I found the improvement so substantial in my smallish HT room that I can't say it's simply a subjective difference. I upgraded the receiver and disk player to Blueray and added two more of the same speakers. Even with 5.1 media and cable the matrixing my receiver does with the side and rears is surprisingly well done.
When I bring it down to 5.1 the sense of space is dramatically reduced and the fronts and rears have a more discrete presentation that is clearly less enjoyable.
I recently helped my in laws with a 7.1 upgraded using very inexpensive components in a small space and again, after the room correction was run the improvement was very noticeable. I would guess you may have issues with the processor or the setup.
When I bring it down to 5.1 the sense of space is dramatically reduced and the fronts and rears have a more discrete presentation that is clearly less enjoyable.
I recently helped my in laws with a 7.1 upgraded using very inexpensive components in a small space and again, after the room correction was run the improvement was very noticeable. I would guess you may have issues with the processor or the setup.