BeoLab 5 and BV7-55 - which speakers to add for best surround sound set up?

Hi,

I'm new and looking for some advice please.

In the living room I have a BV755 with a centre speaker BL7.6. As front speakers I have 2 x BL5s and as rear 2 x 8000s.

I'm thinking of going from 5.1 to 7.1 by either adding some BL12s or BL3s, but the more I read on this forum, opinion seemed to be that BL9 or BL3 as rears instead of 8000s is the way to go and stick to 5.1.

My question is: What would be the perfect 7.1 set up with BL5s as the fronts, all running from BV755?

Thank you in advance for your help,

Simon

Hi Simon,

“Perfect” would be 4 more BL5s to serve as rear & surround, matching the 2 you already have as front left and right.

BL9s would serve as adequate rear / surround speakers, and prices seem to have softened recently on the popular auction sites.

Lawrence

Hi Lawrence,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I presume from what you're saying that it's better to ensure all speakers have ALT. I've found some 9s at a realistic price, so I'll go for them. With 5s and 9s, is there any benefit to adding surrounds - or would that be overkill do you think?

Thank you,

Simon

How much content in 7.1 do you have, that you can play on your setup?

MM

Hi,

Not much in reality, a few DVDs, and music via TIdal who have launched their 360 Audio service which is like Dolby Atmos for audio. Excuse my ignorance, but when playing movies in 5.1, will the surround speakers be silent, or also play whatever is coming out of the rears? apologies if that's a dumb question.

Thanks in advance for your help

No dumb questions!

If you play 7.1 content e.g. from a bluray, you hear different sound in all channels.

If you play a 5.1 source (or manually choose Speaker 5) you will hear the same sound from the rears as there is in the surrounds - means it will basicly be upmixed to 7.1.

(Please note - the ‘extra’ channels in a 5.1 setup are the surrounds - the extra in a 7.1 are the rears).

Not saying that you should not add some rears, but you’d probably benefit more, if you upgrade the surrounds from 8000 to e.g. BL9.

And please be aware, that the sound from any setup will depend a lot on the room/the sice of the room and the placement of the speakers - and of course on the settings as well.

 

My best proposal would be to try out e.g. some BL9’s as surrounds and the 8000 as rears to see what works.

 

MM

Brilliant - that is a great help. Thank you for explaining is so well. I will follow your advice.

Simon

....and please keep us updated how you get along.

MM