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Anyone running 9 or 10 speakers in their HT setup?

I am currently running 5.1 and I'm cosidering going with an additional four more full-range surround speakers for a 9.1 setup. Of course it won't be 9 separate channels. My processor(Sunfire Theater Grand 5), only outputs 5.1 discrete channels My processor has outputs for two "side axis" speakers that are matrixed from the front speakers, and it has outputs for regular surrounds and back surrounds. I do know that there is no 9.1 content, but the processor will route the 5.1 signal to the additional speakers. Ever since I saw The Dark Knight at an IMAX theater, I've stayed awake nights trying to figure out a way to replicate the incredible sound that I heard in that theater. My system at home has always sounded as good, if not, better that the sound I hear at comercial theaters...and I've heard some good ones. After hearing the IMAX system, I left with my tail tucked between my legs. I counted six or eight speakers on each side of the room overhead and four speakers in the rear overhead....not counting the fronts and the center channel and the obvious subwoofers. I kind of get the feeling that more is better. I've looked at the layout of my room and I could easily add the additional four surround speakers without ruining my room aesthetics. The additional four surrounds will be mounted 10 feet off the floor as seen in comercial theaters.

The IMAX has changed forever the way I view movies. It is the new Holy Grail of theater sound systems.
mitch4t
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t OP
1,486 posts
 
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Naked.......Great post, I appreciate it. Now I can sleep peacefully now that I know what I'm up against.

Somec.....I had already been contemplating just what you mentioned in order to get addional surrounds for more area coverage. My center channel is 25.5 ft from my listening chair, the fronts and rears are 30 feet away. I'm sure with an addional four speakers that I'd get much better coverage. Currently, I have to crank it up pretty good for sufficient area coverage.
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johnnyb53
3,490 posts
 
08-11-08: Mitch4t
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The IMAX screen I saw was six stories high. You could tell when the IMAX shots were on the screen.....the on-screen image filled the entire screen. The 35 mm portions of the movie of course were letterbox style, still outstanding though.
Then you saw it in a real IMAX theater. And while the image quality in letterbox was good, I noticed quite a drop in resolution compared to fullscreen IMAX shots. And I could be wrong, but I think the letterbox portions were shot in 70mm.

Concerning your question about plugging the DMP-50's 5.1 outputs into the Sunfire, AFAIK the analog inputs are a bypassed analog pass-thru, so you also bypass any of the Sunfire's internal digital processing. So if you want to send that 5.1 signal to 7 or more speakers, you'll need to do it with Y-adapters.

And once again, I need to follow a poster's link to his System pics and equipment list before I start pontificating on how to fix it. Your viewing/listening area is huge and unbounded. In that case, you could use extra speakers or wall in your viewing/listening to get boundary reinforcement.

Still, I don't think we can equal the soundtrack performance of "Dark Knight" at home until we have an uncompressed audio surround source. As Steuspeed said, except for rocket launches, IMAX surround is essentially 5.1. But they have an uncompressed audio source and use both prodigious power and highly efficient horn-loaded speakers to achieve an exceptional dynamic range. And they have a subwoofer enclosure you can walk around in.
somec59
244 posts
 
Mitch: That is a very large room, can you hangar a plane in there? Don't know if this thread is dead yet or if this is helpful, but, any though on using both the XLR and RCA outs simultaneously on a processor. I e-mailed Meridian last year and they said its OK but the volume levels will be different, which requires an attenuator.
steuspeed's avatar
steuspeed
501 posts
 
Johnnyb,

"...And while the image quality in letterbox was good, I noticed quite a drop in resolution compared to fullscreen IMAX shots. And I could be wrong, but I think the letterbox portions were shot in 70mm."

The letterbox portions are shot with 35mm and blown up using IMAX DMR re-mastering proprietary process. Basically they are trying to eliminate film grain. The aspect ratio remains the same, thus the letterbox effect on a squarish IMAX screen.
chadnliz's avatar
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
I always wondered if you had a super large room what all the speakers would sound like, but my idea would be to add a second Processor so all channels could be time set properly minus the fronts on second unit but also thought about what would happen with the ability to give the second Pro's a tweaked sound a bit different from main for the rear speakers but it would be cool to try.
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