We have a 7-4 as center, 9s as fronts, 1s as rears. Would there be a noticeable difference/improvement if a pair of 4000s was added for the rear  to make it 7.1?,

Thanks.

No. Better to add a Lab2 sub woofer instead of back speakers in my opinion.

Thanks!  Let me rephrase the question to clarify. We also have a Veldyne 12 inch sub connected and I also have a set of 4000s that we are not using. So the issue really is whether the wok of wall mounting the 4000s would be justified by the sound improvement, if any.

No, definitely not (to the 7.1). I've had a 7.1 with my BV7-32 and then BV7-40 for four years, recently with BL9's at the front. I recently replaced the 7.1 with a 7.4 and it makes a massive difference. The alt speaker compliments the BL9's and the sound seems to be distributed more evenly.

I've also disconneded the BL2. The bass is enough with the BL9's, particularly watching movies.

moxxey:

No, definitely not (to the 7.1). I've had a 7.1 with my BV7-32 and then BV7-40 for four years, recently with BL9's at the front. I recently replaced the 7.1 with a 7.4 and it makes a massive difference. The alt speaker compliments the BL9's and the sound seems to be distributed more evenly.

I've also disconneded the BL2. The bass is enough with the BL9's, particularly watching movies.

I think you misunderstood my question. Our system consist of a BV7-40 with the Beolab 7-4. Front speakers are Beolab 9s. Sub is a 12 inch Velodyne. Rear speakers are Beolab 1s. My question is would we notice an improvement in sound if I connected a set of Beolab 4000s to the system in the rear of the room to change the surround sound from 5.1 to 6.1 or 7.1?

Why not try it out? Prop the speakers up where they're going to go, run PowerLink across the floor and see how you think it sounds.

Alex:

Why not try it out? Prop the speakers up where they're going to go, run PowerLink across the floor and see how you think it sounds.

 

I did a slightly abbreviated version of your suggestion. Instead of two speakers in the rear I used just one, set to center rear, a Beolab 6000.

When listening to a 7.1 Blu-ray I did seem to hear some subtle sounds with the extra speaker that I do not hear without it. Later I will have my wife listen without knowing whether she is listening to 5.1 or 6.1 and see what she thinks.

Listen again, and this time listen to see whether it sounds like the sound has been added in 'fakely' or whether it sounds as though the effects are genuinely coming from behind you (ie, not from a speaker).

The sounds definetly did not sound fake and did sound like they were coming from behind me. It just was not very often that I heard additional sounds and they were very subtle.

I say go for the 7.1..  I actually had 7.1(2) for a time before I moved.  If you have the speakers you should definitely go for it.