[JaredW]

I recently ordered a Pioneer Elite 151 which hopefully will arrive in July, so now I'm looking at sound systems to "complete" my setup.


Disclaimer: I'm way way way more concerned with picture quality than sound quality. I'm not an audiophile and I'm fairly set on the equipment I've picked out

I know this sounds crazy to some to spend thousands on a tv and not have an equal budget for audio but I do have budget limitations so I allotted the most money where I care the most.


Anyway, here's what I'm looking at right now:


Display: Pioneer Elite 151

Receiver: Onkyo SR606

Center: Infinity Primus PC350

Towers: Infinity Primus P362

Subwoofer: Infinity PS28

BD Player: PS3

Other Sources: Xbox 360, Wii, Dish HD DVR


I would really like to add 7.1 sound eventually (maybe christmas), but I'm not right now for two reasons. 1.) I'm not sure really where the heck to place the speakers. 2.) I've had a big enough time convincing the wife to drop all this money on the equipment we're buying right now. I'm attaching a roughly to scale schematic of the room right to this post so maybe somebody could suggest where to put the surround speakers if/when I get them. Please excuse the hackjob sketch, I did it in about 5 min based on the dimensions I remember.


Anyway, I would really like to take advantage of the lossless audio on blu-rays, but I don't know if this is possible with the setup that I have. I know the PS3 can decode it all, but what does the AVR do with the sound that should go to the speakers that I don't have? Am I going to have to keep switching the PS3 audio settings depending on whether it's a dvd or BD disc I'm playing? I can always buy a new dvd player if it's gonna be an issue, but I'd prefer not to.


Thanks in advance for all of the help.

 

[jwatte]



Quote:
what does the AVR do with the sound that should go to the speakers that I don't have?

If it's correctly set up, it should mix those channels into the speakers you have.


Btw: I use a PS/3 as my BD player, through HDMI to my receiver, and am very happy with the results. I have 6.1, so my receiver mixes the two rear channels into one (which is how most 7.1 is initially authored anyway


Enjoy your Elite!

 

[sdurani]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JaredW /forum/post/14165360


I'm not sure really where the heck to place the speakers.

See attached diagram of a typical 7.1-speaker layout. Notice that there are a pair of surrounds directly to the sides of the listeners and another pair spread out well behind the listening area. This gives you stable imaging at your sides and behind you.


Unfortunately, your couch is right up against the back wall, so there is literally no room behind you to place the rear speakers. In that situation, better to do a good 5.1 layout instead of a bad 7.1 set-up. For a 5.1 configuration, I would put the surround speakers in the back corners of the room in order to get good envelopment and clear left-vs-right separation in the surround field.

Quote:
I would really like to take advantage of the lossless audio on blu-rays, but I don't know if this is possible with the setup that I have.

Of course it's possible. Just as your Pioneer display will scale incoming video sources to the number of pixels in the display, your Onkyo receiver can scale the number of channels in the source material to the number of speakers in your set-up. For example: a 5.1-channel source can be expanded to 7.1 speakers or downmixed to 2-speakers.


Keep in mind that lossless audio has nothing to do with the number of channels in the soundtrack. It just means that the original audio was shrunken down to save space using lossless packing (as opposed to lossy compression). The number of channels don't change. If 'Casablanca' was on Blu-ray with a lossless soundtrack, it would still be one channel (mono). 90% of the lossless tracks are 5.1, so your current set-up is fine.


Good Luck,

Sanjay

 

[JaredW]

Thank you both for the responses! I've been reading a lot here at AVS, but to be honest, it's all kind of overwhelming

Sanjay, when you say put it in the corners for a 5.1 system, which "corner"? I made another image to demonstrate. The top left corner is pretty obvious, but the bottom left one isn't so obvious. Would you put it on the blue or red dot?


Finally, assuming that I do add the surround speakers, do you think that there would still be enough envelopment to actually get that surround experience? I know it'd be ideal if the couch weren't on the wall, but that's what I have to work with.


Thanks again!

 

[sdurani]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JaredW /forum/post/14166911


Sanjay, when you say put it in the corners for a 5.1 system, which "corner"?

Where you have the red dot in your diagram.

Quote:
Finally, assuming that I do add the surround speakers, do you think that there would still be enough envelopment to actually get that surround experience?

Sure. Corner placement will diffuse the sound a bit, making the surround speakers less localizable and more enveloping. It will further help if you place the surrounds at least a couple of feet above ear level.


Best,

Sanjay