5.1 or 7.1 in a medium size room?

Depends on where you're putting things. Which wall will the TV be on? How far from the back wall will the seating be?

I like 7.1 even in a small room cuz it gives you the full effect of your entire room being "full". But if your just wanting something to watch movies on and not really wanting to experience the whole "theater" effect you'd be completely happy with a 5.1 setting

I would do 5.1 in that room size. I think 5.1 is more accurate then 7.1. There are too many speakers in a 7.1 system and more of a chance that the signal will be flawed thus giving you an inaccurate sound, especially in that room size.

Our dedicated theater room is 11' x 20' x 8'h and I went with a 5.1 Paradigm setup which has worked out great. By having to purchase 2 fewer speakers compared to 7.1, I had more $ available per speaker and ended up going with stepped-up models. I couldn't budget those models if I had gone 7.1, so for me the room size and better speaker models turned out to be a great solution!

Very cool Terpsfan, I am happy that you are enjoying what you purchased. You made the right decision!

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Yes! More people need to realize that the quality of the speakers is far more important for a satisfying movie-watching experience than the number of speakers.

I just bought 7 speakers,maybe I should sell two of my mirage fx's and buy a denon 3805 to replace the pioneer vsx-1015tx,I was going to buy?

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As cherry ghost said, that depends on where you seating area is. If you're at/near the back wall, stick to 5.1, since there is no room behind you for rear speakers. If you're away from the back wall, then you can separate your rear and side speaker pairs for a proper 7.1 layout.


There are limits to what 2 surround speakers can do. Doesn't matter how good or expensive they are, one pair of surrounds can't be in two places at once (at your sides and behind you). You can overcome most of those limitations with 4 surrounds and end up with noticeably better directionality, envelopment and imaging stability.


Sanjay