So I am entertaining the idea of upgrading to 7.1, I have a few questions though..

1.) The rear speaker placement would be approximatly 15-20 feet from the seating position...is that ok?

2.) How does 7.1 work if you're using say a 5.1 PCM (Blu-Ray) format?

Thanks!

The rear speaker placement would be approximatly 15-20 feet from the seating position...is that ok?It can be. How wide is your room and what type of speakers were you planning on using for the rears (not the sides) of your 7.1 set-up? How does 7.1 work if you're using say a 5.1 PCM (Blu-Ray) format?Depending on the receiver you're using (or plan to use), you can either have the 2 rear speakers go silent or you can use surround processing to scale the 5.1 channels to your 7.1 speakers (like standard def DVDs are scaled to a hi-def display).

Sanjay

It can be. How wide is your room and what type of speakers were you planning on using for the rears (not the sides) of your 7.1 set-up? Depending on the receiver you're using (or plan to use), you can either have the 2 rear speakers go silent or you can use surround processing to scale the 5.1 channels to your 7.1 speakers (like standard def DVDs are scaled to a hi-def display).

Sanjay

I would be using some sort of High End Polk Audio Speaker, room is maybe 15 feet wide, will be using Onkyo 605 Reciever.

It can be. How wide is your room and what type of speakers were you planning on using for the rears (not the sides) of your 7.1 set-up? Depending on the receiver you're using (or plan to use), you can either have the 2 rear speakers go silent or you can use surround processing to scale the 5.1 channels to your 7.1 speakers (like standard def DVDs are scaled to a hi-def display).

Sanjay

I would be using some sort of High End Polk Audio Speaker, room is maybe 15 feet wide, will be using Onkyo 605 Reciever.

room is maybe 15 feet wideSee the attached diagram of a typical 7.1-speaker set-up. If you want to do something similar in your room, mount the side speakers directly to the sides of the listening area, a couple of feet above ear level. Notice that the rear speakers are roughly 60 degrees apart. To get this angle with your room width, mount the rear speakers on the side walls about 12 feet back from the side speakers, pointed towards the listening area. will be using Onkyo 605 Reciever.The 605 cannot convert 5.1 to 7.1 when the audio is PCM or one of the new HD audio codecs. Since the vast majority of soundtracks on HD DVD and Blu-ray are 5.1 channels, your 2 rear speakers will be silent most of the time. You may want to consider the next model up (Onkyo 705), which can scale 5.1 soundtracks to your 7.1 set-up.

Sanjay

I agree with Sanjay that if you can move up to the 705 and do 7.1 you should.

If the sides are towers, what part should be above ear level? The tweeter, midrange, or the whole speaker?

Is it a waste to use towers for the sides? I upgraded my front L/C/R and was going to use my old front L/R towers as sides. Bad idea?

If the sides are towers, what part should be above ear level? The tweeter, midrange, or the whole speaker?I would try to keep at least the tweeters above ear level, so that the surrounds are less distracting (especially for listeners seated on either side of the sweet spot, you don't want a tweeter firing directly into one of their ears from a few feet away). Is it a waste to use towers for the sides? I upgraded my front L/C/R and was going to use my old front L/R towers as sides. Bad idea?Not a bad idea, as long as you're careful when setting levels (you may find it better to have them slightly lower than calibrated levels). Large sides can actually be useful when listening to music in surround, especially when the there are stereo/decorrelated bass in the recording (gives a better sense of low frequency envelopment when stereo bass is coming from you sides).

Sanjay

If the sides are towers, what part should be above ear level? The tweeter, midrange, or the whole speaker?

Is it a waste to use towers for the sides? I upgraded my front L/C/R and was going to use my old front L/R towers as sides. Bad idea?

What do you have for surrounds know? If they're surround speakers (eg dipoles or bipoles) then I'd probably use your old towers for the rears.