Computer Audio to Home Theater Receiver

[Mr Bob]

Ok, but the home theater system is a 6.1, not a 5.1, does that make a difference with this setup?

According to the manuf, it does have stereo analog inputs, http://www.kenwoodusa.com/prod...ice&productId=2618:
- Digital Audio Inputs: 2 Coaxial, 2 Optical, Assignable
- Front Panel AV/Aux Input: 1 Stereo Analog
- Front-Panel Game Audio Inputs: 1 Optical Digital, 1 Stereo Analog
- Headphone Jack
- Preouts: Subwoofer/SurrBackL/SurrBackR
- Stereo Analog Audio Inputs: 6 (Total)

Thanks for your help with this. Now I must ask, how do I set everything up?

I have the following:
- TV (only one connection for cable)
- Cox Digital Cable Box
- VCR (not needed to be included, but if it makes things easier I can include it)
- DVD (seems to come with a DVD player)
- Computer (Which I use the miniplug-to-2RCA cable)

Right now I have my Cable box hooked up to the tv, the VCR is never used, nor hooked up. The computer I think would be simple to hook up, but I am mainly concerned about the tv/cable box/dvd player.

Do I conntact the TV to the Cable Box, then Cable Box to the receiver? If so, what cables do I use? What connections on the back of the Cabl Box do I look for?

Thanks

 

[JonnyBlaze]

Yes, for DVDs because they have pre-encoded Dolby Digital data that the sound chip/card passes through as-is. Right now, no sound card / chip except nf2 SoundStorm can do real-time Dolby Digital encoding, so only stereo is sent through the digital cable for games.

most good receivers have 6ch inputs. so you just output from your 3 headphone jacks to the receiver.

JB

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Mr Bob
Ok, but the home theater system is a 6.1, not a 5.1, does that make a difference with this setup?

According to the manuf, it does have stereo analog inputs, http://www.kenwoodusa.com/prod...ice&productId=2618:
- Digital Audio Inputs: 2 Coaxial, 2 Optical, Assignable
- Front Panel AV/Aux Input: 1 Stereo Analog
- Front-Panel Game Audio Inputs: 1 Optical Digital, 1 Stereo Analog
- Headphone Jack
- Preouts: Subwoofer/SurrBackL/SurrBackR
- Stereo Analog Audio Inputs: 6 (Total)

Now *I'm* confused. You have two ways to possibly connect the computer to the receiver.

1) Use stero minijack->RCA (what the receiver description calls "stereo analog") splitters to send the analog out from your sound card to the receiver. Unless your receiver has a 5.1 analog input (used normally for DVD-Audio), you will only get stereo sound like this.

2) If you have a sound card or motherboard with an optical/digital coax output built in, and the receiver supports it, you can use an optical (TOSLINK) or digital coax cable to send the audio from the computer to the receiver. Unless you have an Nforce2 motherboard with NVIDIA's "SoundStorm" chip built in, you will only get stereo sound when playing games, but will get 5.1 DD audio when watching a DVD (or other sources with pre-encoded DD 5.1).

Thanks for your help with this. Now I must ask, how do I set everything up?

I have the following:
- TV (only one connection for cable)
- Cox Digital Cable Box
- VCR (not needed to be included, but if it makes things easier I can include it)
- DVD (seems to come with a DVD player)
- Computer (Which I use the miniplug-to-2RCA cable)

Right now I have my Cable box hooked up to the tv, the VCR is never used, nor hooked up. The computer I think would be simple to hook up, but I am mainly concerned about the tv/cable box/dvd player.

Do I conntact the TV to the Cable Box, then Cable Box to the receiver? If so, what cables do I use? What connections on the back of the Cabl Box do I look for?

Thanks

I dunno. Hook it up however you want. I would suggest plugging everything into the receiver, and using that to control the volume (there's usually a monitor out you could run to the TV if you want to be able to use its speakers to listen more quietly).

Pretty much everything uses regular RCA audio jacks. It should be *very* obvious where to plug everything in.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Ok, but the home theater system is a 6.1, not a 5.1, does that make a difference with this setup?

Nope. the digital inputs work the same either way.

If the receiver had analog inputs for surround gaming there would be one extra RCA connector for the sixth channel (back-middle), you would ignore that. But the receiver only accepts digital for surround (plus stereo analog inputs) so that doesn't matter.

The cable box should have 2 RCA plugs for sound (red, white, "audio L R"), and probably another RCA plug for composite video (yellow if color-coded). You can use a patch cable to send just the audio to the receiver.

If you wanted to use the VCR, you would attach all 3 connectors (L, R, video) to the back of it, then send its L,R audio out to the receiver. You'd send its video out to either the receiver (if it has video switching) or directly to the TV.

There are actually several ways you can attach everything together -- for example like this:

cable box -> (stereo + video) -> VCR -> (stereo + video) -> receiver -> (video only) -> TV

-or (not using VCR) -

cable box -> (video) -> TV
cable box -> (stereo) -> receiver

(when buying RCA patch cords, you might need 1 or 2 of the 3-connector ("AV" stereo L/R + composite video) ones)

 

[Mr Bob]

Thanks for the replies again.

I found a 5.1 home theater pack at Amazon.com, but they did not have a 6.1 (which is what I need). Can you suggest a pack I should get for the cables/wires? Or should I just buy everything separate?

As far as hooking things up, do you mean:
not using VCR-
Cable box (coaxal cable) to tv
cable box - using 2 rca L/R - to receiver

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Mr Bob
I found a 5.1 home theater pack at Amazon.com, but they did not have a 6.1 (which is what I need). Can you suggest a pack I should get for the cables/wires? Or should I just buy everything separate?

That's probably for hooking up a DVD player, and your home theater package should already include the cables for its DVD player.

As far as hooking things up, do you mean:
not using VCR-
Cable box (coaxal cable) to tv
cable box - using 2 rca L/R - to receiver

That will work too, but a yellow composite video RCA cable will probably give a clearer picture from a digital cable box than the coax "channel 3 RF" signal.

You could also do this (like I said, many ways to hook things up)
Cable box -> (3 RCA: audio L/R + composite video) -> receiver -> (1 RCA yellow composite video) -> TV

You can buy video patch cords (1 - RCA), stereo patch cords (2 RCA L/R), or AV patch cords will all 3 connectors. Cost for 6' - 10' cables should be $4-10 for all 3 types, no good reason to spend more.

 

[Mr Bob]

I have a 42" TV, but it lacks a lot of features! It is an Admiral, and the only buttons/imputs it has are:
Power, volume, channel, front video/audio IN, and a coax in the rear.

Are you saying I can use the video/audio in?

Also, what is the exact name of the cable I will need for the cable box to tv (assuming I use the audio/video IN), and same for the cable to receiver?

 

[Gamingphreek]

No, not really.... are you sure that is all thats back there. I have a VERY hardtime believing that a 42" TV has only 1 set of analog A/V jacks. Is there any way you can provide pictures of the TV, or at least a link to the TV?

You keep saying you need 6.1. Why?? You will probably not notice any difference over 5.1 and it will cosst you more money. Also you say you want to do this because you have never done it before. Why dont you just stay not doing it and get a pair of computer speakers for the computer. It is not going to sound as good as you are thinking it will. Remember it is only going to output Stereo (2Spkr) surround meaning it will do 1 of two things.

It will either delay some noises coming in the front speakers.

Or it will clone the speakers making all the noises coming from each of the speakers the exact same noise.

THe only way to avoid this is to use an Nforce 2 motherboard with soundstorm as it is the ONLY solution capable of encoding in 5.1 in realtime (ie: a game).

-Kevin

 

[DaveSimmons]

You can buy video patch cords (1 - RCA), stereo patch cords (2 RCA L/R), or AV patch cords will all 3 connectors. Cost for 6' - 10' cables should be $4-10 for all 3 types, no good reason to spend more.

Here's the ASIN at Amazon of a cable with all 3: ASIN: B000237828

Look that up, look at the picture and text, then search to find a cheaper version.

Because your DVD has video out too, you would need to use one of the 3-connector cables above from the cable box to the receiver, then just a yellow cable from the receiver to the front video in on the TV ("Composite video with RCA connectors").

 

[Mr Bob]

So basically I need an RCA cable - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi...28/104-6231166-3708752 - which will be used for the tv to cable box. Then an RCA l/r cable for the cable box to receiver?

The TV is ratehr old, so I am pretty sure they have discontinued it by now. I did turn it around and look again, there stil is just the single coax cable in the back...

I thought it was pretty lame, but not much I can do about it...

 

[DaveSimmons]

remember you need to get the video from the DVD player to the TV too.

This is just the video, let's try to settle it first OK?

(a)
Use coax from cable box to back of TV (channel 3, a little fuzzy)
Use RCA yellow from DVD to front of TV

(b)
Use RCA yellow from cable box to receiver
Use RCA yellow from DVD to receiver
Use RCA yellow from receiver to front of TV

Your home theater box comes with 1 RCA yellow cable, so you need to buy 0 more (a) or 2 more (b). FYI, Buy.com definitely has AV cables under $10.

 

[Mr Bob]

Ok, that is easy to understand! Thanks for laying it out.

This will give me: Video for DVD and Cable (which will be shown on my TV), correct?

So far I will have, or currently have: 2 coax cables (wall to cable box, cable box to tv), 1 RCA yellow (dvd to tv).

 

[DaveSimmons]

This will give me: Video for DVD and Cable (which will be shown on my TV), correct?

So far I will have, or currently have: 2 coax cables (wall to cable box, cable box to tv), 1 RCA yellow (dvd to tv).

Yep, now for audio:

Use 2 RCA (left &amp; right, usually red &amp; white) from DVD to receiver <-- already in your HT package

must buy these:
Use 2 RCA from cable box to receiver
Use miniplug-to-2 RCA from PC to receiver (for over 3 feet need either (a) another 2 RCA patch cable and the adapter thing, (b) or a miniplug extension cable (male miniplug one end, miniplug socket other end)

no need to connect audio to the TV.

You can buy these at Radio Shack, Buy.com, cyberguys.com, or probably Amazon.com

 

[Mr Bob]

Thanks man, you are awesome. I am going out to dinner, but will make my purchase tonight.

I have all the cables I need to buy, I have the HT picked out. I think I am ready to buy. Just wanted to make sure you do not see anything wrong with buying this http://www.etronics.com/produc...;catid=4221&amp;store=

 

[DaveSimmons]

It looks good for the price, but without reading some reviews I can't say for sure. Kenwood is a decent company (I have a decade-old Kenwood receiver in my home office) so it should be better than a KLH or MagnetBox.

 

[Mr Bob]

Ok I am back here, and my speakers work great. I did notice I have to turn up the volume for listening to the audio on my computer.

I do have a couple more questions.

Let me start with my system and current setup.

Admiral TV - (Has Video/Audio IN only) - Very cheap TV, around 7 years old
Scientific Atlanta - Cox Digital Cable Box - (Has S- Video Out, Video Out, L/R Audio Out, Digital Audio Out, Cable Out, Cable In)
Receiver: Denon AVR485S
Speakers: Infinity Primus TP 5.1 Surround
Sub: Infinity PS8

Everything is plugged in, and works! Here is my current configuration:

TV has a Video In that is coming from the receiver.
Cable Box has Cable in (coming from the wall), Video Out (going to the receiver), L/R Audio Out (going to the receiver).
Computer Stereo Output jack to L/R Aux In on Receiver.
Sub connected to receiver using 2-RCA cable connection that only uses one of the two cords.
Cheap Radio Shack 16 gauge speaker wire

I have about no more money left to spend on the system, so I am using some cheap RCA cables to connect everything, and my speakers wires currently do not have tips.

I was thinking to myself, what is next to do to my system?

First, I would like to know if everything is setup fine. I was not quite sure why I would use "Digital Audio Out" from my Cable Box to Audio In on Receiver, compared to just using the L/R (red/white) RCA cable to Receiver. Is that just the difference between a 1-RCA cable vs a 2-RCA cable? Basically the same sound quality, just a little cleaner with the cables?

Also, (S-Video Out vs RCA Video Out) to receiver. Which one is best to use?

As far as what to do next, should I get a true sub woofer cable? Should I get wire tips?

I thought about getting Monster Cable 124630 Monster Cable Standard® THX® Certified 16-FT RCA SUBWOOFER CABLE and
Monster Cable THX-GP Gold-Plated Speaker Connectors. Should I do this as a small next step? If so, where is the least expensive place to buy? Seems like these prices at buy.com are actually pretty decent.

Are these the wire tips that I should get? Also, what is involved in seting up the wire tips? Do I basically just put it over the wire (right now the wires are just placed inside the receiver without using a nice connector)?

Lastly, I paid a total, with tax $828 for the entire system. How well did I do? I was looking at "Kenwood HTB-S715DV DVD Fineline Home Theater System" for awhile, but decided to go for a real home theater system, was this a mistake?

Sorry about the messy links, fortunately I am not a spammer, but this forum will not allow me to post a real URL just yet.

I look forward to your advice.

 

[DaveSimmons]

>> I was not quite sure why I would use "Digital Audio Out" from my Cable Box to Audio In on Receiver, compared to just using the L/R (red/white) RCA cable to Receiver

It's possible some cable content might have true dolby 5.1 sound in addition to stereo or Dolby Pro Logic (which works fine through the analog cables you have now).

>> S-Video Out vs RCA Video Out to receiver. Which one is best to use?

If your TV has S-Video in, then S-Video is better. If it just has the RCA yellow in there is no point.

I thought about getting Monster Cable 124630 Monster Cable Standard® THX® Certified 16-FT RCA SUBWOOFER CABLE and
Monster Cable THX-GP Gold-Plated Speaker Connectors. Should I do this as a small next step?

None of this will improve your sound. There is no difference between using half of a L/R pair vs. a "subwoofer" cable. Monster cable does not sound any better than a $5 no-name cable.

>> I was looking at "Kenwood HTB-S715DV DVD Fineline Home Theater System" for awhile, but decided to go for a real home theater system, was this a mistake?

No! better receiver, speakers and a real sub all were worth paying for, unlike overpriced Monster cable.

Since you got the Denon, does it have the analog 5.1 / 6.1 input I mentioned earlier? If so, buying a couple more miniplug-to-2 RCA would let you play games and DVDs in surround sound from your PC.

Also, try increasing the set volume on the PC a little, then you won't have to turn up the receiver so much. It's often best to keep the PC volume a little below the maximum though, or you may get more noise or distortion.

 

[Mr Bob]

Thanks for the reply Dave.

I am almost 99% sure that my TV does not have S-Video In. It would take around 10 minutes to find out, and I would rather just use the RCA cable. The tv is a very old CRT TV from a company that kind of sucks, so it never had that great of a picture to begin with.

Since you got the Denon, does it have the analog 5.1 / 6.1 input I mentioned earlier? If so, buying a couple more miniplug-to-2 RCA would let you play games and DVDs in surround sound from your PC.
- Yes it does, I have a mini-plug to 2 RCA cable that goes from my computer to AUX. It shows up Analog, but it uses the PLII, so far it doesn't sound quite as good as what the DVD player uses, but it does have surround sound. I guess it just isn't "digital" then?

Also, try increasing the set volume on the PC a little, then you won't have to turn up the receiver so much. It's often best to keep the PC volume a little below the maximum though, or you may get more noise or distortion.
- Thanks, that helps a bit.

Should I use speaker wire tips? Or is it not worth the $16? I am borrowing a DVD player right now, but I plan to get a Progressive DVD for around $60 in a few months.

 

[DaveSimmons]

>> Since you got the Denon, does it have the analog 5.1 / 6.1 input I mentioned earlier? If so, buying a couple more miniplug-to-2 RCA would let you play games and DVDs in surround sound from your PC.

- Yes it does, I have a mini-plug to 2 RCA cable that goes from my computer to AUX. It shows up Analog, but it uses the PLII, so far it doesn't sound quite as good as what the DVD player uses, but it does have surround sound. I guess it just isn't "digital" then?

Your PC is probably just sending a 2-channel stereo signal for games, the Pro Logic II is faking the surround channels.

Your motherboard has 2 more miniplug jacks, one sends the surround left, right and one sends the center channel and subwoofer / low frequency channel (the .1 in 5.1). Your manual should explain how to use the analog 6-channel output. But if you're happy with the current sound there's no need to do this.

>> speaker tips

They have no effect on sound quality, so they're only worth $16 if you can't stand the thought of using bare wires.

 

[Mr Bob]

Your PC is probably just sending a 2-channel stereo signal for games, the Pro Logic II is faking the surround channels.
- That is most likely what is happening.

I am not quite sure what cable I should use for my PC, I thought the miniplug one is the one I wanted? Do you mean I need two more miniplug-to-2 rca cables? Where would I plug them in at on my receiver? My receiver does an EXT IN that has a setup like this: (red/white)
FR FL
SW C
SR SL

Do I use these for the PC?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Mr Bob
Do you mean I need two more miniplug-to-2 rca cables? Where would I plug them in at on my receiver? My receiver does an EXT IN that has a setup like this: (red/white)
FR FL
SW C
SR SL

Do I use these for the PC?

Yes 2 more plus the one you have now (3 total)
FR, FL = front right-left (what you're sending now to the Aux)
SW, C = subwoofer, center
SR, SL = surround right-left

You need to look up in the mobo manual where to plug the 2 more miniplugs (which is SW,C which is SR,SL) and how to tell the audio drivers to send 6-channel sound instead of 2.

Then on the receiver you have to tell it what to map the EXT IN to, it's probably set to DVD now. Or leave it as DVD and change the mapping for the digital in the DVD is hooked to so it is mapped to VIDEO 1 or something like that.

 

[Mr Bob]

omg that sounds so amazing!

I can really tell the difference between the radio, and a a dvd on my computer. Do you have any suggestions for getting better quality radio? The ant. is setup about as high as it can go, but it is not true surround sound, I think PLII kicks in to get the surround sound.

But this computer sounds so good, I am very happy that I did not go buy the logitech speakers just for my computer.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Are you getting static? If not, that's as good as radio is going to sound -- radio is just stereo, and audio quality is worse than even 128 kbps MP3.

If you have cable/DSL:
* My brother says there are some good free internet radio stations that the free Apple iTunes software plays
* for $10/month you can get Napster Premium and legally play unlimited 128 kbps WMA files of thousands of CDs from your PC, quality is a good step up from radio. Real has their similar Rhapsody service.

I have Napster myself and it works pretty well, both for general listening and for trying CDs before I buy them.

If I really like a CD, I buy it and rip it to lossless FLAC format (about 300 MB of disk space) to play from my music server box. That's overkill for most people, but I take my music seriously

 

[Mr Bob]

but I take my music seriously
- I bet, sounds like you know your stuff very well.

The only thing I am still not quite sure about:

>> I was not quite sure why I would use "Digital Audio Out" from my Cable Box to Audio In on Receiver, compared to just using the L/R (red/white) RCA cable to Receiver
It's possible some cable content might have true dolby 5.1 sound in addition to stereo or Dolby Pro Logic (which works fine through the analog cables you have now).

- Right now my receiver shows my cable box is using stereo (the l/r audio out), if I use the Digital Audio Out, will that contain the 5.1 surround sound? Did you mean that I need a cable that supports the 5.1 surround? Where would I find that cable?

About the subwoofer stuff, a few people have mentioned I will get more crisp bass by getting one of a higher end Monster Cable SW Cables. Is this just another salesman pitch? Kind of sounded like a guy from Best Buy.

The Digital Audio Out on my cable box is much like #4 of this

Also, my current configuration uses the #8 for Audio.

 

[DaveSimmons]

About the subwoofer stuff, a few people have mentioned I will get more crisp bass by getting one of a higher end Monster Cable SW Cables. Is this just another salesman pitch? Kind of sounded like a guy from Best Buy.

No, the ads for these super-cables point to differences in materials and construction, but never bother to tell you that none of these differences actually affect the sound if your existing cable works properly. It's a waste of money.

The only thing I am still not quite sure about:
>> I was not quite sure why I would use "Digital Audio Out" from my Cable Box to Audio In on Receiver, compared to just using the L/R (red/white) RCA cable to Receiver
It's possible some cable content might have true dolby 5.1 sound in addition to stereo or Dolby Pro Logic (which works fine through the analog cables you have now).
- Right now my receiver shows my cable box is using stereo (the l/r audio out), if I use the Digital Audio Out, will that contain the 5.1 surround sound? Did you mean that I need a cable that supports the 5.1 surround? Where would I find that cable?

The Digital Audio Out on my cable box is much like #4 of this

Also, my current configuration uses the #8 for Audio.

That looks like the same kind of digital out as a DVD player (looks like coax digital), so it would use the same cable. FYI, a yellow video RCA cable can be used in place of a true "coax digital" cable (but not the red, white audio RCA cables).

Using the digital cable might give you slighlty cleaner sound, and it might give you 5.1 sound in some programs, but only for the programs where the cable company is sending a 5.1 signal -- I'd guess most of the programming will only have a 2-channel stereo signal.

Before you buy Monster cables, here's one link I found via a Google search of "monster cable placebo effect": speaker wire doesn't matter unless it's the wrong gage