5.1 versus 3.1

[admin_exported]

I am under pressure to reduce the footprint of our cinema system so am looking into the Mordaunt Short Alumni speaker package. My question is how much of the film soundtrack would we miss out on if we were to simply use a 3.1 (L, R, Centre and SW) and not wire up rear speakers? (Our room is 'L' shaped and has an open staircase, the tv and speakers would be in one corner so I am unsure if a clever speaker that bounces sounds off walls to imitate a 5.1 system would work here).

I realise this is heresy on the 'Home Cinema' forum so apologies for that, but I would be interested to see what people think.

Thanks, Rich

(PS Given the above, is the KEF KHT2005.3 really any better than the Mordaunt Short Alumni?)

 

[Andrew Everard]

You'll miss out a lot on ambience and the sense of surround.

If you don't already have an AV receiver, one of the Yamaha Sound Projector Soundbars might be the answer, as they don't rely on room reflections, but rather use multiple drivers and digital signal processing.

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew,

I do have one in my old system:

Sony AV receiver STR-DB940, Sony DVD DVP-S725D, Mordaunt Short MSC20 and MSCW20, Mission M71 and previously my old Wharfdale Diamond 4.1 (I think they were) as the rears. They were not linked up again when we moved house. (Old TV is a 28" Sony CRT).

I was going to upgrade the whole system. Onkyo TXSR806, Panasonic DMP-BD55 and then a set of 'style' speakers, leaning towards MS Alumni and thinking of 3.1 again (Panasonic 42" plasma on top, or maybe the Sony 40W4500 to be decided).

What is the Yamaha like at 2 channel stereo? I do listen to quite a lot of music through my M71s currently?

While I am obviously considering reduced quality (ie 3.1) I thought these boxes were not meant to be any good, am I wrong here?

Thanks for your help, Rich