HT speaker placement question

[Boomzilla]

In my (multi-purpose) listening room, the movie viewer is stuck on a couch against a back wall. For stereo listening, a folding "director's chair" is set up in front of the couch, but due to having two or more viewers for movies, couch-seatomg becomes mandatory (per the spouse). The back wall is treated with diffusers and doesn't echo so much as you'd fear.

But speaker placement is ambiguous. Physically, there can be side speakers, but not actual rear ones. So my question is "Should I hook up the sides to the 7.1 side speaker outputs (telling the processor that there are no rear speakers), or should I hook up the sides to the 7.1 rear speaker outputs (telling the processor that there are no side speakers?

I have multiple processor options here, too, and there are setup questions beyond "which output terminals to use."

Should I use 7.1 or 5.1 mix-down for this system?
Will the processor automatically blend the rear and side signals, or is the unused one discarded?
If one is discarded, should I tell the processor that both side and rear channels are present and then unify the two outputs with a Y-cable?

Thanks - Boom

[foggy1956]

Mar 27, 2018 4:21:08 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

In my (multi-purpose) listening room, the movie viewer is stuck on a couch against a back wall. For stereo listening, a folding "director's chair" is set up in front of the couch, but due to having two or more viewers for movies, couch-seatomg becomes mandatory (per the spouse). The back wall is treated with diffusers and doesn't echo so much as you'd fear.

But speaker placement is ambiguous. Physically, there can be side speakers, but not actual rear ones. So my question is "Should I hook up the sides to the 7.1 side speaker outputs (telling the processor that there are no rear speakers), or should I hook up the sides to the 7.1 rear speaker outputs (telling the processor that there are no side speakers?

I have multiple processor options here, too, and there are setup questions beyond "which output terminals to use."

Should I use 7.1 or 5.1 mix-down for this system?
Will the processor automatically blend the rear and side signals, or is the unused one discarded?
If one is discarded, should I tell the processor that both side and rear channels are present and then unify the two outputs with a Y-cable?

Thanks - Boom


For movies the couch should be placed where you would place the directors chair, problem solved😎

[Boomzilla]

Mar 27, 2018 5:16:40 GMT -5 foggy1956 said:

For movies the couch should be placed where you would place the directors chair, problem solved😎

Obviously, you don't know my wife...

[DYohn]

If you are setting up a 5.1 system use the standard surround channels (4 and 5) regardless of actual speaker placement. If you want 7.1 then the rear surround channels (6 and 7) should go into the ceiling above the couch if there is no space behind it.

[musicfan]

go 5.x

[Boomzilla]

Mar 27, 2018 10:42:28 GMT -5 DYohn said:

If you are setting up a 5.1 system use the standard surround channels (4 and 5) regardless of actual speaker placement. If you want 7.1 then the rear surround channels (6 and 7) should go into the ceiling above the couch if there is no space behind it.

Meaning the right rear and left rear. Yes, this is to be a 5.1 system. Thanks for the info!

[cgolf]

It's been said already but yes, go rear even though the speakers are on the sides. The processor doesn't know this unless it's extremely AI'd and then it won't matter what you do. It will do what it wants!!

[Gary Cook]

For the same reason (lounge against rear wall ) I run my 5.1 system with side speakers, not rear. Since forever, I don't recall why, maybe one of my movie sound engineer friends told me to do it that way, or I read it in some Dolby technical data sheet. The concept being that there is in general more formation intended for side speakers and less for rear. So by selecting side speakers there is less redirected sound effects (from rear to side), than there would be from side to rear (if rear was selected). Some digging through 5.1 and 7.1 Dolby or DTS information may reveal more

Cheers
Gary