is 7.1 surround sound the most amount of speakers on a system you can get?

Answer 1

You could hook up as many speakers as you wanted to that but you'd still only have 7 distinct channels (and a subwoofer channel). This is probably the highest comsumer surround sound format out at the moment. HD-DVD/BluRay players support 8 distinct audio channels so that would still be the same amount of speakers. NHK has developed a 22.2 surround sound format to accompany their Ultra High Definition Video 4320p technology but don't expect to see this out for a decade or two.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22.2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surround_sound#8_Channel_Surround_.28digital_discrete:_Dolby_Digital_HD.2C_DTS-HD_Master_Audio.29

Answer 2

No, but it's the accepted best format at this time...
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