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Tue Oct 21, 2003 1:49 am

My friend brought up an interesting point as we were discussing the Audigy2 ZS.

I think this 7.1 is **** dumb. What they should have is a channel that is TOP. Sits right above your hear for when things fly over.

My response was that there's enough to worry about in 2 dimensional sound mapping, but one day it would happen. I figure, considering the current taxation upon the system of current games, that when processors are 2-3x faster, and a powerful enough interconnect is established, 3D audio will be possible. It will be interesting to see who implements it, and how. Will it be 1 solo speaker above the user? Will it be 8 speakers [1 in each corner of a surrounding cube]?

Ideas?

Aphasia · Tue Oct 21, 2003 2:18 am

Many people have trouble placing a 5.1 system, no less less a 7.1.

Of course it may be feasible with more speakers, but as you can simulate both front and back, high and low with only two speakers..... i think it would be a waste just cramming more and more speakers, with more and more advanced soundcards and lots of cabling in there.

pez-king · Tue Oct 21, 2003 2:34 am

5.1 is plenty if you ask me.

6.1 would be nice though if you got the place to stick the rear speaker.

7.1 is just a waste as of now, maybe down the road someday it will have a better use. I just don't see where anyone could put the extra speakers

VTNC · Tue Oct 21, 2003 3:11 am

4.1 is fine by me
If what matters is distributing sound 2 dimensionally then even a 3.1 could do that.
What we need is an octoheadron: up down left right front back (or front-left front-right etc) cause that's a 6.1 and that's cheaper than the 8.1 cube
Gotta have a .1 to blast some serious bass

Forge · Tue Oct 21, 2003 3:19 am

I've got 5.1 now and am quite satisfied. The four corner satellites give you position, the center is for movie dialog and better L/R panning, and a sub is there to make better bass possible.

All bases covered.

I'm going to be getting a 6.1 set for nearly free fairly soon, and I hope it'll make a difference, but I expect not. You don't have any ear on the back of your head, and the two on the sides are aimed forward, so I can't imagine anywhere where a 5.1 set would be inferior to a 6.1 set.

I'm not even 100% sure where the 7th satellite in a 7.1 set is. Is it a fourth rear channel or a second center/voice, or what?

Aphasia · Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:17 am

When for home theatres a normal 5.1 have the surrounds placed on the side and slightly behind of the listening position pointing inwards, and 7.1 having a pair of rear sattelies directly behind the subject as compared to the fronts. Most computer systems use direct speakers instead of diffused ones so i dont really know but i guess the 4 in the back should be in kindof a half circle starting with one to each side.

Honor · Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:42 am

Maybe someday some enterprising company will produce a fully customizable layout.

Something were you input the speaker positions into the audio decoder. Movies and games will provide positional audio data and the decoder compares the audio data position with the speaker positions and plays the audio on the appropriate speaker(s).

Something like 24 channels with small wireless speakers placed all around the entertainment area.
'course it would be expensive as all get out, but after seeing fabio's set up on TV ($100,000+, IIRC) I know there will be people willing to buy it.

Tue Oct 21, 2003 11:09 am

Wireless speakers would be a good idea, as bigger surround systems come out, you have more wires to deal with. Then you could put the speakers where you need them without having to worry where to run the wiring.

Wed Nov 05, 2003 2:52 pm

now that I think about it, with the advent of piezo-electrics, it is conceivable that we could have an 'audio strip' that encompasses a room and has a nearly infinite number of channels. Piezo wallpaper will enable sound to resonate from it's true directional source. *drool*

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