New 3808ci: Keep 5.1 or go 7.1?

[GelatinousFury]

Hey everyone,

I'd like some suggestions as to how to proceed with my home theater setup. Here is my current configuration now:

Receiver: Harman Kardon AVR-230 (used as pre/pro)
Amplifier: Rotel RMB-1075 (5 channel -- 200x5 @ 4ohms)
Front Speakers: Polk LSi9
Center Channel: Polk LSiC
Surround Speakers: Polk LSi/FX
Subwoofer: Velodyne SPL-1500R (powered sub)
Source: Toshiba HD-XA2 / Playstation3

Today I ordered a Denon 3808ci in order to take advantage of the decoding of the new lossless audio formats. I have a couple of choices regarding keeping my 5.1ch setup or moving to 7.1ch, though. Here are my options:

1. Use the Denon 3808ci as a pre/pro and the Rotel RMB-1075 as the amplifier, thus staying with a 5.1 setup.

2. Buy another pair of LSi/FX surround speakers and let the Denon power all 7 4ohm LSi speakers. I have researched the issue of letting the Denon power a 4ohm setup and it doesn't appear to be an issue. Here is a quote from DenonJeff (Jeff Talmadge, Product Development Director for Denon) over at the AVS Forums regarding Denons powering 4ohm loads:

golfshore - Your dealer is recommendation is good, for 4 ohms speakers I say the 3808CI or higher. We can run 4ohm loads on all channels, just give the AVR more breathing space for heat. I personally have a full M&K 7.1 system (all 4ohms) running of the 4308CI, in fact at CES one year we used the 3805 with a 9.2 M&Ks and it worked wonderfully! Of course a 3808Ci as a pre/pro is great with any god quality outboard amp would make a nice setup. There are quite a few good amplifiers in the market, would suggest listening to some...

I'm at a loss as to which way to go here. I don't have the funds to buy another set of LSi/FX speakers and a separate 7ch amplifler. Suggestions would be much appreciated!!

[Serendipity]

Keep the 5.1. Just my opinion.

[Sami]

I'd keep the 5.1 unless you have a very large room. You don't need 7 channel amp even if you go with 7.1, you can run the back surrounds off your receiver, or get a 2ch amp for them.

[MADGSF]

How about letting the Denon power 2 speakers and the Rotel power the rest. Maybe get a small 2 channel Rotel to power a pair of surrounds or a big Rotel 2 channel to power the front pair.

[xterra77]

Hi
I am using a HK230 FOR A 6.1 setup which i am enjoying.I recently bought a HK AMP which i still did not recieve.I will be going to a 7.1, it will be used to power my 2 FXi5 surrounds and i have just ordered another CSi3 which i was using for my rear.I also ordered an anthem mca30 to power my fronts and center.I would think that a 7.1 would sound better than my 6.1 setup,but that I guess depends on what you would think.A lot of people on this forum
think that for a small room stick to a 5.1,so I guess you would have to test it
to see how you like it.
Out of curiosity The HK 230 is capable for a 7.1 why would you change reciever?

[dkg999]

If you want 7.1 I would put a couple of LSi7's in the rear, and power them with the receiver vs getting more external amplification. As far as I am concerned 7.1 is pretty over rated.

[GelatinousFury]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. To the poster who asked why I wanted the Denon, I'd like my receiver to decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA.

I didn't even think about buying a 2ch amp to power the rear surrounds (or just powering them from the new receiver). That would be sweet to find a nice 2ch Rotel which would match my current RMB-1075!

[Early B.]

First, stick with 5.1. Second, cancel your order for the Denon and buy an HT pre/pro. IMO, it's a waste of money to buy a receiver and only use its processing capabilities. Just wait a few more weeks for the Emotiva UMC-1 to arrive. It will likely be a much better choice bothe feature-wise and sound-wise than the Denon for the same or less money.

[LuSh]

The Denon's a nice piece, does the Emotiva have DTS HD MA decoding?

[John K.]

GF, the 3808 is a superb receiver, including its amplifier, and there'd be no need to consider yet another separate amplifier. As was suggested, you can certainly use at least the back surround channels to power back surround speakers if you decide to add them.

As to whether to add the back LSi/FXs, if you have enough room behind your listening position(say at least 4')to form a rear soundfield, it can add significantly to your enjoyment. Your 3808 can apply DPLII to 2-channel source material and DPLIIx to 5.1 material to extract the natural ambience already present in the material and send it to the surrounds where it belongs, including those in back.

[dorokusai]

I plan to go 6.1 and call it a day. A proper 5.1 is all most people ever need.

[dkg999]

A really good 2.1 is usually more than enough and highly under rated :)

[Early B.]

The Denon's a nice piece, does the Emotiva have DTS HD MA decoding?

Yes, it will.

[Early B.]

A proper 5.1 is all most people ever need.

Agreed.

A 7.1 setup is mainly marketing hype, IMO. It's not necessary to have a 7.1 for most people because we don't have the room size to accomodate it.

[GelatinousFury]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I'd really like to keep the new Denon that I've ordered and I believe the course of action will be to use the rear surround channels on the 3808ci if I ever decide to go 7.1 instead of 5.1. I check the forum classifieds periodically and if I ever see a nice used pair of LSi/FX speakers come up for sale I may have to pull the trigger.

[cheddar]

I'd agree that with DVDs, 7.1 is mostly hype. It seems the most mastering studios ever did for DVDs was on the level of the 6.1 DTS track on Lord of the Rings and those were very rare. So to use the full 7.1 required your processor to matrix in the rear surrounds using the existing 5.1 surround information on most DVDs.

However, an increasing number of Blu-rays are being mastered with 7.1 discreet channels. That means for sound pans and movement localization, they actually use all 7 channels to create the surround field. So to listen to the sound recording as it was originally mastered, you will need a 7.1 system.

That said, surround information tends to require much less amplification and speaker oomph than the front stage speakers. Most of the heavy stuff still goes to the front three and the subwoofer so getting lsi7s to timber match the tweets and running them off the receiver should be all you need. You shouldn't be looking to spend a lot, especially on the back surrounds.