5.1.4 Or 7.1.2

[Arabella Kochanski]

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Transform your living space into an auditory wonderland with four distinct height channels - twoleading the charge upfront and two enveloping you from behind. Immerse yourself in the sensation ofbeing right in the heart of a theater or a live concert. Imagine sensing the patter of rain overhead orthe rush of rockets zooming above. Milan 5.1.4, enriched with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Atmos Music,crafts a genuine overhead sonic experience, infusing an unparalleled touch of realism into everymoment.

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Immerse yourself in audio perfection powered by WiSA DS technology, offering unparalleled sound quality. Enjoy up to 10 channels of pristine 16-bit 48kHz sound over WiFi, eliminating the hassle of cables for utmost convenience. This ensures you receive crystal-clear, lifelike audio wirelessly through your WiFi network, enhancing your home entertainment experience with unparalleled comfort and enjoyment. It's a revolutionary upgrade for your home theater audio.

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Simple to set up and use, Milan 5.1.4 comes with everything you need to add immersive sound to your home entertainment experience. Featuring a five-channel soundbar, a pair of two-channel rear surround speakers, and a subwoofer that delivers bass you can feel, Milan 5.1.4 brings entertainment to life.

Thanks guys, my thought process has been that with 7.1.2 I will have height sound and rear sound. But with 5.1.4, I miss out on the rear sound. And if the seat position was right on the back wall 5.1.4 would be best. However I have some room around me, so 7.1.2 might work better?

I game a lot in there, so the rear sound would offer better placement of objects.

Not true - as long as the fronts and rears are at the same angle (or as close as possible) then depending on your room layout you may end up with one pair on ceiling and one pair high up on the wall. It is the angle to the MLP that is important.

Also not true. When I tested 5.x.x vs 7.x.x I found the discreet sound effects like bullets whizzing past etc were pretty much identical between both formats. The only thing 7 did was create a more ambient bubble. For gaming, with more discreet rear sounds, 7 may be preferable to 5 (I can't say for sure as I don't game) but not sure it would be a big enough difference to worry about.

Their reasoning was that when you get pans around, 5.1.4 has big holes in the back which are not natural. 7.1.2 gives the proper illusion of all encompassing sound stage around you which is far more common a situation than mixes relying on rear height channels which are usually more effect-sy.

Nice, all my speakers are Focal.

I already I have the 300 IW6 as the surrounds and 300ICLCR5 for Atmos waiting to be installed. The existing on wall surrounds that are on my back wall are the Aria SR 900.

I have a 5.2.2 and it sounds great to my ears. I would love to have 4 atmos speakers but as my couch is almost against the back wall and atmos speaker directly above the couch. Having a extra two speakers further forward might help, but might not be worth the cost.

I tested 5 vs 7 in with speakers in the exact ideal location and the only difference I could tell was a slight improvement in the ambience and a slightly more complete soundfield. But I really hard to listen hard and IMO it just isn't worth the extra cost and hassle unless cost is no barrier and you can easily install all 7.

Hi guys, really appreciate the input.

Have an update, I have decided to go with 7.1.4. Still using the in-wall Focal 300IW6 for both side and now rear surrounds, which I will locate at about 1.2M of the floor. The front Atmos are in-ceiling Focal 300ICLCR and the rear Atmos will be Focal in-ceiling 300ICW6 as I am limited for space above the ceiling at the rear of the room. All these will be running from the amp in a Denon AVR-X6700H.

The front sound stage will stay running from my existing pre and amp.

Kinda made sense to get it all done at the same time. And the Focal 900 SR would be in the way if I moved them down to 1.2M as there is a cocktail gaming machine at the back of the room. The 300IW6 makes that go away.

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While home theater obsessives might pooh-pooh a "cinema in a box" solution, there are some real benefits. The first is integration. Since all of the satellites are the same size, it means that surround effects can move seamlessly from one speaker to another. The result is greater immersion because sound quality doesn't dip distractingly when the action moves to the (smaller) rears, for example. Secondly, these petite speakers can be positioned in an unobtrusive way, and they offer a sleeker look than most soundbars. Most people don't have room for four or more identical speakers in their living space, and the Klipsch's compactness solves this.

The Klipsch Reference Cinema System 5.1.4 -- that's 10 channels in all -- is a Dolby Atmos speaker set that offers a "just add receiver" solution. The system consists of three main components: four Dolby Atmos-capable satellites, a center dialogue channel and an active 10-inch subwoofer.

The satellites include the proprietary 5.25-inch spun-copper driver paired with a 1-inch aluminum LTS tweeter in the company's Tractrix Horn. For Dolby Atmos duties, the top of the cabinet features a 4-inch polyfiber driver designed to bounce height effects off the ceiling and back down at you. Each of the speakers is 3.5 inches high and 6.5 inches wide. The center channel features twin 4-inch copper spun drivers and a 1-inch tweeter in a 17.6-inch wide cabinet.

The package includes enough wires for all of the speakers, which is a nice touch, though it is quite necessary as the speaker "binding posts" will only accept thin, bare wires and not banana plugs. I found it is really easy to connect the wires securely and for them not to work. The connection inside is difficult to see, and it's easy to push the wire too far in. This results in the post contacting the insulation instead of the bare wire and ultimately no sound. If the catch at the end of the post was metal instead of plastic, this wouldn't be an issue.

Furthermore, when connecting the units, I found you have to be methodical about which wires you plug in as they are not labeled. (I marked Atmos Heights with a green piece of tape, for example). Keep in mind that there are 10 sets of wires -- and every Dolby speaker has two sets each -- so set aside at least an hour to get everything hooked up.

I connected the system to an Onkyo TX-RZ50, which offers Klipsch presets for popular speakers -- and even though it doesn't have one for the Reference set specifically, it does offer the "Klipsch>Other" catch-all. I used a decibel meter app to set levels, and then I was ready to rock!

One of the best home cinema test scenes I've yet encountered is the Thanator Attack scene from the original Avatar. From whispered dialog to expansive jungle soundscapes to pummeling dynamics, this scene has everything. When fed through the Klipsch Reference Cinema system, the sound was cohesive, clear and easily comprehensible. It was a lot of fun, too! Surround steering was flawless, and there was even a sense of height as the Thanator approached -- even though it's not an Atmos soundtrack.

Switching to the Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Mad Max, though, I had goosebumps from the opening seconds. I loved it. Surround effects swirled effortlessly between the speakers -- including heights -- and the dialogue was crystal clear. When Rockatansky fired up his Charger's engine, it had the full-throated roar you'd expect -- thanks to the deft handling of the 10-inch sub.

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