I had the fortunate opportunity to test out my friend's new RX-V1400 this weekend when I was watching his dogs...I am absolutely impressed with this receiver...always been a Marantz man myself, but this was a treat. YPAO is a nice feature, but too funny to stay and listen too...
Anyway.
I must say I used U-571 as the reference DVD, and LOTR: FOTR for a few scenes, but all in all I haven't been impressed with the added 2 speakers.
My bud's got 6 Studio 20's for his HT, so I know it's not the system, placement was pretty good, well sized room etc. I just didn't find much benefit to the 2 extra surround speakers. I do admit it did sound a tiny bit better in a few scenes, but all in all I was just disappointed.
Not to knock the Yammie...very impressive indeed, especially listening to DVD-A's and SACD's on his home brewed Vifa powered speakers in stereo.
What's the general consensus here? Is 6/7.1 just clever marketing and 5.1 more than adequate, or have we yet to see any sources that take advantage of the extra channels?