the only manufacturer of 7.1 surround is Onkyo with the TX-DS989, and what a beauty it is! Although, some of the Marantz models have 7.1 preamp outs. I have the Marantz av9000 pre/pro, I couldn't be happier with it, the sound on music AND movies is just incredible!

"For optimum results, THX recommends use of two THX Ultra certified dipole speakers for the back surrounds. However, allowing for customer preference, a pair of direct radiating speakers can also be used for the back surrounds under a new THX specification."

Read tidbits of info here:

[Link: homecinemachoice.com]
[Link: thx.com]
[Link: smr-home-theatre.org]
[Link: geocities.com]

In answer to Jeff's earlier question:

The rear two speakers carry the one rear, matrixed, channel. As would the single speaker in a '6.1' setup.

Apparently, Lexicon's Logic 7 can split the two rear channels effectively; although, strictly speaking, it's not what the mixer originally intended.

Matt - Several new Denon Receivers (3801, 3802, 4802, etc.) all have 7 amplified channels. See the Denon website for more details - www.denon.com

Chasmo

thanks for the links, andrea!!!
great reading!

SanMan

I just updated my Onkyo 989. It sounds a whole lot better. It has NEO 6 and Dolby prologic 2 in the update. I put in "Castaway" with DTS ES. The sounds are very impressive with the new update.

Noahdrum: Lucky boy! The 989 upgrade has skyrocketed in price here in Canada, to over $200 with Dealer installation fees. Onkyo is not selling kits to users. And it hasn't quite arrived yet... .

I'm curious: with the upgrade, do all the signal enhancements show up on the display and in the DSP cycle, as well as on the OSD menu? And does DTS ES have its own display, as opposed to accessing by holding down the THX button for THX EX?
... Mike

Yes they all show up on the reciver and the OSD. I paid 55.00 dollars for it. You need windows 98me or 2000. You need to give them S.Number of the reciver.