Rear speaker strategy

[omkphil]

Hi guys, thanks for having me here, my first post.

I am soon to upgrade my AV amp because I now need HDMI switching (my current Marantz SR5300 is 20 years old!, great, but analogue video).
Now looking at an Onkyo TX-NR6100, but not yet committed.

Something I did when I first set my system up was to point the 5.1 rears from floor level, behind the settee, upwards.
My mindset trying to address the near/far speaker issue when sitting on a settee.
Double the distance, is 3dB. So if sitting at one end of the settee vs the other, maybe 6-9dB different.
However, if the dominant path is floor to ceiling and back to ear, the path lengths to the listeners are similar, maybe only 1 or 2dB different.

Atmos is now around, and this appears to be using height to give a 3D stage, previously, the surround was really a 2D stage.

A few questions:
1) I would welcome any input you have on my up-pointing speaker approach.
2) Adding further speakers, e.g. Atmos, is far easier fat the front or me because of the wiring issue, but maybe I can configure my rears as Atmos combined with surround.
3) I also notice some reviews criticise amps for low frequency issue, however I assume if a sub is used (I have a 150W sub), this doesn't lean on the amp in the same way, so unlikely to be a problem.
4) Old school, a toroidal transformer = heavy and PSU quality for multi channel performance. What is the current view, Toroidal vs SMPSU?
5) Is the Onkyo TX-NR6100 a decent choice for the money? If not, what would you go for? And why?

TIA

 

[DonH56]

My opinions...

Hi guys, thanks for having me here, my first post.

Welcome aboard!

I am soon to upgrade my AV amp because I now need HDMI switching (my current Marantz SR5300 is 20 years old!, great, but analogue video).
Now looking at an Onkyo TX-NR6100, but not yet committed.

Something I did when I first set my system up was to point the 5.1 rears from floor level, behind the settee, upwards.
My mindset trying to address the near/far speaker issue when sitting on a settee.
Double the distance, is 3dB. So if sitting at one end of the settee vs the other, maybe 6-9dB different.
However, if the dominant path is floor to ceiling and back to ear, the path lengths to the listeners are similar, maybe only 1 or 2dB different.

You typically can only optimize one position without compromising the rest. If your AVR allows calibration at multiple positions, I'd try center and a little to each side (not all the way at the end) to help even things out a bit for people on the end. You could also mount the rears higher on the wall (or lift them off the floor a bit) to provide a longer path to everyone, spreading out the sound for better coverage.

Atmos is now around, and this appears to be using height to give a 3D stage, previously, the surround was really a 2D stage.

A few questions:
1) I would welcome any input you have on my up-pointing speaker approach.

Pointing rears up will smear the image since it spreads off the ceiling instead of pointing right at you as was mixed in the studio. That will introduce frequency aberrations as the signals bounce around and interact, and you will lose additional volume from both the added path length and some absorption by the ceiling material (nothing is perfectly reflective). I would point them right at the listeners.

2) Adding further speakers, e.g. Atmos, is far easier fat the front or me because of the wiring issue, but maybe I can configure my rears as Atmos combined with surround.

You could try adding overheads just in front and should still get much (perhaps most) of the effect. The rears would stay rears for Atmos.

3) I also notice some reviews criticise amps for low frequency issue, however I assume if a sub is used (I have a 150W sub), this doesn't lean on the amp in the same way, so unlikely to be a problem.

Amps are usually fine at LF, it is at high frequency where distortion may creep in. I suspect you are talking about not having enough power, since bass can easily take 10-20 times or more the power compared to the midrange. If so, then yes, subs mitigate that.

4) Old school, a toroidal transformer = heavy and PSU quality for multi channel performance. What is the current view, Toroidal vs SMPSU?

Plenty of good amps using either approach. That would likely be the last spec I would care about when choosing an amplifier.

5) Is the Onkyo TX-NR6100 a decent choice for the money? If not, what would you go for? And why?

Can't help on that one, sorry.

TIA