Going from 5.1 to 7.1 (and to 9.1)

[John]

Guys,

I am looking to buying a few more speakers to expand my setup from 5.1 to 7.1 (and finally to 9.1).

My current setup is

Onkyo 727 (this is a 7.2 AVR)
Polk RTi A5 biamped
Polk RTi4 surrounds
Polk CSi3 center
Subwoofer Polk PSW404


My current layout.

The only difference is that the Sub is placed next to the AV Rack and not near the left tower speaker as depicted. Also, the front row has 2 recliners and the rear has 3.



I am planning to get first one pair or Polk OWM 3 speakers and mount them at the rear, behind the rear set of seats. But I would lose biamping of my front RTi4. Is that worth going with the back speakers vis-a-vis losing biamping of the front towers?

Planned setup



Question: Do I shift the current rear speakers to the sides? Just next to the front row of seats? There is no space above the door, so the speaker can't be placed there. :sad:

Another problem is that my primary listening/sitting position is the rear recliner :sad: so the side speakers will not be my "side" speakers most of the time.

The further Now plan would be use another pair of OWM3 speakers for front HEIGHT speakers. Of course, I will need to upgrade my AVR by that time.


I would like to hear your views guys.

Cheers!

John

 

[elangoas]

Good choice to move beyond 5.1... I currently have a 9.0 setup running front wides & front heights, preferred them over surround back..

Since you already have a 5.1 setup, try experimenting 7.1 in Front heights, front wides and rear surrounds and check which layout excites you more....

If you want to add rear surrounds, moving the regular surrounds to the front row makes sense... Else the last row becomes too crowded with speakers...Good to have spacing between speakers...

Since your AVR supports Audyssey DSX surround mode, you should try Front wides..

If all speakers are from same family, even better timbre matching... So you can move RTi A4 to front heights if you like them & get a new surround speaker (Bipole/Di-pole)

 

[John]

Good choice to move beyond 5.1... I currently have a 9.0 setup running front wides & front heights, preferred them over surround back..

Since you already have a 5.1 setup, try experimenting 7.1 in Front heights, front wides and rear surrounds and check which layout excites you more....

If you want to add rear surrounds, moving the regular surrounds to the front row makes sense... Else the last row becomes too crowded with speakers...Good to have spacing between speakers...

Since your AVR supports Audyssey DSX surround mode, you should try Front wides..

If all speakers are from same family, even better timbre matching... So you can move RTi A4 to front heights if you like them & get a new surround speaker (Bipole/Di-pole)

Hi elangoas,

Thank you for your reply. I will try the rear surrounds at the moment; let me see how it works out.

I will mount the RTI4 as rear side (next to front row), at same height of listening ear. At the moment, it is mounted a bit high (at the rear) - just above head height while seated - as the rear recliner won't fit otherwise. :sad:

Now as per your suggestion, should I (later) go for front high RTI4, which dipole/bipole do you suggest for rear surrounds?

 

[elangoas]

Hi elangoas,

Thank you for your reply. I will try the rear surrounds at the moment; let me see how it works out.

I will mount the RTI4 as rear side (next to front row), at same height of listening ear. At the moment, it is mounted a bit high (at the rear) - just above head height while seated - as the rear recliner won't fit otherwise. :sad:

Now as per your suggestion, should I (later) go for front high RTI4, which dipole/bipole do you suggest for rear surrounds?

Ok.. If you are trying for rear surrounds, then retain the RTiA4 itself as surrounds and add a normal speaker as your surround back...

If you don't like to go the surround back channel, only then consider replacing your surrounds with Bi-pole/Di-pole.. So that you can move the current RTiA4 as front heights... Bi-pole/Di-pole, you can look from the same Polk family...

Hope i was clear...

 

[John]

Ok.. If you are trying for rear surrounds, then retain the RTiA4 itself as surrounds and add a normal speaker as your surround back...

If you don't like to go the surround back channel, only then consider replacing your surrounds with Bi-pole/Di-pole.. So that you can move the current RTiA4 as front heights... Bi-pole/Di-pole, you can look from the same Polk family...

Hope i was clear...

Thanks. That was crystal clear.

Although I set out thinking of getting normal surrounds (Polk OWM3) and using surrounds, after doing a bit of research, it seems Front height is the way to go. - meaning moving the RT4s to front height.

However, my ceiling height is bit low, around 9 feet. Will front Height work well here?

That means getting possibly Polk Fxi A4 (dipole/bipole) for surrounds. Do dipoles/bipoles work well when installed at the corners?

I don't want to get stuck with normal surrounds ....bit of dilemma, I am in.

 

[elangoas]

Thanks. That was crystal clear.

Although I set out thinking of getting normal surrounds (Polk OWM3) and using surrounds, after doing a bit of research, it seems Front height is the way to go. - meaning moving the RT4s to front height.

However, my ceiling height is bit low, around 9 feet. Will front Height work well here?

That means getting possibly Polk Fxi A4 (dipole/bipole) for surrounds. Do dipoles/bipoles work well when installed at the corners?

I don't want to get stuck with normal surrounds ....bit of dilemma, I am in.

I think 9 feet is perfectly fine for front heights... Try to angle speaker towards the listening position if possible...

Dipole works best on side walls.. I have used Dipoles surrounds for more than 2 yrs time...

I have tried beyond 5.1 and shared my experience in the forum sometime back... Try to read thru & see if you can take any pointers...

Front Wides - http://www.hifivision.com/reviews/5...e-using-front-wide-spks-hands-experience.html

Front Heights - http://www.hifivision.com/reviews/5...front-heights-7-0-setup-hands-expereince.html

Front wide & front height in 9.0 setup - http://www.hifivision.com/reviews/5...nd-mode-using-9-0-setup-hands-experience.html

 

[John]

I think 9 feet is perfectly fine for front heights... Try to angle speaker towards the listening position if possible...

Dipole works best on side walls.. I have used Dipoles surrounds for more than 2 yrs time...

I have tried beyond 5.1 and shared my experience in the forum sometime back... Try to read thru & see if you can take any pointers...

Front Wides - http://www.hifivision.com/reviews/5...e-using-front-wide-spks-hands-experience.html

Front Heights - http://www.hifivision.com/reviews/5...front-heights-7-0-setup-hands-expereince.html

Front wide & front height in 9.0 setup - http://www.hifivision.com/reviews/5...nd-mode-using-9-0-setup-hands-experience.html

These threads should be stickies, elangoas! Thanks a lot.

With my room, should I go with Dipole/bipole for the rear, the only options are corner of the room or back of the room. There is a door at the right (when seated facing the screen) and no place above that to fit a speaker...so I am not sure what to do here...

The other option is leaving the RTi4 at the back untouched and getting Polk OWM3 for front high - does this make any sense? Right now I really want to go with Front high.

So the options would be

1) Polk Dipole at the corner/back wall, RT4 as front High.

2) Polk RT4 as front high and Polk OWM3 as rear.

2) Polk OWM3 as front high and RT4 as rear.

Edit: I think I will go with the Polk Fxi A4 and mount them at the rear..

 

[elangoas]

These threads should be stickies, elangoas! Thanks a lot.

With my room, should I go with Dipole/bipole for the rear, the only options are corner of the room or back of the room. There is a door at the right (when seated facing the screen) and no place above that to fit a speaker...so I am not sure what to do here...

The other option is leaving the RTi4 at the back untouched and getting Polk OWM3 for front high - does this make any sense? Right now I really want to go with Front high.

So the options would be

1) Polk Dipole at the corner/back wall, RT4 as front High.

2) Polk RT4 as front high and Polk OWM3 as rear.

2) Polk OWM3 as front high and RT4 as rear.

Edit: I think I will go with the Polk Fxi A4 and mount them at the rear..

Looking @ the (room) picture that you attached in the first post, you can consider mounting dipole/bipole speakers on the side walls immediately after the door.. Bipole/Dipole speaker fire on both sides, so should fill your listening area easily....

Once you have done this, you can move the RTi4 as front heights...

If you have some other idea please share...

 

[Murlidher]

Elango always gives best solutions keep it up...

 

[John]

I am looking in timbre matching and I am not entirely sure of the Fxi a4 are timbre matched with RTI A4.

From the Polk website

Fxi A4: All Polk loudspeakers are timbre-matched within their series, designed with the same components throughout, to achieve seamless speaker-to-speaker blending effects in multi-channel systems.

OWM 3: The OWM Series is timbre-matched to other Polk loudspeakers, so you can mix and match them to build or add to existing systems

From the above, it seems the Fxi are meant to go with other "home theater" Fxi speakers?

OWM seem more generic in those terms. Hope someone is able to shed some light on this, please.

 

[elangoas]

Elango always gives best solutions keep it up...

Thanx for the compliment Murlidher, was sharing experience like other FM...

I am looking in timbre matching and I am not entirely sure of the Fxi a4 are timbre matched with RTI A4.

From the Polk website

From the above, it seems the Fxi are meant to go with other "home theater" Fxi speakers?

OWM seem more generic in those terms. Hope someone is able to shed some light on this, please.

If all speakers are timbre matching, it is good.. But is more specifically for the fronts (Left, Center, right), Front heights & front heights....

Surround speakers can be from same/different family (or) a different brand.... So you can safely bet on Fxi A4..

 

[John]

I had written to Polk Audio support asking if OWM3 are good for front high and they replied:

Hello,

Yes the OWM3 would match pretty well.

Soft dome tweeter, wide frequency range, good match.

With a bit of a tight budget, I have purchased the OWM3.

Now I will experiment with:

1) Using OWM3 as rear surrounds by moving the RTI4s to the front high.
2) Using OWM3 as front high.

Will revert back with updates.

 

[John]

Guys,

I would like to post a small update on using the OWM3 as front high.

These are just initial impressions and will see how things go.

I ran the setup using Audessey and then further tweaked it to my liking. The front stage is much more involving and lively right now. However, I would not say it is a "big" jump by any terms. Perhaps it is because my room is smallish at 20 ' x 10' x 9' (height).

I was wary that the OWM3s would not match the front stage very well, so I was a bit worried in the beginning, but things have turned out quite well. (In fact, the Polk guys also confirmed that it would be a good match). I am glad to retain the RTi4 as surrounds. These are actually mounted in the corners of the rear wall. With the back row of the recliners just next to the the RTI4s, you get a good "feel" sitting back there.

 

[George T]

Good choice to move beyond 5.1... I currently have a 9.0 setup running front wides & front heights, preferred them over surround back..

Since you already have a 5.1 setup, try experimenting 7.1 in Front heights, front wides and rear surrounds and check which layout excites you more....

If you want to add rear surrounds, moving the regular surrounds to the front row makes sense... Else the last row becomes too crowded with speakers...Good to have spacing between speakers...

Since your AVR supports Audyssey DSX surround mode, you should try Front wides..

If all speakers are from same family, even better timbre matching... So you can move RTi A4 to front heights if you like them & get a new surround speaker (Bipole/Di-pole)

Hi,

I have a question: If I have connected my speaker posts Fronts/ Front Wides/ Center/ Surrounds can I use the Pre-amp out (SB or FW or FH) to connect to a Power amp so that I can get a Front High pair as well. How will the AVR determine whether the Pre-amp output is SB or FW or FH? or is it determined on how you connect the Speaker posts? ie if Speaker Posts are connected to the FW then the Pre-amp output will also be FW

 

[raghumailbox]

The current update is Dolby Atmos (i think 11.2 channel). This will at least stay for next 2-3 years.

 

[elangoas]

Hi,

I have a question: If I have connected my speaker posts Fronts/ Front Wides/ Center/ Surrounds can I use the Pre-amp out (SB or FW or FH) to connect to a Power amp so that I can get a Front High pair as well. How will the AVR determine whether the Pre-amp output is SB or FW or FH? or is it determined on how you connect the Speaker posts? ie if Speaker Posts are connected to the FW then the Pre-amp output will also be FW

Hope you are referring to Onkyo TX NR 828.. You'r is a 7.2 AVR and has 7.2 Pre-out only.. So at any point of time, you can have either Front heights (or) Front wides (or) Surround back channels in addition to standard 5.1 layout...

The older Model Onkyo TX NR 818 is a 7.2 AVR but has 9.2 Pre-outs.. So in this case, you can use additional amplifier to power the extra speakers (Either front heights/wides/surroundback)...

 

[George T]

Hope you are referring to Onkyo TX NR 828.. You'r is a 7.2 AVR and has 7.2 Pre-out only.. So at any point of time, you can have either Front heights (or) Front wides (or) Surround back channels in addition to standard 5.1 layout...

The older Model Onkyo TX NR 818 is a 7.2 AVR but has 9.2 Pre-outs.. So in this case, you can use additional amplifier to power the extra speakers (Either front heights/wides/surroundback)...

Ah Ok. I was confused/ wondering how u got a 7.2 to do a 9.2. Now I understand. Tks