# Surround back and height



## Edward Testa (Apr 18, 2013)

With a Denon 3312 is there any way to have surround back and height channels at the same time. Maybe with an external amp?
Thanks.


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## htsirhc (Jul 21, 2012)

I have 3312 and have not found a way. I believe you can only choose: surround back, front height or 2nd zone at one time. An external amp will allow 2nd zone & 3rd zone to play as well as front height or surround backs to play simultaneously.


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## Edward Testa (Apr 18, 2013)

Thanks, I think you may be right. The external amp would only be for zones 2-3. Too bad.


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## Edward Testa (Apr 18, 2013)

I have since read that a 9.2 system will play 2 of the 3 channels unlike a 7.2 playing only 1 of 3.
So, doing the math an 11.2 will play............
At least we have upgrades to look forward to down the road.
Thanks.


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## hyghwayman (Jan 15, 2008)

I have a question about rear surrounds (7.x) or front height speakers;

I have the speakers and the room for rear surrounds but front heights has me wondering which would add the most to our Blu-ray audio experience? Only about 1/2 of our BR movies have 7.1 audio the rest are still at 5.1 :help:


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## mpompey (Jan 5, 2007)

Although it doesn't help in your case, the top Onkyo and Integra receivers will play rear surrounds and front heights at the same time for 9.2. Or rear surrounds and front wides. But they will not play in full 11.2 with both heights + wides AND surround backs in the same room.

But my listening space is too small for an 11.2 system anyway. I'm drooling with my new 9.2 setup.


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## sdurani (Oct 28, 2010)

hyghwayman said:


> I have the speakers and the room for rear surrounds but front heights has me wondering which would add the most to our Blu-ray audio experience? Only about 1/2 of our BR movies have 7.1 audio the rest are still at 5.1 :help:


Since half your BDs were mixed with rear speakers in mind, seems that would be the more useful layout. There are over 700 BD titles with 7.1 mixes. 

By comparison, there are only 3 titles with height channels, and you would need Neo:X decoding to extract them. On all other soundtracks, using height processing can add a nice bubble of sound in the front hemisphere. But keep in mind that what you're hearing isn't actually height information: Dolby PLIIz extracts sounds that are out of phase in the surround channels to feed the height speakers, DTS Neo:X extracts sounds that are common to the front and rear channels to feed their height speakers, Audyssey DSX generates early reflections (that weren't in the soundtrack) to feed their height speakers.

Given the choice, I'd do rears instead of heights.


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## mpompey (Jan 5, 2007)

hyghwayman said:


> I have the speakers and the room for rear surrounds but front heights has me wondering which would add the most to our Blu-ray audio experience?


For me, when I had my Yamaha RX-V1800 I couldn't hear a difference with the presence speakers(height) and got more mileage out of rears. With my Onkyo, I've fallen in love with my front height speakers. I frequently bounce between Audyssey DSX and Neo DTS the most. I guess when more movies are mixed with IIz in mind I may move over to the Dolby camp.

Rears would be my suggestion, way more useful if I had to pick.


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

These are interesting discussions. I would think that one would do standard 7.1 prior to front height or front wides as blu ray is coded in standard 5.1 or 7.1 for such a setup. front height and/or front wides is more of an expansion to 9.1 and 11.1. At least that is how I see it. If you did 7.1 with front height or front wide and did not have rears you would essentially be eliminating the use of the rear track recording. The front height and fornt wides are essentially re-created by your reciever. At least with current technology.


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## kingpin748 (Feb 20, 2013)

I've got 9.2 with heights in my current system. I would definitely pick rears over heights if I had to choose. There are no discreet 9 or 11 channel movies out there yet.


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## hyghwayman (Jan 15, 2008)

> sdurani said:
> 
> 
> > Since half your BDs were mixed with rear speakers in mind, seems that would be the more useful layout. There are over 700 BD titles with 7.1 mixes.
> ...


Thank you all for replying, rear surrounds it will be


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