Whats a Good Surround Sound System 7.1 OR 5.1 (not 2.1)?

First you did not say what your budget was. Second stay away for a HTIB (home theater is a box) they are not Flexible. Third stay away from Bose, Over priced and not good quality Now a 5.1 will give you right left center right rear and left rear speakers, 7.1 will give you 2 more speakers for the right and left side, that being said not many DVD's or Blu rays have 7.1 sound tracks. You will need a good A/V receiver and good speakers. Do some research Onkyo and yamaha are ok stay away from Sony except for the ES Series As for speakers let your ears dedide for you. Hope this will help

dont buy in store junk like yamaha etc..save your money and buy high end equipment iam partial to mirage and bandw

Personally I am not a big fan for surround sound systems. I would argue a full spectrum pair of speakers or a good 2.1 speaker system is more than enough. The one downside to this approach is that a two speaker system in a room that size the sound will be perceived to the ear to come from a certain part of the room, the far end of the room. The closer you physically move the better. In this case, Bose specializes in dispersing the musical soundstage. Bose is suited for this type of scenario if you want a robust soundstage and speaker separation from a two speaker system. I recommend that you listen to Bose Cinemate and make a determination for yourself. As for the criticisms around Bose, the bottom line is this. Ninety-five percent of the buying public is not an audiophile. Meaning dropping thousands of dollars, at least $2,000 like it's hot ain't goin to happen. I am an audiophile, I can tell you we are a dying breed. The narrow 5% of us who know more than the average Joe is slim to none. As for the brand names always mentioned as being better than Bose. Where are they? Where are they in your neck of the woods? Bose is good enough, if you play high quality recordings at 192 kbp and higher, it comes much closer to a "proper sound." It is rare that I defend Bose, because I don't need to, its not my job, but I think that the principled argument to stay away from Bose based on tired slogans or Bose being over-priced never legitimately answers the question. Onkyo has really good receivers at reasonable prices, Onkyo is not cheap electronics. However, I would not purchase Onkyo speakers unless they were given to me as a present. Yamaha is best with receivers, they are none to shabby with speakers, but its not their strong suit. Sony, is not your mom and dad's Sony years past. Perhaps a good chunk of money will get you a nice receiver or amp, but Sony is not tops with anything, that I can think of...except Sony Playstation, which is one of the best DVD players money can buy, its built for the rigors of being a gaming console., first. You can get a 5.1 surround sound, but if you do, I would be sure to place the speakers on something that has height. I think a 7.1 surround sound is overkill for a 25 by 30 room. Of the ones you have listed, you will not have buyers remorse with Onkyo electronics, I would let that be the anchor tenant to my system. Take a look at Boston Acoustics and Wharfedale Diamond Series speakers. When I refer to a full spectrum speaker it is a pair of speakers that have built in a subwoofer. Now that we have wireless, speakers it is possible to locate the speakers diagonally in the room, its a challenge in terms of room balance, but not sound, nothing a little decorations couldn't remedy. I hope this helps. Best.

Look - the superior systems do not all come from 1 company. So while simple - it's not the best. A good system consists of: * A full sized AV receiver with lots of spare inputs from Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo and perhaps Pioneer * A set of 5 monitor-style speakers from a 'real' speaker company: one that makes speakers as it's main business. Names like Polk, Klipsch, Definitive, Boston, etc. * A separate, self powered subwoofer. Names like SVS Woofers, HSU Research, Velodyne are good Start by picking a 5.1 receiver. All HDTV sound is 5.1 so this is plenty. You want 3-5 HDMI inputs and auto-speaker calibration as a minimum. You want 80-110 watts per channel from a good company like Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo. Expect to pay $500-$800. Then audition speakers. These can range from $500-2,500. Then pick a subwoofer. All your 5 speakers should be from the same make and model, but the subwoofer can be from a different company. In fact - some of the better subwoofers are made by companies that dont make regular speakers. The secret to a great HT system - is a smooth, powerful subwoofer so ... dont scrimp. If you can afford it - check out SVS woofers or HSU research. If you are handy - you can assemble your own sub from a kit from www.partsexpress.com. This will save you some $$. Then pick a set of 5 speakers from a real speaker company. WIRES Cables are NOT an investment - but some companies will charge your $$$ by throwing junk-science at you to scare you. Dont fall for it. Get a spool of oxygen-free 12 ga speaker wire from Parts Express and use it everywhere. Home Depot also carries the stuff. Get HDMI cables from Amazon. Search for the "Media Bridge" brand. Should run you $9-20 cable. RACK LAYOUT (This is something most people get wrong) Put your heavy AV Receiver on the bottom shelf. Leave lots of room for venting above the receiver. Put your devices you dont touch (cable, sat, media server) above this. On the upper shelves you put your BluRay player, game systems, etc., that you interact with. Hope this helps.