Two days ago, I just bought an Onkyo 7.1 Surround Sound Home Theater System. I'm super excited about it. I have it all hooked up. It sounds amazing, and it's a lot better than the Rio System that I had in college. I love it.

The only problem was that the two front speakers cannot be wall mounted. I thought they could, and I put a screw in the bass port to hang them up. Well one screw was slightly downward inverted, and yesterday I was vacuuming and bumped into it, and that fucker landed on my hip. I was wincing in pain the entire day.

Up next: a flat panel HDTV and HD DVD player. This won't happen for a few months though.

 

Just curious, are there any 7.1 surround DVD titles on the market? I see 5.1 all the time, but I don't think I've ever seen one encoded in 7.1.

Is there a list of these titles on the net somewhere?

 

I have never personally seen a 7.1 encoded DVD track. I've only heard of one movie being encoded in 6.1, and that was "The Gladiator." The Onkyo system that I bought, I got from Circuit City, and it has Dolby Pro Logic IIx, which encodes 5.1 encoded sources into 7.1. Granted, it matrixes the two middle channels from the front and rear channels, but a matrixed 7.1 >>>>>>>>>> true 5.1, IMO.

Now I have to figure out how to run wire to the right surround (middle) speaker, which is placed under a breakfast bar.

 

Like a regular 5.1 system, it extrapolates an stereo feed to 5.1 sorround. The same happens with 5.1 to 7.1. Receivers do a superb job.

 

We're in the process of having 2 additional speakers wired for rear surround. When we built the house they only offered an integrated 5.1 system (odd since it's a new house), so we're going to just pull two more speaker wires and install them ourselves. No big deal and they will be in-wall like the existing setup, so it'll look like it was there the whole time.

 

Holy Jeebus on a Crutch. This is exactly what I am trying to do. We just moved in to our new house on the 15th, and I have not yet been up to the crawl space on our one-story house. I want to route speaker wires from where the TV is, through a wall plate in the drywall where the TV, up behind the drywall, through the crawlspace to the rear of the living room, back down the drywall and through another speaker connection wall plate. How do you plan on wiring up the speakers.

 

As of right now, there exist no 7.1 encoded movies or soundtracks. Apparently, DTS and DD are working on changing that feature into an HD DVD player and movies. There is no timeframe yet, so I don't know when this will happen. But at the least, it's good news. I cannot wait. I would love to hear and watch Saving Private Ryan on 7.1 (or Saving Ryan's Privates LMAO)!

 

Our bonus room is on the second floor, so the attic is directly above it. We're just going to fish the wire down the back wall, add a new speaker plate (no point in reconfiguring the existing plate), then run the wires in the attic and through the ceiling. So the rear surround speakers will be in-ceiling while the rest are in wall. No biggie, nice and easy 7.1 surround, and with a little calibration we'll be golden

 

How easy is it to fish the wire down the back of the drywall? Do I have to deal with getting insulation out of the way? I plan on adding some speaker connection plates. How easy is it to add those?

 

Ours won't be so bad b/c it's an internal wall, so there's no insulation. The only thing I'm worried about is if there are any cross beams. If so we may have to cut some small holes to get the wires all the way down, then patch them when we're done.

The speaker connection plates are easy to install. The last one I added I just got from Best Buy. Very easy to do.

 

The only problem would be my rear speakers, the ones behind my head, are halfway up the wall. Should I just make a small hole in the wall and fish the speaker wire through there, or should I add speaker plates? I think I might just put a small hole in the wall and fish the wire through there. If I'm in the crawl space above, and I can look in between the drywall boards between the walls, how would I get the speaker wire from the wall up to the ceiling (behind the speaker wall)?

I only want to go up there once because it's hot up there.

 

Wherever you're putting the speakers, you'll need to fish the wires to... so regardless of their location you'll need to do some fishing so you can connect the wires to the receiver. And the bad news is that you'll probably have to attempt it a few times if you've never done it before... so I'd wait for a cool day or evening before doing it if it gets that hot in your attic...

 

Congrats on the purchase...

I just wanted to say... I, too... have a 7.1 Onkyo system... (but it wasn't a "out of a box" system, I have the TX-NR801 A/V receiver with Sonance speakers all around), and I absolutely LOVE it

...and yes... "it" has begun.... "it" being your new hobby of putting together that system that you're proud to come home to, and show off to when friends are over... I started backwards tho, I got the Sammy DLP first...

...then, you may get into the collection of movies that you own just for demo-ing the system... check out this thread:https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...t=pearl+harbor


by the way, hope your hip's doing better....

 

Thanks man. Hip is doing great. Just a small bruise. I bought some stands for the front left and front right main speakers, so they don't hang on the wall now. I'm not sure if I like this setup, but that's what I have now.

Also, I went into a Sound Advice (subsidiary of "Tweeter") and got quoted for installation of running speaker wire to the two rear surround speakers from my TV to the speakers (through the attic of a one-story house). It was something like $125 for 125 ft of 14/2 speaker cable, and $69.99 to run the wires. Does that sound good?

BTW, I was up in my attic a couple of days ago, and a lot of homes here in Florida have that blown in insulation crap. I hate it because I can't see where I would be stepping. I was only in the attic above the garage, and I couldn't get into the attic part that is actually above the house because the insulation was too thick and I couldn't see where I was going. Any tips? Is that stuff harmful to touch with the bare skin or breathe in?

 

BTW, I was up in my attic a couple of days ago, and a lot of homes here in Florida have that blown in insulation crap. I hate it because I can't see where I would be stepping. I was only in the attic above the garage, and I couldn't get into the attic part that is actually above the house because the insulation was too thick and I couldn't see where I was going. Any tips? Is that stuff harmful to touch with the bare skin or breathe in?

 

^ Yeah, I would avoid breathing it in at all costs (wearing a mask is a great idea). I'd also recommend wearing gloves if you're going to touch it as it can irritate the skin... as well as goggles b/c that blown in stuff can fly around easily...

 

Hmmmmmmm. I didn't have a mask last time I was up there. I did have gloves, long pants and long sleeves though. I don't plan on going up any time soon though, because it's hot as hell up there and with all the insulation, I can't see dick.