# Rear Surrounds?



## roger1014 (Oct 18, 2011)

Right now I have my system set up as 11.2 channel. Maybe a little kill but now I am starting to second guess my addition of the rear surrounds. What's everybody thoughts on using the rear surrounds? Are they really needed? I know there is no audio format for this!


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I'm confused by your statement "I know there is no audio format" for the rear channels. 
7.1 discreet channel mixes have been very common in movies over the last couple years. 

The rear channels are very advantages if you have two or more rows of seating as the side surround channels don't do a good job of covering more than one row.


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## roger1014 (Oct 18, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> I'm confused by your statement "I know there is no audio format" for the rear channels.
> 7.1 discreet channel mixes have been very common in movies over the last couple years.
> 
> The rear channels are very advantages if you have two or more rows of seating as the side surround channels don't do a good job of covering more than one row.


My mistake on the discreet channels for the rears ...

I only have one main listening position and have used the Audyssey set up for this position. Used six different microphone positions as suggested in the Setup guide elsewhere in another forum. I have front L/R height speakers and front L/R wide speakers and read some where in the Audyssey setup that these speakers were more important than the rear surrounds! 

So ...should I just set my system for 7.2 or leave it at 11.2? In order to use the other speakers, wide and heights, I need to have my AVR use the A-DSX mode! The more I read the more confuse I get....


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

So you have speakers in place for all 11 channels? If they are in the correct locations then I don't see any reason to think that your causing issues by using them. Where is your seating located with regard to the rear channels? Is it forward enough that they are about 3ft behind you?


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## selden (Nov 15, 2009)

At least three movies have been released which have DTS Neo:X 11.1 soundtracks, although they're not exactly the best movies in the artistic sense. Quite a few people prefer the soundfield produced by Neo to that produced by DSX.

Dredd 3D - DTS-HD MA 7.1 & DTS Neo:X 11.1
Expendables 2, The - DTS-HD MA 7.1 & DTS Neo:X 11.1
Step Up 4: Revolution 3D - DTS-HD MA 7.1 & DTS Neo:X 11.1

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=159814
provides a list of discs and the number of audio tracks they have.


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## roger1014 (Oct 18, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> So you have speakers in place for all 11 channels? If they are in the correct locations then I don't see any reason to think that your causing issues by using them. Where is your seating located with regard to the rear channels? Is it forward enough that they are about 3ft behind you?


These are the speaker distance, in feet, from LP as detected by Audyssey:
FL 9.9, FR 9.9, C 9.3, SW1 11.5, Sw 2 11.8, SL 7.8 SR 8.1, SBL 9.1 SBR 8.9, FHL 13.3 FHR 13.1, FWL 9.9 FWR 9.9.


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## roger1014 (Oct 18, 2011)

selden said:


> At least three movies have been released which have DTS Neo:X 11.1 soundtracks, although they're not exactly the best movies in the artistic sense. Quite a few people prefer the soundfield produced by Neo to that produced by DSX.
> 
> Dredd 3D - DTS-HD MA 7.1 & DTS Neo:X 11.1
> Expendables 2, The - DTS-HD MA 7.1 & DTS Neo:X 11.1
> ...


My AVR, Denon 4311ci, has DTS NEO-6 which is only 7.1, 6.1 or 5.1. But I do find that if I use the A-DSX I like the wider sound field I get!


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

By the looks of it your seating position is almost dead centre of the room is that correct? If so that's not ideal. You want to be about 2/3s of the way back and the centre is where you will get a lot of cancelation as that's where the sound from the speakers will interact giving nulls.


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## roger1014 (Oct 18, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> By the looks of it your seating position is almost dead centre of the room is that correct? If so that's not ideal. You want to be about 2/3s of the way back and the centre is where you will get a lot of cancelation as that's where the sound from the speakers will interact giving nulls.


hmmm.... didn't know that! One problem is that this is kind of an "L" shaped basement room! I'll try placing a sketch of my room layout later.


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

roger1014 said:


> My AVR, Denon 4311ci, has DTS NEO-6 which is only 7.1, 6.1 or 5.1. But I do find that if I use the A-DSX I like the wider sound field I get!


A-DSX is what i use...especially since I run 11.2. I think it does a great job.


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

roger1014 said:


> My mistake on the discreet channels for the rears ...
> 
> I only have one main listening position and have used the Audyssey set up for this position. Used six different microphone positions as suggested in the Setup guide elsewhere in another forum. I have front L/R height speakers and front L/R wide speakers and read some where in the Audyssey setup that these speakers were more important than the rear surrounds!
> 
> So ...should I just set my system for 7.2 or leave it at 11.2? In order to use the other speakers, wide and heights, I need to have my AVR use the A-DSX mode! The more I read the more confuse I get....


If your receiver powers 11 channels then you can use A-DSX and everything should work just fine.
As for the microphone positions for setup...i just ran one on the main seating position. If you run multiple seating positions but mainly sit in one position then basically you are sacrificing some of your quality.

If you have 11 speakers and are able to run them, then why take them out :dontknow:
I bought an Emotiva to run my front wides, front L/R and center. I run the other 6 speakers powered by my Denon receiver. 

While some, including myself, feel that the front wides add more audio impact (widen the sound stage) than rears, I still think that a true home theater should have rear speakers.

Basically Audyssey will listen to the six positions and then compromise to give all positions a decent sound quality. I personally would rather have one good reading and setup for the main listening position. why sacrifice the sound quality for where i sit, guests will just have a little less quality...:heehee:

Don't know if this helps clarify anything or make matters worse...:bigsmile:


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## roger1014 (Oct 18, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> By the looks of it your seating position is almost dead centre of the room is that correct? If so that's not ideal. You want to be about 2/3s of the way back and the centre is where you will get a lot of cancelation as that's where the sound from the speakers will interact giving nulls.


Didn't plan for the seating position to be that way. I started out by placing my recliner about 8 to 10 feet away from my Mit 73" TV. According to some viewing distance calculator this turned out to be the best viewing distance. 8 to 10 feet depends on whether the recliner is in the recline position or not....


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