One of my plans for the new studio here in Napier was to set up for 5.1 surround mixing and monitoring. This year I've achieved that, and have been putting the system to good use working with Screen Vistas re mixing and ensuring quality control across their national cinema advertising.
I already had two Genelec 8240A monitors so for the upgrade the logical step was to carry on with Genelec for the rest of the system. I now have an 8340 (the same as an 8240A but the newer model) for the Centre channel and 2 8330 monitors for the L and R surrounds. The subwoofer is a 7360A Smart Active Subwoofer.
This isn't exactly my system but gives you the idea of what they look like!
Because of the additional channels needed for 5.1 mixing I also had to upgrade my interface, and chose to go with the Universal Audio Apollo 8. My basic reasoning for this was that I already have the Apollo Twin and love the sound and usability of UA's software and plugins. You can link the two units together via a Thunderbolt cable, which allows you to use the great wee Twin interface as a master monitor controller, and also adds their DSP chips together to give greater processing power for the UAD plugins.
Universal Audio Apollo 8
But wait! There was one more upgrade I needed. Since the start of my business I had always used the standard version of Pro Tools, without the need for the additional multichannel mixing capabilities or other nice features that HD has. But once you get into surround then you have to use Pro Tools HD, so I now run PT HD 12, which has been great - some super useful features like VCA's and Clip Effects just make mixing so much easier and faster!
I'm very happy with how the system sounds and performs - the only downside is that I won't be getting Xmas or Birthday presents for the next few years! Ouch! :)