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Originally posted by draganm
If your room was 11X13 then the side effects channels and the "rears" were somewhere around 8 linear feet apart (or close to 6 feet diaganoly). I do not think it's possible for the dispersion patterns from these channels so close together to not interfere with each other and not produce distortion. Even during a pan, there has to be a point where the 2 speakers (per side) would temporarily overlap and create distortion as the jumble of sound waves crashing into each other reached your ears. |
Jumble of sound waves crashing into each other as they reached my ears? You make it sound so violent. The reality of it was that I had wrap-around envelopment, while also being able to precisely localize surround content to my right side, left side, over my left shoulder, over my right shoulder, directly behind me, and everywhere in between. I was using a Lexicon processor so I had stereo sides and stereo rears. The room was heavily dampened, so phantom imaging was quite good (even in the surrounds). Speaker distance to my ears wasn't an issue because I was using coaxial speakers (Kef Uni-Q).
The best part of the set-up was the stability. For example: no matter where I sat on my futon, sounds intended to come from behind me
always came from behind me (not some side-ish/rear-ish location). No special psychoacoustic processing involved, just a pair of speakers physically located behind me (which made it hard for those sounds to come from any other direction). You can't get this sort of imaging stability with only 2 surround speakers, where you rely much more on phantom imaging. It's like using only 2 speakers up front: move off centre and the centre image moves with you. Use 3 speakers and the front soundstage becomes more stable. But I guess by your logic using 3 speakers up front would mean their proximity would result in "the dispersion patterns from these channels so close together" interfering with each other and producing distortion.
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Yes, the high-end companies have been selling 7.1 for some-time, but their customers are usually people who spend 20-30K on just the room construction and hire specialists to address all the issues before even mounting a single speaker. |
What high end companies are you talking about? At the time, most high end companies were not selling 7.1, in fact they were looking down on surround processing and digital audio in general. The Lexicon CP-1 listed for $1299 and my old Fosgate Model 5 had a list price of $599; hardly high end units. Both were 7.1, and neither required expensive systems nor the hiring of specialists.
The few companies that did go 7.1 were the ones that specialized in surround sound. Their experience in the field taught them what most companies are finding now, that 2 channels aren't enough for the surrounds.
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this is a far cry from the average consumer who brings home a bunch of "stuff" from Best Buy,arranges it around the room willy-nilly, and then wonders why "it doesn't sound the same as it did at the store" . |
On the contrary, the average consumer who buys a 7.1 system from Best Buy will not only get the stable imaging I described above (important because the entire family will benefit from this stability) but will also be able to properly listen to EX and ES encoded DVDs (FYI, Dolby and DTS and THX
all recommend 2 rear speakers for their surround-back channel; i.e., a 7.1-speaker set-up).
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Maybe you were able to work some majic with 7 speakers in a 11X13 room but the average consumer is bound to fail. |
All my surrounds were at least 6 feet away, my front speakers were roughly 8 feet away; plenty of space/distance to create a coherent soundfield. I didn't have to work any 'majic' to get a successful 7.1 set-up in that room. If I can do it, anyone can; no reason the average consumer will fail.
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My reciever is capable of powering 2 more channels in my 13X18 room. but without some involved accoustic treatments in the back of the room and very careful speaker selection, it would be a detriment not an improvement. |
Maybe your room is cursed.
Best,
Sanjay