7.1 vs 5.1 HD Advice and other questions

[whiteyav]

Hello all,

I have recently moved house and am about to decorate the lounge and hide cables etc. I'm also considering moving to HD sound. Hence my questions.

This is spec of my current system bought in late 2000, except the TV/PS3:

REL Subwoofer Q200E, Mission 773 fronts, Mission 77c centre, Mission 77ds rears, Sony STR-DB930 receiver, Sony DVP-S725D (only now used for music CD's and region 1 DVD's), PS3, SkyHD, Panasonic TH42PZ81.

I've been more than happy with this setup over the years, of course HD sound is now required.

I'm very happy with the speakers for the size of the new room, which is 5m x 4m , the front L/R could be improved (made bigger) for stereo sound, but good enough when running with the sub on. I'm also only an occasional watcher of a movie/listen to music due to time constraints ie new baby!

I don't want to go to a 7.1 setup unless absolute necessary as the two extra speakers just will not look right in the room.

My PS3 will remain the Blu-ray player in the short term, I'm waiting until recordable blu-ray etc

My questions are:

1. With HD audio, is 7.1 really essential, or will my 5.1 setup be more than adequate?

2. If 7.1 is essential, can anyone reccomend some Mission speakers to fit in with the current system?

3. The Sony STR-DA2400ES is probably my current AV Receiver of choice (seems similar power to my DB930) but my budget is towards 1K if necessary. I'm also in no rush, so could wait until next year when a new model comes out.

With my speakers is this amp good enough? or should I wait/spend more and get THX certified etc?

4. Does routing the HDMI picture output from the PS3/SkyHD via the receiver then to the TV cause any picture degradation?

5. I don't plan to change the setup until I move house again, so circa 5 years, so hence no rush, but I am decorating soon, so need to get the cables hidden for 5.1 or 7.1.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Cheers

Andrew

 

[professorhat]

No need to go 7.1 for HD audio - still very few discs actually provide native 7.1 soundtracks, even on Blu-Ray so if you don't want to, there's no need to at all.

The Sony you mention is actually quite hard to get hold of now as replacements seem to be on the horizon for most of theÿmanufacturersÿ- if you're not in any hurry, I'd wait until the new amps from the likes of Denon, Yamaha and Sony have been released and see how they stack up.

Routing your HDMI sources via the receiver shouldn't cause any picture degradation - there's an argument that the extra length of cable required could affect the picture (though others would disagree with their whole "digital is digital" argument) - whichever way, it's likely to be only so slight at worst that you probably won't even notice it if you're using decent cables.

ÿ

 

[whiteyav]

Thanks for your reply.

Regards

Andrew

 

[Anonymous]

A lot of the 7.1 amps allow you to use the redundant surround amps for biamping. Helps muscle up your front L/R speakers.

 

[Stack]

Hi,

If you can I would opt for 7.1, as I was in the same position 5 years ago with 6.1 sound and recently upgraded to 7.1 about 2 weeks ago. Even though most discs have 5.1 tracks on them. My Onkyo 876 does a fantastic job at expanding the sound to the surround backs. It widens the rear sound stage and gives you that extra added depth. I run B&W DM600 S3 for the surround backs and mount them high on the wall. So if you can, I would go 7.1, as more titles that are released on blu ray will have 7.1 sound encoded. You will hear the sound as intended by the director and those 2 extra channles do make a difference to the overall presentaion of the film.

 

[whiteyav]

Thanks guys, I've going to have to look at Missions website to see if they have any rear speakers that would sound and look correct.

My fronts are bi-wired, not sure what bi-amping is? Will look into that.

One other question, does speaker cable de-grade over time? My cables are almost 9 years old and are quality cables, but if I'm going to be hiding them, I want to ensure they will be fine for the next 5 + years.

Cheers

Whitey

 

[Stack]

Cables should not degrade over time, as mine havent and they are getting on 7 years old now.