7.1 vs. 5.1

[Alex]

I currently have one 340 as center and two 170's as mains.
I am looking to upgrade and have budget of about $700.
I am wondering between buying two more 340's to go to 5.1 vs. buying four more 170's for 7.1? Please help me decide. Thanks.

[curtis]

how big is your room? Do you have proper placement of 5.1?

I have found, in my 14x18 room...about 2/3rds to 3/4ths of which is used for the HT, a properly placed 5.1 setup gives up very little to a properly placed 7.1 system.

[Jorge59]

Alex,

I have a similar set up (170 fronts + 340C), with 2 small satellites surround. Although my receiver is 7.1, I'm very pleased with 5.1 and I never thought about using 4 surrounds. If I had the chance to change my 170s by 340s, I would not hesitate. As Dave says, the 340 is their "very best".

In my opinion, 2 CBM-170 surrounds would already be overkill, unless your room is huge or if you hear a lot of SACD/DVD-A.

If you want to keep the 170 fronts, you might like to use the compact HTM-200, which people say to give up very little for the 170, specially for surround duty.

[Mag_Neato]

If you have the room, identical speakers would certainly NOT be a bad thing!

I have 170 L/R with an older B&W center. They seem to blend great. On the other hand, I always thought my cheapo two-way surrounds, with mylar tweeters, sounded good. That is until I replaced them with Axiom QS8's. Wow! What a difference real dome tweeters make! Seemless is the word I'd use. HTM-200's would have also matched better, but the imerssivenes of quadpolar surrounds has won me over. JMHO.

[Alex]

Thank you for quick responses.
I will check on the size of the room tonight but sounds like 5.1 with two 340's seems to be the winner. Thanks

[metalaaron]

Alex,

what subwoofer do you use? i'd consider changing that before going to 7.1, depending on what you have.

[mattepntr]

Hi Alex,
You also have to factor in where your seating is. It's next to impossible
to properly configure a 7.1 system if your seating is against the back wall
of the room. If this is your situation, I'd go with Curtis' recommendation
for a 5.1 setup.
My room is wider than it is deep, with 4-5 feet behind the seating area,
so 7.1 works well in there.

[Alex]

My room is 18X16 and have room behind the couch.
I have boston acoustics CR400 sub.
I know it is old but I feel it is OK.

[metalaaron]

as Yoda says, age matters not. ;)

go for 7.1. i'd try a pair of 340s and use the 170s as surrounds.

[BGHD]

I have 7.1 (340LCR, 170 SL/SR, 200 SBL/SBR). Kinda weird I know, but the WAF wasn't too happy when I tried the 170s as rears, so 'compromised' with 200s in the back. Hard to explain without a picture, but they're in a visible trafficky area of the room, which the WAF doesn't appreciate.

But now, I'm probably gonna take the surround backs down and put them to use in another room. I haven't noticed a big enough difference in sound for HT or music when running 5.1 vs 7.1 in my smallish room (14x18 or so). Should've listened to everyone's advice in a similar thread I started a while back, to stick w/ 5.1. But, no major regrets, since my WAF-'get-what-you-want' coupon expired a while ago.