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I am looking at new recievers for my home theater set-up and I am seeing recievers that now have 6 and 7 channels. What are all of the channels? My current reciever has 5 channels, 2 front, 2 rear, center channel and sub. Thanks for your help.

I don't know about the 7th channel but I believe the 6th channel is for a rear center speaker.

i know 7.1 channel receivers are for thx certified dvd's and whatnot, 1 front center, 1 pair front left/right, 1 pair mid left/right, 1 pair rear left/right.

so you will have 1 center 2 front 2 rear surround and plus another 2 rear surround which usually you put at the back(mostly at the center of the back)
if you have big room you should get it
it is almost the same between 6 and 7 channel the different is just use 2 extra speaker at the back(act as center back) in 7 channel instead of 1 in 6 channel.now I am thingking to get marantz sr9300 which has 7 channel but got no money
right now I am using yamaha dsp ax1 it has 6 channel it is sound much better than the 5 channel
it really live up the sound in movie like if people walking at you back or plane flying around you....

I thought it was 2 Front, 2 Side, 2 Rear, 1 Center, 1 Sub. I recently picked up a Harman Kardon AVR-525 7.1 receiver and it is great. I paid $495 for a factory reconditioned unit with a 2-year factory warranty. Check out OneCall, that is where I got mine. I have AR speakers all around and a Harman Kardon 12" Sub

L8R

Since I work in this field I can give you a pretty reasonable answer.

There are many different standards for audio.
Monaural is considered 1.0.
Stereo is considered 2.0.
Adding a subwoofer(SW), since it only produces audio below the 160Hz frequencies is considered .1.
This can give you 1.1 for Monaural or 2.1 for Stereo.

When Microsoft developed a technology called Directsound3D,
it required a 4 channel audio card and 4.1 speakers to work correctly.
The speaker positions are Left Front(LF), Right Front(RF), Left Surround(LS), and Right Surround(RS).
The .1 is of course a Subwoofer(SW).
It is not required, but tell that to a gamer and you will get seriously flamed.
Each speaker has its own audio source, and as you move through the game,
the audio sources can switch between the channels, and be placed in their respective positions.
Really cool stuff !

A much older technology in audio recording, was called Quadraphonic Stereo.
This worked in much the same way, except the front channels were mirror to the surround channels,
and that gave the effect of a much fuller stereo field of audio.

Many 4 channel audio cards can perform both types of audio.

Now comes movies...
Movies are either recorded in many different formats.
Most of the "Better" Theaters are THX Certified or have SDDS Theaters.
These types of theaters can playback 5.1 audio.
This requires the addition of a Front Center Channel speaker(FC).
The Center Channel speaker is NOT the same as the other 4 satellite speakers.
Since the Center Channel is the source for 80% of all dialogue and audio,
it has to built to reproduce the full range of frequencies with lifelike qualities.
Many DVD moves utilize Dolby Digital(AC3) and Digital Theater Systems(DTS) technologies
for recording the audio of the movie to the DVD disc.
The major difference it the compression of the recorded audio.
Dolby Digital is compressed 9:1 and DTS is compressed 2:1.
This gives DTS and advantage over Dolby Digital since most of the audio quality is not lost with the 2:1 compression.
The bad side of it is that the DTS Audio track is much larger than the Dolby Digital track.
This is why Dolby Digital DVD Movies tend to have more features than the DTS versions.

Now for 6.1...
About 10 years ago, Dolby Digital graduated to Dolby Digital EX (Extended) and so did DTS to DTS EX.
This added a Rear Center Speaker.
The rear center speaker was for audio that originated from directly behind you.
Also the combination of the Rear Center and the Front Center can create the illusion of overhead audio,
such as a hovering helicopter.
The rear center speaker can be made up from the same type of speakers used for the LS and RS speakers.
So in a 6.1 configuration you have LF, RF, FC, LS, RS, RC,and SW.

And now...7.1

7.1 is the latest speaker configuration for audio playback.
There isn't a definite standard for 7.1 because no one has come up with 7 discrete audio channels in playback.
Instead the RC channel is mirrored between TWO RC speakers.
This allows you to spread out the surround field over a larger area,
without losing the effect of the surround audio.

There are few movie theaters with 6.1 or 7.1 sound because it requires them to mount speakers on the rear wall.
The addition of these speakers also requires them to install 6.1 and 7.1 projectors as well as the appropriate audio amplifiers.
Upgrading to these new configurations is expensive today,
and we may not see them in theaters for the next few years.
They will seek upgrades as a means of replacing older, non-working equipment.

In the home environment, there are many choices for what you would like to use to create your Home Theater.
Some are very inexpensive, and some can cost more than your home itself.
Many people are today starting out with their very own Personal Computers,
as a means of their central point of the Home Entertainment system.
It is less expensive, easier to upgrade, and provides multiple applications and uses.

For more information on the various audio technologies, you can check out these sites...

Dolby Laboratories
Digital Theater Systems
THX Corporation Website

Thank you very much this was VERY informative and completely answered my question. so i have another question for you then. my current receiver is a 5.1 100Wx5 Would it be worth it to upgrade to 6.1 or 7.1?

well I already have a powered sub so I guess I am good to go. So i guess i will just save the money and not upgrade the receiver and spend the money on the SVT instead.