10 years ago I had 7.1. High-end Onkyo AV center combined with top of the line front speakers combined with ceiling and back wall speakers everywhere. The walls and ceiling were covered with black fabric. Both light and sound reducing. You only heard an echo if the speakers wanted you to. I had the ultimate AV environment. I had a very specific Blu-ray movie that I think was called Sunshine. People sat down in this room and got blown away.

Those days are over. I am not climbing up to my ceiling and installing speakers. I am not allocating space a few feet behind me to get the full 3D immersive effect.

Give me a front speaker bar. Let's see how well it pretends to do subwoofer. Let's determine if I need a subwoofer. Let's see how well it does bounce around immersive effects. Move on.