Originally Posted By: gonk
but the scarcity of homes that will actually have nine or eleven speakers connected has probably helped companies justify leaving the extra hardware out.
Well I wouldn't install 7.1 channels if there wasn't equipment that could utilize them, so that doesn't seem completely logical to me. I seem to think people would buy additional speakers once the technology is there to support it. Of course it takes time, especially if you have a built in system.