7.1 vs 5.1 Surround Sound

It depends on how big the room is....and what your personal preferences are...a little over 100 movies support the format....

It will depend on the quality of your Processor, either as a stand alone or within a receiver. What is it able to decode? I have also found that there is not a lot of REAL 7.1 material out there, and your processor is only Ghosting (Extrapolating) the channel separation. (like using a simulated center channel with only a front left and right speaker) . I love my 5.1, and find that the bangs and pops and whistles on the extra channels get distracting unless you have a VERY GOOD SYSTEM and a great room, with the ability to really dial in the speakers. Many new systems have built in Audessey and the like which can really help. Or go out and get a Radio Shack SPL meter, and do it your self (That is what I recommend) Good luck!! (Watch out for reworked older movies , that try to simulate the multichannel experience--Much like simulated stereo in the old mono classics--Horrible!)

If you have any sort of a smart phone or a tablet, then no need to spend ANY money, there is a fre APP for that!

I have an older BOSE system. 4 small cubes about 3 iinches square and it's bass ducted port big box for the bass. It also has a center channel output which I use to feed a small 5' high and square shoe box style enclosure that has 2 side by side speakers that favor the treble.

Set the treble output from the tv, then on the Bose control bring up the surround speakers and the bass boomer. This sounds a bit complex, but what you are really doing is setting the center speaker level before you are distracted by the bass. Works GREAT.

She's older now, but still produces a lovely sound for 5.1. http://www.onkyousa.com/Products/model.php?m=TX-SR605&class=Receiver

As far as the room goes, it's a large living room. Not sure exactly how big.

I finally took the leap and down loaded 600 CDs' and 250 vinyl albums (Through a professional ripping service), onto a 1 TB NAS (Network Storage Device). Running everything through a Router (Apple), NuVo (Like Sonos) , multi -room system, and use an I-Pad for a controller. Puts my cable TV, NuVo, Roku, Turntable, BluRay player, DVD, VHS player and dedicated 2-channel system at my fingertips. (I do have to load the turntable and other systems--No App for that YET!!). The NuVo has an Android App that allow my wife and I to control also from our phones, although I prefer the I-Pad. The phones allow us to change tracks , adjust volume etc, remotely, from any room. No more CD racks, but I still have a few vinyl albums that are not available in digital. It is so nice to be able , with a swipe and tap, to access any device, start, change and stop it, from your chair. Now to address my photos,home movies etc.... I want to get them into the digital realm, for storage and ease of access. .That will be a challenge for me. Anyone give me a starting point on that project? Thanks in advance, Mac

C-Mac,

How do you like the sound quality? I have my CD collection on a hard drive, but I haven't attached it to my stereo system. I use it for my desktop as I do work.

I was told that there is a difference in the sound quality vs CD (or phono), when you play the music though a very good stereo

A couple years ago, my Sony CD changer died - it was a pretty good unit with cool soundfield processing. A friend told me to get a higher end unit, so after doing some research, I chose a Marantz. I now understand what it means when they talk about the sound stage. The Marantz makes the music "transparent" and full of life.

When I burned all my CD's to my hard drive, I used the CD player on my desktop. It sounds okay with my cheapie computer speakers, but I'm concerned that the quality will be substantially less than my home audio system - hence I'm not sure I should use it for a media source. What do you think?

You are correct in the fact that just burning CDs' into a hard drive will yield minimal results. You need to rip them in a Lossless format, like WAV, Flac, or Apple Lossless. THese are much higher quality, and results in superior sound. Of course, the quality of the original production work has to be taken into consideration. I had them give me my Beatles as the Re-Mastered version. I found that I actually liked the original Mono Beatles (The way it was recorded in 1965 etc.) much better than redubbed "Stereo" versions , (Actually a garbled dual mono). Two different versions of the same songs by the Stones are VERY different, one yielding much better separation and bass. Research the above formats. You will find that much better quality IS available. That is why I had it done Professionally by a studio in Palo Alto. They have the right equipment to do it in any format you want. They even ripped a backup drive for me, in Apple Lossless so I can down load it to my I-Pod, and I-Tunes. PC compatible formats include the above mentioned WAV and Flac formats. I have a pretty high end 2-channel system, and am pretty critical of the sound. Also, the type of music is important. I don't think you will find Rap to be enhanced by theses formats, but I listen to a lot of Jazz , Classical, and vocal etc. I will give you whatever info I have, if you need.

I get it, you're doing a digital to digital, bit to bit transfer of CD's. Should have as close to the original as you can get. Though phono transfer will have losses.

I love the way old 60's music sounds when original. The original recordings are great and you get the feeling you're sitting in the studio. We have some old Simon and Garfunkel where you can hear the slight hum of the tubes - such a warm sound. On the song the Boxer, the engineer "pushes" the music forward at a point, like a punch coming at you.

HI guys, On my 200 classical CD's and about 100 for other genres, I experimented with various encoding types. My conclusion is that for the future i want a mainstream format. Thus MP3. The various encoding bit rates are important, but only up to just above the bitrates used on the source cd's , well just one step higher. Then I found that Variable bit rate also is transparent .I did a bunch with MP3 Plus, then found that players for that are scarce. So dropped that. Alll my ripped mp3's sound indistinguisable from the CD's.

I don't think you'll hear much difference. 5.1 has five separate channels (two front, center and two rear) plus a subwoofer channel. 7.1 adds side speakers to the mix. If you have a home movie theater set up, then it will make a difference. For you and most of us here, I'd stick with 5.1.

Agree......If you want good 7.1, go to the movies (Like 3-D)