4.1 vs 5.1 , 6.1 sound ?

Can anyone tell me why I should buy a 5.1 or 6.1 system over a 4.1 system other than to spend more $ , or is there a big differance in sound ? I game and listen to cd's .

For gaming and music a good 4.1 system will do fine. 5.1 and 6.1 are really only good with movies, i dont know of any games with 5.1 output. You need a good dolby digital DVD for that.

I think you are forgetting 7.1

You can set up any game to use 5.1 sound using a Live! 5.1 or Audigy card.

4.1 sound is 4 speakers (2 front 2 rear) + subwoofer
5.1 adds a center channel

honestly never heard of 6.1 and 7.1 I'm not that technologically advanced yet.

the .1 is the subwoofer channel as it does not have any position (left, right, front, rear)

the first digit refers to positional speakers.

This coming directly from the Harmon Kardon manual