The Griff said:

negative1 said:

is there a noticeable difference

between 5.1 and 7.1 sound?

If your room is narrow, then I don't think the extra surrounds are necessary. 2 speakers, evenly placed and calibrated will fill that space just fine.

I sometimes think of using the bookshelves somewhere else and moving the primaries back, instead of at the sides, as the way the room is currently set up the viewing area is kinda narrow (though that's gonna change soon enough). I think it sounds fairly immersive as is, but yeah, much depends on how big your room is, and at some point, the extra two become overkill. I haven't tried to listen to 7.1 tracks in 5.1 down there just yet though.