Tarnower

I'm in a small townhome and the area where my home theater is can only accomodate 5.1 sound setup. I am wanting to purchase an Onkyo 7.1, with the idea of future upgrading to a 7.1 setup in a new (hopefully larger) home down the road. My question is will an Onkyo (obviously one of the better HT receivers) that is 7.1 disburse sound to a 5.1 setup without losing anything? Would the volume and/or sound effects that would normally come out of those 2 additional speakers just be gone or would it be transferred? I'm assuming since Onkyo is a better grade receiver, it would be fine.

Brian Shannon

The first assumption is that there are discs with a 7.1 sound mix on them. At the moment I am not sure there are any.

To answer your question the player and the receiver can only pass and decode what is available. If there is only a 5.1 track on the disc then nothing is lost and that is what the receiver will play.

Spiky

No, but there are plenty of discs with 6.1 surround on them.

When you have a 7.1 setup, you can either play 5.1 recordings through 5.1 speakers, or have the receiver do a Dolby Pro Logic type matrix and have some additional output from the 6th and 7th speakers. It will be the same sound as in your 4th/5th channels, just mixed for extra channels by the receiver.

Tarnower

Thanks for the feedback guys. Appreciate it.

dvdmovie1

I'd recommend considering the refurbed Onkyo deals on shoponkyo.com. There's definitely some good deals and you get $10 in "points" you can use on your first purchase for signing up for an account. Additionally, there's a deal going on now where if you buy a refurbed 7.1 set-up (HT-S780), you get a free refurbed DVD player.

From page w/details: http://shoponkyo.com/promos/MMRL.cfm

"Help us celebrate Memorial Day with a great deal. For a limited time only, Club Onkyo members will receive a free factory reconditioned DV-CP702 DVD Player with the purchase of a factory reconditioned HT-S780 Home Theater System.

Includes free Ground shipping in the continental United States. Quantities are limited so act fast.
This offer can not be combined with any other offer. Offer valid for purchases made from www.shoponkyo.com from 05/22/06 through 06/04/06 or when inventory is depleted. Offer valid in the Continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. Void where prohibited by law. Not valid on prior purchases. Offer may be changed or cancelled without notice. Offer available online only. "

Tarnower

Hmmm, very interesting. I shall check this out. I assume the track record for Onkyo refurbs is excellent. Anyone hear of any negatives associated with purchasing refurb equipment? BTW, what exactly are the components refurbished from? Older models? Returns from stores? Just curious.