Front height vs back surround

[friggy]

I am setting up my son with my old set up, which consists of Onkyo 806, RTi10's, RTi6's, and CSi3 center. Due to limited space and young kids I was thinking about using the RTi6's as front height speakers instead of back speakers, so everything would be up front. Anybody have this set up? Do you think it would work ok?

Thanks Ken

[Geoff4rfc]

I've used heights before. IMO they yeild more content than rears, not much though. If he had the room, I'd go wides but.....if room was unavailable, I'd go heights before rears.

Congrats on your amp btw. Pretty nice addition to your rig right??? Jam on my friend.

[friggy]

Yes it is. Never would've thought it would make such a difference but it sure did.

Thanks for the help. Ken

[Geoff4rfc]

No prob my friend, so, from now on, you'll be able to answer the biggest question in audio; "Is it worth it to get an amp or not?"

[ravaneli]

i have F Heights and no rears. Since my receiver can only support 7 channels i don't know what to do. Difficult to tell what is better. Heights are pretty much useless ezcept when a helicopter hovers over. But then it's really awesome as you hear it landing on top of ya. Not much help in other situations though, and i don't have that many helicopters landing. I only chose FH instead of rear because i have nowhere to put them in the back.. or very difficult..

[Geoff4rfc]

Heights are pretty much useless ezcept when a helicopter hovers over...

Planes, jets, rockets, thunder and rain storms, even superman flies overhead. I believe heights offer a little more than hovering helicopters.

[ravaneli]

ok, when something flies over. But when u watch river monsters or The Office the rears will come more useful. All in all, majority of TV I watch is low on over-flying stuff. Ideally one would have a 9 channel and not have to sacrifice. My next thing on the list. Even if I had preouts for rears that would be cool.

[michael1947]

This is interesting information, think I will hook up some front highs, gotta look around and see what I have sitting around. Thanks.

[Toxis]

I would go rears before FH as everything has rear effects (hell, it's necessary for SURROUND sound) but height is just a simulation of sound. No real FH effects in the encoding. But if you want to say height vs surround back speakers, that's a different question.

[Geoff4rfc]

But if you want to say height vs surround back speakers, that's a different question.

????? Surround back? The OP's question was back surround. Is there a difference?

[kuntasensei]

The biggest reason to go with rear surrounds over height channels: There are 7.1 discrete theatrical tracks on Blu-ray discs now. I love my height channels, but first and foremost, I want to be able to recreate the audio from theaters. With so many movies going 7.1 now in the theater, I would definitely prioritize rear surrounds in a 7.1 setup over heights.