Hi guys and gals.

I am waiting for my new BV-7 MK IV, hoping intensely that I will be more satisfied with it than the major part of you seem to be. It will just be standing here doing it's thing. Nothing fancy like linking or such as I use Apple stuff for that.

It will be playing with 7.4, Beolab 9's and for the time being a borrowed BL 2. I also have a pair of BL 3's around, but I am doing something to the house and wanted to use it in another room.

So, when I am watching movies my current MK II is told i do not have any satellites. And I am happy with that really. BUT - I was told by a dealer recently that the surround module of the MK IV is so greatly improved that it would be a sin not to provide it with satellites. Even just Beolab 4 he said. Anything goes, but do put something there....

Does any of you have experience on this? Will the satellites rock my world in a manner I can not overlook? I know of course that with HD comes even more separation of sounds, but still...

Any thoughts?

By satellites I take it that you mean rear speakers. They do make a difference but in my view are the least important part of the system. For action films, they are noticeable but I have rears for one of my systems and not for the other and don't really miss them. I think the BV7-40 will take 7.2 sound now so I can understand why you are so advised!

Movies today are mixed for a surround experience, so you should consider having speakers in the surrounds. The question is what speakers, and how much should you spend on them.

A good way of deciding is to set up your source (in this case the BV7) properly, and connect a pair of loudspeakers to the surround connections. Disconnect your front speakers L/R and center (C), and listen to a movie just through the rear channels. I think you'll be surprised at how sparse and usually "thin" the sound coming through your rears is, compared to the volume and weight of that going to the L/C/R channels.

Having performed this test myself, I have BL3s for my rears now, but feel it's overkill, and that I should be able to have BL4000s there to very good effect.