General HT & Audio Discussion

Which speakers should be playing?

SRSBOSE — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:28:58 GMT

Just got a Samsung 40" HDTV, 2 Bose left/right and 1 Bose center speaker. My receiver is a Yamaha R-V503. Geek Squad connected the system today. All works well, except I'm not sure this is correct (2 items):

1. By turning on (pushing) the Yamaha "Effect" button on the receiver the center Bose speakers plays. When I turn off the "Effect" button off the left/right speakers play. Shouldn't the purpose of a 3-way speaker set-up utilize all 3 speakers? From what I've read up on isn't the center speaker more for dialogue (ex: TV show) and the stereo speakers for more sound effects on the TV show or movie, etc? But, bottom line, shouldn't all 3 speakers play at once with more sound coming from the center speaker?

2. Should I have the Samsung HDTV set to external speakers or TV speakers? How do I control the volume from the cable box remote OR the HDTV remote? Right now, to get the best effect from the 3 Bose speakers I have to turn up the volume on the Yamaha receiver. I would think there is a set-up (?) that allows me to bring in the sound from all 3 new Bose speakers (simultaneously) by using either the cable box or HDTV remote. Lastly, which piece of equipment's volume control (HDTV, cable signal or Yamaha receiver) should be set the lowest and which would be the main control to adjust the sound?

I know there's alot of questions here, but I really appreciate (and need) some expertise and thoroughness.

Thank you,

SRSBOSE

Car speakers to AV reciever?

homer52 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:20:10 GMT

So I have a pioneer VSX D810S AV reciever and I have some kenwood KFC-6982ie 6x9s that are in boxes. they have just been laying around for awhile now and i was wondering if it was safe to use these as bookshelf type surround speakers hooked up to my AV unit. Or will it cause damage to the amp or the speakers because the amp runs at 8ohms and the speakers are 4ohms?

Harmony remote compatibility

chukker — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:22 GMT

I have an older model Harmony remote to coordinate all the components of my audio/video experience. The one function that it doesn't seem to be able to control is the "sleep" function on the television set (Sony) or the receiver (also Sony). Does anybody else know how this issue can be addressed so that one remote really is enough?

looking for a wall mountable center channel that is thin

Puneet — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:39:13 GMT

I already have built in surround sound in my house. I have wall mounted a 52 inch TV and there is already a cable coming out of the wall for the center channel speaker. The problem is I cannot find a thin enough speaker that can actually be mounted above the TV. Any ideas? One thought is to buy a sound bar but not sure if that would work. Would appreciate any suggestions.

Recommend BluRay player with DIVX ?

lhousesoccer — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:47:35 GMT

wiring config for correct impedance

Mastikat — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:00:51 GMT

i am a total n00b at this whole electricity thing. I mean watts, volts, amps, ohms, impedance. its all chinese to me. I need some guidance. In a nutshell what Im trying to do is add a sub woofer to my home stereo. 1st of all I need to build an enclosure for it. Yes I only have one. (Rock Fosgate 15" punch Hx2 DVC car sub woofer) My 1st question is; does 2 ohms x 2 mean its a 4 ohms speaker? Trying to connect it to a 300 Watt Pioneer receiver w/ internal amp. What do I have to do to get the correct impedance? How do calculate cu. in. for the enclosure? Should I house it by itself or can I build a box that incorporates a mid and a tweet? If so, how do I get the specs for the board (bridge)? Can somebody walk me through this? And since I only have one, I was going to use it as the "center". Is that wise? Is there enough power there to push that sucka?

Need to Ground Vintage Turntable to New Reciever

HB Dan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:00:15 GMT

First post for me, but got much help in the past from this site, thank you all.

Recently upgraded the receiver and much of the system. New receiver (Onkyo TX- SR606) has no ground receptor for the turntable (Technics SL-1300) ground wire. Definitely want to keep the turntable in the mix. What to do?

Many thanks for any help.

HB Dan

Which ht a/v reciever??? HELP!

Slater — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:09:07 GMT

Need some advise!
Just picked-up a VF551XVT 55-inch LED/LCD Vizio & installed her above my fireplace. My old Panosonic surround sound reciever doesnt have any hdmi hookups & I dont want to fish multiple hdmi"s / wires through my drywall to par the WII, PS3, cable box & who knows what else later so needing to upgrade. Also speakers were inexpensive KLH's so anything will be an upgrade but dont want to spend a fortune!
This system will be 90% for home theater use. The entire room is 20x20
Originally the Onkyo tx-507 caught my eye
link:

Please link to the manufacturers website or to product info at Crutchfield. Thanks.

Im contemplating this Denon unit dht-590ba for $550 with Boston Acoustic speaker
link:

Please link to the manufacturers website or to product info at Crutchfield. Thanks.

For the money am I looking good, which one & why?
If the Onkyo is your pick, advise on speakers please.

Any other units / speaker combo suggestions?

Thanks for any insight!

New Computer

blueberry — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:36:31 GMT

First of all I know just enough about technology to get myself into trouble. Here's my question. I have an Onkyo 5.1 receiver, a Samsung Blueray Player, and a Panasonic HDTV. I am buying a new computer that has some software such as cyberlink power dvd 8.3 playback and other things that seems as though it could be of benefit to my TV system. THe computer also has a 7.1 channel audio. How or can I use the computer to maybe link to my tv for more entertainment.

Need to replace my Bose AM 5 subwoofer

Kanman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:10:46 GMT

I'm sold on Bose, but after15 years of hard-hittin' service, its finally time to replace the AM 5 Subwoofer. My setup is AM 5 on the front, with a set of Bose 301's on the rear. The sound has been clearly exceptional as this system has served me as theater entertainment, as well as the "life of the party". My cube speakers still sound flawless, but the subwoofer is beginning to buzz.

Can I replace it with a new (sold separately) AM-5 Subwoof or should I upgrade it to AM 10 or 15. Or should I replace the whole AM 5 system?

HDMI Switching vs. Repeating

GVegasYankee — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:14:46 GMT

Whats the difference between HDMI Switching and Repeating? (If there is any) bottom line, I want my audio and video to go through my HDMI cable into and out of my receiver, what should I be looked for in terms of HDMI specs?

Needhelp finding some replacement speakers.

Weigel21 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:43:34 GMT

My brother-in-law recently gave my mother his old Panasonic SC-HT650, it's one of those home theaters in a box setups. Anyways, I knew a few years back that it was working great, but after I hooked it up for my mother I could easily tell some speakers were blown. After looking to see what the unit's specs were I found that the amp is rated at 30W for the front channels, 38 for the surround, 80 for the center, and 144 for the subwoofer. These ratings are the FTC power output at 1.0% total Harmonic Distortion. This unit is also designed to be used with 6 ohm speakers.

I did a little browsing myself and it seems most of the speakers I found were either 8 ohm or 3 ohm. If I went with 8 ohm speakers then the only issue I see is that the amp won't put out it's rated power, but if I went with 3 ohm speakers I'd likely ruin the amp. Can anyone give me a little advice on what to do? Sadly, we can't afford to go out and just buy a new surround sound, so figured it'd be cheaper to replace the speakers on this unit. However, I noticed that with the price of many of the speakers I looked at it could very well be cheaper to just buy a new home theater system. Are there not any fairly reasonably priced replacement speakers for these things?

Which reciever is good for me (newbie here)

gmoniey — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:12:59 GMT

Hi,

I am buying my first home, and in turn, I am buying my first home theater system. I hope to get a good lcd tv (around 46 inches). I'm having trouble understanding much of the technical jargon, so I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction if I provided more laymens terms.

Surround sound (5.1 is fine)
HDMI switching would be nice, but I don't mind running wires stright from the reciever/cable box/dvd/etc
Looking to spend less than 600-700 for everything (speakers & recievers)
Obviously, great sound is important too.
I think the most important area for me, and the most confusing is that I want to be able to power a pair of outdoor speakers through the receiver
- Would it be possible to have the outdoor speakers on in addition to the indoor speakers? Or can I only do 1 or the other

I don't think I've really provided that much info, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks.

Receiver for In-Ceiling Speakers throughout House

KevinZ — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:35:47 GMT

Hello,

I have a decent size home, over 10k sqft, with currently 12 in-ceiling speakers. They are the Klipsch (forget model about $350/pair). For right now, I simply want to play tunes throughout the house from either my ipod or radio. All the speakers are wired to 12-gauge wire to a central point in the attic. My long-term plan, 2-3 years out, is to install a full-home multi-zone system, but I'm just not ready to bite that bullet.

I do have it working currently with a simply receiver setup, but there simply is not enough wattage to drive the sound. Geek Squad came in and set it up, it's working, but the volume and quality is lacking. Currently, I have a receiver in the family room with 12 gauge coming out of the A channels. That wire goes to the attic to a speaker splitter (supplied by Geek Squad) that then drives the 6 pairs of speakers.

I just need a good receiver, or receiver/amp combo, that will drive these speakers with good sound. I would also like to expand it to 24 speakers in the near future (spring), so I need something that will drive 24 or a way to use two+ amps.

Zoning would be nice, but I figure I will have to wait for the full home solution before going down that path. It's just my wife and I, so zoning is not a huge priority. If there was a very simply zoning solution, that would be great (e.g. just the workout room or master), but again, it's not number one on my list for now.

WIth that, can someone recommend a receiver and/or receiver/amp combo? As for budget, I don't mind spending $2-4k if it will really drive some nice sound.

Thanks in advance,

Kevin

trying to make wired speakers into wireless?

mfranch87 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:46:43 GMT

I have a family member who lives in a condo and due to some limitations, is trying to convert some traditional wired speakers into some sort of wireless. Is there any such device that exists? I realize they will probably need some sort of amplifier for the wired speakers, but was hoping there was device or system that was both an amplifer AND transmitter/receiver in one box.

I believe they also want to "ADD" these speakers to the existing system. They would essentially be on the direct opposite wall of the room. So they would play in addition to the current wired speakers hooked up to their receiver. I guess these would be the "B" set of speakers in a sense so they would then select both "A" & "B" set of speakers on their receiver in order to hear all 4 speakers. Or can select either if A OR B if they want too.

If such a device does not exist or is kind of expensive, another option I thought of is to get an inexpesive receiver to hook up these "B" speakers to. Then have some sort of plain wireless audio transmitter system to send the signal from the main stereo to this "remote" stereo. Then just hide this "B" speaker receiver.

Any other ideas or thoughts?

First theatre system... worth the money?

chevin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:57:19 GMT

Hello ,

I recently bought my first home theater system, and just thought i would get a second opinion before the return deadline comes. I thought I would post what I bought and see what more experienced members thought. Keep in mind I am a college student with limited income, so I'm not looking for a $5000 system, however I am willing to spend more if it improves anything noticeably.

Polk Audio

---CS10 Center Channel Speaker

---T15 Bookshelf speakers

---PSW110 Subwoofer

Pioneer

VSX-519V-K Reciever

I was just wondering if I got a good deal on these 4 components for $650.00, or if there are much better alternatives. (p.s... If i keep everything as is, I plan on adding 2 Polk Audio TSi-300 or TSI400 standing speakers)

Center channel mono/stereo

J Ro — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:23:15 GMT

With so many large tv screens becoming affordable, i wonder if there may be a better option for the center channel. It's traditionally mounted directly above or below the screen, but with a particularly large television that could be too low or high. I found this to be the case with my new 50" screen. My goal is to give a stereo illusion that the center channel sound is coming from the center of the screen, rather than above or below it. Anyone attempt to do this? I was going to try using a pair of 4 ohm speakers located directly to the left and right of the screen, and wire them in series. Trouble is i can't find any shielded 4 ohm speakers! My other thoughts were to mount 4 8 ohm speakers(seems crazy) in series/parallel or just run the center channel at 4 ohms and see if my speaker level adjustment can correct for the increased center channel volume. I'm more into the car stereo scene so i'd appreciate any guidance.

UPS, AVS, HTS...overkill?

rover3d — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:34:09 GMT

Had such good luck with info from Tiger Heli and Ninja 1234 thought I'd try again; let's just say it's a tough week electronically.

I live in an area of constant power surges, brown outs and brief outages. There is a backup generator (on a 2 second delay) in case of blackouts and professionally installed surge protectors as well. Over the years, my AV system has grown to include an HTS 5100 line conditioner, an AVS 2000 voltage stabilizer, and a UPS 1000 battery supply. The UPS worked fine for about a year, but now blips out and needs a power reset constantly. Last time, not even that worked (battery fault indicator light stayed on), though I was able to get power back the following day through sheer luck and a reset.

So, now that I've been doing the homework I should have done before, I have questions about what has already been installed in my (oversized) home AV system.

If both the Monster AVS 2000 with its onboard transformer and the Monster HTS 5100 protect against surges and condition the flow, are they redundant?

If not, and given the gazillion available outlets the combined 2 units offer, should the 5100 be plugged into the 2000 or the other way around?

If using both is advisable, then does it matter which is the primary, direct "plug-in" source for the individual AV components (preamp, mixer, amp, CD players, cable box, receiver, etc.) since both power units offer digital and analog outlets as well as switched and unswitched options or is it advisable to divide the power drain by using both components as sources?

And, finally, does all of this make the UPS meaningless? I seem to have burned out the UPS 1000 battery in less than a year and it has actually required more babysittin and resets of the system than before the UPS unit was installed. Is it likely that the UPS just can't handle the load and is not necessary for protection or ease of use?

Sorry for the overabundance of questions, but before I either take the UPS out of the chain and plug the HTS into the AVS, zap myself into smoke, or decide to call in the pros, I'd like to be semi-literate. Any replies welcomed, and thanks...

Looking for advice on an entry-level Sound Bar

Sliv — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:02:32 GMT

I am taking the renovation of my basement as an opportunity to upgrade the sound on my 40" Samsung HDTV with a sound bar. I thought about going with a true surround sound system, since the wall panels in the basement were taken down and would facilitate wiring. But I have decided against it, given how small the room is.

In the price point I am looking, I have narrowed my search for the moment to the Sony HT-100 and the Boston Acoustics TVee2. The Sony sounds like it is the better quality system (more powerful, simulated surround sound) but the TVee2 has a wireless sub-woofer and gets positive reviews for its sound, which might serve my needs in a small room.

I would greatly appreciate anyone's views on the similarities/differences between these two products. Many thanks in advance.

Sliv

BD-P2500 Hacked

f1snob — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:18:37 GMT

I went to watch an instant Netflix and I get a message my player's been hacked. Searching on line I've found others and many fixes. None of the fixes have worked. I can not get the player to reset. I've held the ff button, turned it off and held down the power button, unplugged while holding the button, nothing's worked. I've deactivated the device on Netflix, but now can't get it activated.

Anyone have any suggestions to fix this?

TV & Soundbar on a budget

kalexan3 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:51:37 GMT

Looking for a basement HDTV (37-42inch) & a soundbar. Basement is mainly used as an excercise room, and a 2nd tv when my wife boots me to the basement.

Any recommendations?

HTIB in Pre-wired house?

skhouston — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:42:38 GMT

Can I use a HTIB for a pre-wired house? I would route the wires provided with HTIB to run from the system to the pre-hooked up wire panel and the speakers would connected to the wiring. I went to a local electronics store today just to check something out and the guuy told me that you cannot always use HTIB for pre-wired systems. Is that correct?

Receiver Help_ what is a good pic??

clax — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:44:53 GMT

Hi everyone. I really need to find a receiver and buy one quick. I'LL be using it for both home theatre and listening to music> I'm so broke it hurts so I'll need to spend less than 500 US and just want to get the most bang for my buck.

Can I please get some recommendations? I don't have much time so please don't fire too many questions back at me, just through something out there so I can start looking.

I greatly appreciate the help!

thanx

3 HDMI devices, 2 ports on the receiver

MilsurpShooter — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:53:36 GMT

Hello everyone, writing today in search of options and advice on how to go about this.

I've got an Onkyo TXSR605 receiver setup in my living room. Sony Bravia TV, Playstation 3 as my Blu-Ray and the HD Cable box.

Friend of mine recently moved in and she wants to hook up her X-box to the Television. I was against this because I don't particularly care for the X-Box but she's of course going to get her way lol.

Now on to the problem. My receiver has 2 HDMI ports in the back, one being occupied by the Playstation, one occupied by the HD Cable Box.

My Bravia TV has an extra HDMI input that is not being used but I don't know if I'd be able to hook it up to that but still get the sound out of the surround sound system. I've looked into some of the HDMI switchers but again, not sure if that would be the best option.

Any help would be appreciated

hw to get only bass through sub

vwboy69 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:36:12 GMT

my subwoofer is picking up mid bass,instead of just bass,how to i fix it,i tried hooking up a coil of wire my dad made for my car stereo sub to filter everythin except bass and that didnt work,and it gets worse the louder i turn up the volume