Configuring HT setup

[poncherelli2]

I moved into a new apt a few months back and am finally getting around to setting up my new HT system, but I'm looking for some advice as I'm rather clueless. My current setup involves a 20" crt and nothing else, so I'm pretty excited for the upgrade. I believe I have everything I should need (except cables).

On BF I bought a Panasonic TH-50PX77U 50" plasma. Its currently a few states away as I was visiting family over the holiday, but I'll be making a trip back for it soon.

I also have an Onkyo TX-DS595 receiver thats a few years old (and I've heard might have problems with Dolby Digital problems, at least a few years back)

For speakers I have 2 Klipsch Cornwalls (I believe CWIIs) and 4 Polk satellite speak speakers from some other set (one may be broken, I haven't tested yet).

I just recently bought an xbox 360 with HDMI for my dvd player (and may later add HDDVD) and plan on upgrading my RCN cable to an HD-DVR box soon.

I'm looking for advice on what cables to buy and how to go about connecting everything. Also, I would like suggestions on how to set everything up- the layout of the room is pretty simple looks something like this, where S= the big speakers right now (unconnected) and TV is where I plan on sticking the Plasma.

------------20ft--------------
______________________
|....Desk..........S...TV...S...|
|......................................
|......................................| 11ft
|......................................|
|__Desk_______ Couch __|
.................-------11ft------

 

[Exterous]

I am relatively new to this, but I'll give it a go. If the TV is a 720p TV you'll get pretty good picture out of component cables (red, green, blue) for any cable/sat hookup. You will want to run the HDMI cable from your Xbox to your tv for video and run a digital cable (optical or dig coax) to the receiver. IIRC the 360 has an optical output on the HD connectors.

Even when upgrading to an HD cable box I don't see that much benefit to HDMI cables since 1080i is the best I've ever seen come out of a cable box (but, like i said, I am kinda new to this)

With your new HD box, if they give you a digital coax output, you can use a yellow video cable to double as the digital coax cable to your receiver. Its not as good over long cable runs but it is better than a standard RCA connection.

I would say your standard speaker cables would be fine due to the distance and quality of the speakers

For hook up I would say surround speakers on either side of the couch and maybe one of the polk as a center (but it may not match the Klipsch speakers. You can do some tuning on your receiver but it may not be enough)

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I don't see why DD / DTS would be a problem with that Onkyo unless it doesn't perform to advertised features.

For the speakers, you'd probably want to consider getting a center to better match your nice Cornwalls like Exterous suggested, but the Polks should work just fine for now.

The Cornwalls are going to be much more sensitive than the Polks, so you'll have to make sure you set the levels on your Onkyo correctly so the center channel doesn't get completely overwhelmed by the sounds coming out of the Cornwalls.

As long as you have enough HDMI connections on your TV, your best bet is probably HDMI from all the sources that have that as an output.

Video should go from your sources to the TV and digital audio should be directed to the receiver.

Monoprice has inexpensive cables that should do everything you need them to do.

So you're looking for advice on how to connect things up specifically then?

And how to configure the receiver etc.?

 

[poncherelli2]

Onkyo DD Problem

This is what I was referring to, but I have no idea if its even applicable to my unit because I've never used a digital connection before.

My TV has 2 HDMI inputs that I assume I'll use- 1 for X360 1 for Cable box, and If I buy an HD player later, I'll bump the cable box over to a component connection. Since HDMI is audio+video, do I just run both into the tv and then run a single audio cable out of the tv and into the receiver or do I need to connect both devices to the receiver separately (since the receiver doesn't have HDMI input/output)?

Also, is a center speaker necessary and if so, what would be a good one for my setup? For that matter, do I need a sub, or will the woofers on the Klipschs be enough?

As far as the Polk (rear) channels, whats the best way to set them up? My couch is pushed back against the wall so I assume I'll have to mount them but where do I place them and what should I use to hang them? Also, whats the highest wire gauge you would recommend as it will be tricky running the wire to the rear and the thinnest wire would be easier to work with.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: poncherelli2
Onkyo DD Problem

This is what I was referring to, but I have no idea if its even applicable to my unit because I've never used a digital connection before.

My TV has 2 HDMI inputs that I assume I'll use- 1 for X360 1 for Cable box, and If I buy an HD player later, I'll bump the cable box over to a component connection. Since HDMI is audio+video, do I just run both into the tv and then run a single audio cable out of the tv and into the receiver or do I need to connect both devices to the receiver separately (since the receiver doesn't have HDMI input/output)?

Also, is a center speaker necessary and if so, what would be a good one for my setup? For that matter, do I need a sub, or will the woofers on the Klipschs be enough?

As far as the Polk (rear) channels, whats the best way to set them up? My couch is pushed back against the wall so I assume I'll have to mount them but where do I place them and what should I use to hang them? Also, whats the highest wire gauge you would recommend as it will be tricky running the wire to the rear and the thinnest wire would be easier to work with.

Bummer on the DD issue 🙁

I think you're probably going to have to send audio from each of your sources to the receiver rather than a single digital connection from the TV. It's possible that it might route digital audio from HDMI sources out the TV's digital audio output, but it might just be the digital tuner inside the TV that's capable of using the digital audio output.

If you get the HD-DVD player for your 360, that would eliminate the need for another HDMI connection.

On your typical DVD, maybe 70% of the sound is on the center track. That's not to say that a center speaker is necessary, but if you do have one, you want it to be a good one. If you don't want to use a center, you can set up your receiver to not have a center channel and your cornwalls will be used to play the "center" sound. It becomes an issue if you're not seated between the speakers (and thus they can't really give the illusion of a "phantom" center).

There are some guidelines to setting things up in the sticky thread I have at the top of this subforum. 16 or 18 gauge should be ok.

Is a subwoofer necessary? Well, your cornwalls should be better than most modern speakers at producing bass on their own, so it wouldn't be the end of the world to not have a sub, but if you're into a lot of action movies and such, then a sub could really help you out.

 

[poncherelli2]

Thanks for the help. I really don't understand the DD issue to be honest because I don't really know any of the sound formats- what exactly does that problem mean for me?

Upon further inspection of the Xbox, it looks like the component+digital audio adapter blocks part of the HDMI port, so I can only use one or the other. I'd like to use HDMI if possible, but that would prohibit me from running a separate audio cable to the receiver. Also, my only apprehension about the HD-DVD addon rather than a separate player is if the Xbox RRoDs, I won't have any player.

For the time being I think I'll have the Cornwalls be the "center" as the couch will be right between them. Do you have any recommendations regarding the rear speakers?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I don't know anything about the issue either. I guess just try it out and see if you have problems with it or not. If you do have major issues with it, then either getting it to be repaired or getting a new receiver (with HDMI audio?) would be an option.

I don't have an XBOX so I'm not sure on all the connectivity options for it. I thought it was possible to do HDMI video and digital optical audio output, but I've only actually used an XBOX 360 on my own system once with a friend and we used component / digital optical.

For the surrounds / rears, that's not as big a deal as the front speakers. If you already have the Polks, I'd say use those.

I'd worry about getting a center channel and a subwoofer before trying to upgrade the surrounds / rears.

 

[poncherelli2]

I guess I'll have to wait and see on the DD audio issue. Could I just use analog audio instead?

For the XBOX, the component+optical audio cable has this hulking adapter that covers half of the HDMI port, so it looks like its one or the other.

Regard the rears, I simply meant do you have any recommendations on position/methods for mounting? Is there some sort of speaker wallmount I should look for and just screw them into the wall? Thanks again for the help.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: poncherelli2
I guess I'll have to wait and see on the DD audio issue. Could I just use analog audio instead?

For the XBOX, the component+optical audio cable has this hulking adapter that covers half of the HDMI port, so it looks like its one or the other.

Regard the rears, I simply meant do you have any recommendations on position/methods for mounting? Is there some sort of speaker wallmount I should look for and just screw them into the wall? Thanks again for the help.

You could use analog audio, but if you're looking for a good surround experience, you're not going to get it that way. You could apply some sort of surround processing to the signal and get stuff playing off the surrounds / rears, but that's not really the best way to go.

For the rears, check out the sticky thread at the top of this subforum. I have links to Dolby's guidelines about surround vs. rear placement and general tips about height etc.

As for mounting options, there are wallmounts, but you should try to figure out how you're going to have them positioned first. If you're just going to go with a 4.0 setup, the surround speakers should be placed ~90-110 degrees off to the side on either side of the seating. With both surrounds and rears, the surrounds would continue to be to the sides of the seating, but the rears would be behind you.

Since you have a 5.1 receiver, you're going to just be using 4 speakers then, right?

 

[poncherelli2]

It'll definitely be 4.0 for now, maybe pick up a nice center when I get a little more money. I'd like to avoid a sub if I can, I'm hoping the cornwalls will have enough bass and I'm in a small apt anyway, so I really can't crank the system.

Edit: Read through your HT thread, looks like these surrounds will be interesting to place. My couch is in a corner (against the back wall and a side wall) and I really can't move it. So at best, I can have the surrounds at 90 degrees pointing down and at the couch from the ceiling or something.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Placement of the front two/three speakers is more critical than the placement for surrounds and there are even a couple different schools of thought about what surrounds should really sound like, so what you're planning should probably work just fine. Maybe play around with a couple different options back there and listen to them to decide what you like best for your permanent solution?