Oops.... Sorry Chris - I forgot one more thing... remember that AST is, indeed, a simulation of the real thing. You gain flexibility in loudspeaker placement, listening position placement and the direction you're facing. However, the "price" of this is precision. If you're looking for precise localisation, distance and depth in your stereo/multichannel image, then you probably won't get it with AST on. Source location will become "fuzzy" or like a "cloud" rather than a point source. On the other hand, you'll be able to move around the room and hear the same cloud, whereas, with regular stereo, a 10 cm move away from the sweet spot will result in all images dumping into the closest speaker...

Cheers

-geoff

Superbly put Geoff...'cloud' as opposed to 'point source' sums up exactly how the AST seems to work for me..Im really pleased it all makes sense now I have the understanding...taken on board all your advice/points, thanks again

Just wanted to say that it's fantastic to have direct input from the people behind the design and products on the forum! Thanks for joining and posting, Geoff 🙂

No problem! I can't guarantee that I'll be fast to reply all the time, but I'm happy to help out if I can. I think that a new concept like AST is a little difficult to wrap one's head around when it's in its early stages, so I'll certainly pay more attention to this forum than the discussions on older, more well-known products.

cheers

-geoff

Thank you very much for stopping by and giving your expert input on it!

Geoff,

I have a 7.1 B&O speaker setup with my BeoSystem 3. All 7 speakers are rarely used. Moreover, there is a difference in sources as to which 5.1 speakers are used: with blu-ray (via PS3) 5.1 uses the side surrounds but not the rear surrounds, but TV and DVD use the rear surround speakers but not the side surround speakers for 5.1. Will AST help with a 7.1 speaker setup? 

BTW, does the new BeoSystem 3 update correctly show that 7.1 sound is being passed through when selecting "sound system" on the BS3 menu? Currently, When I check the "sound system" it shows the input as PCM 7.1 but the output as 5.1 - even when all 7.1 speakers are outputting sound.

beojeff wrote:

I have a 7.1 B&O speaker setup with my BeoSystem 3. All 7 speakers are rarely used. Moreover, there is a difference in sources as to which 5.1 speakers are used: with blu-ray (via PS3) 5.1 uses the side surrounds but not the rear surrounds, but TV and DVD use the rear surround speakers but not the side surround speakers for 5.1. Will AST help with a 7.1 speaker setup? 

There are two issues here...

- Regarding which speakers are playing for 5.1 from different sources. How do you have your speakers labelled in the setup menu? (In your posting you say "side surround" and "rear surround" but the BS3 will say "surround" and "back" - which is which for you? Once I get that info, I can check this out with my BeoSystem3 and a PS3.)

- If you have AST, you will get sound from all speakers (that you've turned on in the Preset you're using) all the time, regardless of the number of input channels. However, if your 7.1 speaker configuration is reasonably good (meaning that your speakers are well-placed and fairly symmetrical in the room) then AST might not help you - at least for the specific case of sitting in your sweet spot and watching television. If you're far away from the sweet spot, then AST might help.

beojeff wrote:

 

BTW, does the new BeoSystem 3 update correctly show that 7.1 sound is being passed through when selecting "sound system" on the BS3 menu? Currently, When I check the "sound system" it shows the input as PCM 7.1 but the output as 5.1 - even when all 7.1 speakers are outputting sound.

I'll check on this and get back to you.

Cheers

-geoff

Thanks for the response, Geoff. I have the speakers correctly labeled as "surround" and "back." (I just used the terms "side surround" and "rear surround" to be more descriptive.) It seems odd that the BS3 uses the (side) surround speakers and not the rear speakers for 5.1 blu-ray, but the BS3 uses the rear speakers and not the (side) surround speakers for 5.1 with all other sources (tv, dvd, AppleTV). I'm guessing that the reason has something to do with the PCM through the blu-ray player reserving the rear speakers for 7.1.

Geoff, could I ask a few questions also about speaker placement and AST?  Our current system is a Beovision 7 MKIII with a Beolab 7-4. Front speakers are Beolab 9s and rear speakers are Beolab 1s. We have a Beovision 7-55 ordered which will be replacing the Beovision 7-40 soon. Now for the questions:

1. The Beolab 1s are placed in the back corners of the room/sitting area. Just behind and to the sides of the sitting area. In the setup menu they are identified as as left and right surrounds. Is this the correct setting for a 5.1?  My understanding is that it is but the next question will explain why I ask.

2. We have a pair of Beolab 6000s I am thinking of adding to create either 6.1 or 7.1. My understanding is that these would be placed approximately in the center rear behind the sitting area and either both identified as center rear for 6.1 or identified as left and right rear for 7.1. Is this correct?  I ask because a member of this forum told me that the 6000s should be added to the sides between the front 9s and rear 1s which would put them in front of the seating position. As I look at all of the options in the setup menu and diagrams in the Beovision owner's manual it appears to me that our current 5.1 is correct and additional speakers would go behind the the current sitting area.

3. Assuming our 5.1 setup has the speakers in almost ideal locations, if the 6000s were added for 6.1 or 7.1 they would not be in ideal positions. Our room is about 15 feet by 17 feet. Should I expect the sound from a nearly ideal 5.1 without AST to be better than 7.1 using AST to adjust for the poor positions of the extra two speakers?  Or would a 7.1 with the two rears in less than ideal locations but with AST sound better than the non AST 5.1?

Thanks!

Razlaw,

I think our issues are very much related. When you add the extra two speakers to get 7.1, I suspect that you will find that the PCM from your blu-ray will use the (side) surround speakers during 5.1 but that all other sources will use the rear speakers and not the (side) surrounds. This can make quite a difference since your Beolab 1s and your Beolab 6000s are worlds apart in terms of sound.

Similarly, I have 2 Beolab 8000s as my front speakers, 2 Beolab 8000s as my (side) surrounds, a Beolab 10 as the center, a Beolab 2 for subwoofer, and 2 Beolab 6000s as the rear speakers.