I am on the verge of buying my first surround receiver, and I’ve decided on the Denon 3803. I know the 3805 is coming out very soon, but I think the 3803 will do just fine. I recently received my M60s, soon to be paired with a VP150 and one pair of QS8s. My existing sub will do for now. All this based on advice from Axiom Alan, the answer man. My question is regarding the initial setup for the receiver speaker selection. Due to the room configuration I will be going with a 5.1 setup, without much chance of doing 7.1 or bothering with 6.1. I’ve downloaded the 3803 users manual, and in the speaker setup section it shows a graphical representation of speaker placement showing Surround Speaker(s) A at the side of the listening position, Surround Speaker(s) B at the rear corners, and also the potential of a pair of Surround Back speakers. My speakers will definitely be behind me, but does it matter from a receiver processing standpoint what I select for a single pair of surrounds? That is, as long as I properly set distance, sound levels, delay, etc? Interpreted literally, my speakers would be the ‘B’ pair, but my simple, dopey question is, does it matter? The manual doesn’t come right out and say “For a five speaker setup, select this, or select that….” or whatever.
