2.1 or 2.2 is sufficient for nearly all music, but for almost no modern cinema.
The primary mix for movies is basically mono, with sound effects sprinkled around you. If you want a chance to make sense of the dialogue, you really need a good center channel aligned with the center of the screen. The stereo downmixes almost universally suck because they don't boost the center channel enough before splitting it to the left and right speakers.
The primary mix for movies is basically mono, with sound effects sprinkled around you. If you want a chance to make sense of the dialogue, you really need a good center channel aligned with the center of the screen. The stereo downmixes almost universally suck because they don't boost the center channel enough before splitting it to the left and right speakers.