Harry Krause wrote:
snip...

I guess I just don't get it. Virtually EVERY shoppe was featuring
"surround sound," so I ended up listening to a bunch of movies while
watching them on a huge screen. The setup made several of the special
effects movies a bit more exciting than I am used to when I watch the
same sort of material at home.

But for strictly sound? CDs with all sorts of music? I just didn't hear
anything that sounded better than a good two speaker (or three speaker
with subwoofer) setup.

What am I supposed to be hearing in 7.1 surround sound? What's the big
deal?

Someone please explain.

Good question. My boys bought me a modest JVC Home Theater set last
Christmas. I stuck my ear close to the 'surround sound' speakers behind
our Lazy-boys while playing music..etc. You could barely hear the sound
from those speakers compared to the frontal four. When we did the
living room addition of a full length bay window in July, I just
disconnected the two satellite speakers.