How do most people build a set of 7.1 (or 7.2) speakers

[gislands]

Hello all,
As you can see I had a previous post about building a simple 5.1 setup for my garage. I still haven't done that but am now considering doing a 7.1 setup. The question I have is you can find very few sets of 7.1 speakers and tons of 5.1 sets. Do people get the 5.1 and then just add two satellites of the same model? I also understand that when you start getting into 7.1 you are stepping into the more high end stuff as far what people would expect. So I am also guessing people buy sets piecemeal, or each speaker individually.
My set up for this system will be in a garage that is about 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. Pretty simple garage as far as the construction goes with beam rafters still open. That will make it easy to mount the rear speakers and (if I go 7.1) the additional "back" rears.
I am not totally set on 7.1 yet and can still be convinced 5.1 will be fine. I will be using this set up for watching nothing but sports, no movies or TV show. So I am open to any advice at all.
Thanks,
gIslands.

 

[dfergie]

For sports only stick to 5.1 as there is no 7.1 broadcast ...

 

[gislands]

Do the additional two (side as I call them) channels just get the same info as what are the conventional two rear surround sound speakers in a case where there is no 7.1 feed?

 

[jayn_j]

I can only speak for myself. I have built up my system over 25 years. started with L-R-surround back in 1991, using old stereo speakers for the surround. I am now 7.1, having replaced every single speaker at least once, but remaining brand loyal (klipsch in my case). I upgrade when a good deal comes along on something I consider weak. After all this time, I am happy with the 7.1 setup, and if I add anything, it will likely be an ATMOS receiver and height speakers.

 

[gislands]

Thanks for the input. I was just watching and reading about Dolby ATMOS. Obviously, as someone who watches mainly sports where I plan on doing my setup ATMOS wouldn't be much use to me. It seem like a cool concept to have dedicated overhead (or upward firing) speakers with dedicated channels. What is the advantage of height speakers? I might be interested in those as well eventually. My setup would accommodate for it. And are there dedicated height speakers or are they just usually satellites (surround) speakers?

 

[jayn_j]

It is mostly a movie thing. The height speakers open up the sound stage vertically the same way that L+R open it up horizontally, or how surrounds give it depth. Not a big deal right now though because there is very little that has height info encoded. Actually it is amazing that a large percentage of movies only use the center channel, even these days.

 

[gislands]

Yeah, I find it kind of crazy that 5.1 has remained a de facto standard for so long. I get that there is digital encoding and that has advanced, but with most TV shows and sports 5.1 is pretty much it. I used to work in TV production so I get that the complexities of mixing anything above 5 channels would be pretty difficult, especially for a live event like a baseball or football game. I guess there is not enough demand or desire to have better audio like there was with HDTV compared to SD and one would assume what 4K will do to HDTV. Also, most people I know are happy with their TV speakers in the back of their TV and audio doesn't come into their mindset when they think of upgrades.

 

[jevans64]

Three words. Dolby Surround Upmixer. It does a fantastic job of imaging a 5.1 source to all the speakers in the room. I'm not a big sports fan but applying DSU to a stadium game adds more realism. Sounds like I'm in a real stadium if I close my eyes. LOL I do have a 13 speaker setup though but can only use two of the three height/ceiling pairs. My receiver is the Denon AVR X7200WA, which supports both Atmos/DSU and DTS X/Neural X with Barco Auro-3D costing an additional $200. I'm not set up properly for Auro-3D, so I'm not buying that upgrade.

IMHO. Atmos/DTS X is the biggest update since going to 5.1... provided it is done right since there are limitations placed on speaker placement currently. It will probably be another year or two before it goes beyond 11.1 and have the ability to X,Y,Z map speakers in the room.

As far as how I did my upgrades. I chose my additional speakers from the same manufacturer based on what channels they would cover. The main things for me were power output and matching drivers. All my speakers have 1" tweeters and 6.5" mid-range. My main towers are bi-pole, so I chose direct radiating for center, side surrounds, front height, and top middle. My rear heights are dipole left over from my ancient 5.1 setup and my back surrounds are also dipole using a pair of coaxial ( tweeter inside mid-range ) drivers with a 30° spread. I went with MTM ( D'Appolito ) array speakers for the ceiling speakers even though coaxial is recommended for Atmos since they are right over my seating. If I ever decide to put ceiling speakers towards the front of the room, they will be coaxial.

I'm almost positive having this many speakers has a positive impact. I'm used to it but every time someone new to my system comes in for a listen, their eyes glaze over and they just sit there taking it all in.

 

[jerryez]

I have 7.1 speaker setup. I started with Polk speaker, 3 in front, then added Polk back speakers(smaller ones), thren added Polk side speakers (same as Polk speaker in rear). Sometimes, when the program is in 7.2, I get a door slamming or other distinct sound even from the side speakers. But mostly, I do not see the investment worth it. 5.1 is a good setup. But as brought up previously, it is engaged mostly on movies. Network TV comes in on my system as 5.1 or I don't hear much from the side speakers. The only thing I have been told is do not mix brands.b Just be sure the sweet spot (sound center) is where your ears are in your chair.