I take my home audio very seriously. I mean, I have five receivers in my house, and while they aren’t all plugged in, I’d certainly dig some of the old ones out before I ever pick up a soundbar. Now, some of them are more feature-rich than others. I’m a big Dolby Atmos fan, so I need something that can use at least seven speakers. My main setup is 5.1.2, which means I have the five regular speakers and then two height speakers for Atmos. I should really get around to upgrading my Atmos speakers one day, but they get the job done currently.
Because of this, I have a 7.1 receiver, but I would never actually use a 7.1 speaker setup. I use the two extra channels to calibrate my Atmos speakers, and I think most people would get a lot more mileage by taking that route over a 7.1 system. Setting up a true 7.1 surround sound setup takes up a lot of space, and if you have pets or small children, it can be a bigger burden than you’d expect.
Let’s take Atmos out of the equation for a second and pretend I only have the choice of 5.1 or 7.1 audio. In that scenario, I’d still take 5.1. It might sound crazy, but I can explain.
I simply can’t fit all these speakers in my room
Room constraints are real
The biggest reason why I don’t think people need a 7.1 receiver is space. Unless you have a dedicated home theater area, having seven speakers in a living room is a tough sell. Even if you can hide the wires, the speakers still take up a lot of space. It takes a lot of time to put things together, and if you use your receiver’s room correction software, you have to make sure you never move those speakers around.
It’s a lot to ask of somebody, especially if they live with people who don’t value the same sort of things that you do. For most people. I imagine it’s a lot easier to just plug in a soundbar and call it a day. A 5.1 surround sound system isn’t exactly a middle ground for that, but you can be more conscious of space with five speakers versus seven. Even if you do have the space in your living room, there’s no guarantee you’ll get enough space between your surrounds and back surrounds. I would be scared of it all blending in together. If that happened, then it would feel like a waste of money to have those two extra speakers when I could have put that money towards other parts of my setup.
I have a wide open basement that I’d like to make into a dedicated theater space at some point, but I’m still years and years away from that becoming a reality. However, that’d be where I could fit seven speakers along with Atmos speakers, but it’d mean I’d have to buy a receiver capable of all that. For the time being, I’m happy with what I have, and I think many people find themselves in the same situation. I only added the Atmos speakers because I had the two extra spots for them — I would be just fine with just 5.1 if that’s all I had the option of. I grabbed another 7.1 receiver from Goodwill recently, and I have no intention of ever using all those ports.
It also depends on how you plan to use your speakers. Playing video games is an excellent use of surround sound, and that’s an area where I think you could get a lot of mileage out of 7.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos. However, if you mostly watch movies, 7.1 might not be the play.
Most sound comes from the front
Surrounds aren’t as important
I spend most of my time using my surround sound watching movies, and that’s where 5.1 can shine. The most important speakers in your surround sound setup are your three front ones. Many people, myself included, suggest dumping the most money into those. In fact, my surrounds are a pair of Sony bookshelves that I previously used in a stereo setup. You don’t tend to get a lot of action from these speakers, so you don’t have to break the bank on them. That’s not to say they aren’t important, but they certainly don’t get as much use as something like your center speaker.
I’m not saying you wouldn’t get value with a 7.1 system, but I don’t think you’d be as blown away going to that from 5.1 as you would be going from stereo to 5.1. It acts more as an enhancement of what you already like instead of a truly transformative experience.
Now, there are a few rules of thumb. If you can get a 7.1 receiver at an affordable price and plan to eventually add those speakers or use those two extra spots for Atmos, then go for it. I don’t want anybody to buy a 5.1 receiver with no upgrade path, only to replace it down the road when they get the urge to add more speakers. On the other hand, if you can save a couple hundred dollars by getting a 5.1 receiver, and you have no plans to upgrade, that’s a better bet.
