certain questuon regarding setting up my avr

[sand87]

hi,
am a newbie.got a few questions.mine is a yamaha rxv-685 that came in today and my speakers are polk S20.i only have these 2 speakers as of now.my ques and doubts are as follows:-
1. if i want to connect my fire stick to the tv hdmi port and then just take the output sound to the rx-685 how can i do that?
I asked this coz the booklet just shows how to connect all these to inputs and give one final output to the tv earc hdmi.

2. there are two outs for front presence speakers.can i connect or should i even connect my front speakers here??

 

[BMXTRIX]

1. You can connect your Firestick to any input on your TV. If your TV has a HDMI (ARC) connection, then you should use that connection between the Yamaha and your TV. Then plug your Firestick into ANY other HDMI input on the TV. Let's say your TV is setup this way:
HDMI 1 (ARC)
HDMI 2
HDMI 3

Plug your firestick into HDMI 2. Plug the Yamaha into HDMI 1 (ARC)
Turn the TV on, and put it on HDMI 2.
Turn on the Yamaha.
If things work right, which they sometimes do, the Yamaha will automatically know to use the audio return channel (ARC) from the TV for audio playback.
If this does NOT work, then you may want to hook an optical audio cable from the TV into one of the inputs of the Yamaha. That's a different discussion.

As a follow up question: You could just hook the Firestick up directly to the Yamaha and then turn on the Yamaha to the proper input and leave your TV on HDMI 1 all the time. This is what their own manual recommends that you do. It does require that the Yamaha be powered on and switched to the proper input every time, but that can be handled by a $50 universal remote.

2. Front presence speakers are NOT what you have. You have your main Front Left and Front Right speakers. That's where you hook up your speakers. Presence speakers are for sound effects in movies and are part of a larger 5.1.2 type of setup (or similar).

Back of your product I believe:

 

[Trebdp83]

Turning HDMI-CEC on in all of the devices should, in a perfect world, make everything work automatically. So, activating the Firestick would turn on the TV and receiver and the receiver would switch to the TV input to play the audio coming from ARC if the Firestick is connected directly to the TV. Don't forget to configure your speakers in the receiver. Telling it you only have two front speakers and no subwoofer will probably result in it forcing a Large speaker setting. Lie to it and say you have a subwoofer. You can then change the front speaker setting to small so that you can adjust the crossover settings. Set your crossover so that the number does not go lower than your speakers' low rating. Some would say to set a crossover of 50hz for a speaker that has a bottom rating of 40hz. If you like it loud, you don't want to hurt your speakers before you can get a subwoofer into your system. I could be giving you some bad advice here, but there are many folk here who can help you.

 

[sand87]

my speakers sound too dull.the sound is clear but clearly somethings missing.have to maybe manually adjust the settings.too many and dont know where to start with the equalizer

 

[sand87]

Turning HDMI-CEC on in all of the devices should, in a perfect world, make everything work automatically. So, activating the Firestick would turn on the TV and receiver and the receiver would switch to the TV input to play the audio coming from ARC if the Firestick is connected directly to the TV. Don't forget to configure your speakers in the receiver. Telling it you only have two front speakers and no subwoofer will probably result in it forcing a Large speaker setting. Lie to it and say you have a subwoofer. You can then change the front speaker setting to small so that you can adjust the crossover settings. Set your crossover so that the number does not go lower than your speakers' low rating. Some would say to set a crossover of 50hz for a speaker that has a bottom rating of 40hz. If you like it loud, you don't want to hurt your speakers before you can get a subwoofer into your system. I could be giving you some bad advice here, but there are many folk here who can help you.

well the subwoofer part helped a lot.cool.need to do some more setting probably.may take time but isnt that the fun.to find that sweet spot which one can enjoy and get lost in the music

 

[Trebdp83]

Yup. I'm always tinkering with settings on my setup. It usually happens after reading posts from this joint and I wonder if I missed something in my own system. These guys are a bad influence in a good way.

 

[lovinthehd]

Until you get more speakers stick to Left and Right! You need a sub with those speakers IMO, too. I just use my firestick directly into the back of my avr as I find ARC too full of weirdness and if you're not using tv apps then ARC is pointless.

 

[Pogre]

Agree. I would (I did) plug the FireTV into one of the AVR inputs then from the AVR out to the tv. Works great and I don't have to fool with ARC issues, which sometimes pop up.

 

[Pogre]

Turning HDMI-CEC on in all of the devices should, in a perfect world, make everything work automatically. So, activating the Firestick would turn on the TV and receiver and the receiver would switch to the TV input to play the audio coming from ARC if the Firestick is connected directly to the TV. Don't forget to configure your speakers in the receiver. Telling it you only have two front speakers and no subwoofer will probably result in it forcing a Large speaker setting. Lie to it and say you have a subwoofer. You can then change the front speaker setting to small so that you can adjust the crossover settings. Set your crossover so that the number does not go lower than your speakers' low rating. Some would say to set a crossover of 50hz for a speaker that has a bottom rating of 40hz. If you like it loud, you don't want to hurt your speakers before you can get a subwoofer into your system. I could be giving you some bad advice here, but there are many folk here who can help you.

I've always seen to double the FR of your speakers to figure for a crossover point. So a FR of 50 hz = 100 hz crossover, but I don't think that's quite right across the board and more a rule of thumb. I've used 80 hz crossover with 45 - 50 hz speakers and gotten good performance.

 

[Pogre]

my speakers sound too dull.the sound is clear but clearly somethings missing.have to maybe manually adjust the settings.too many and dont know where to start with the equalizer

Lots of things to consider for better sound for sure! There were a couple of eye openers for me that I learned along the way that surprised me. Proper setup (speaker placement and toe in) and properly running room correction make a big difference. Speaker placement and your room has WAY more effect than I thought it did. Not up against any walls, in cubby holes or corners. Speakers like to have some space to breathe.

Subwoofage. It's more than thump and thickness. If you pick the right sub and set it up properly it can elevate your whole system. I think good subs are almost equally as important as your speaker choice. Those are the 3 biggest impacters to your sound. Speakers, room, subwoofer. If you send your bass to a sub or 2 then your main speakers can focus on the frequencies they're good at. My experience was that they sounded cleaner and could play louder when I got the right subs. I'd never go back, and I'm a music first guy too.

You might not necessarily need a huge sub, just a god one. Size is dependant on how big your room and any space open to it is.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

So where did you hook them up? Left and Right? I hope.

 

[Trebdp83]

See, post and they will come. But, if Danzilla31 shows up, duck. Same here for devices to AVR then out to TV. ARC and HDMI-CEC are still messy. I fought with HDMI-CEC and ARC for a couple of years on my system before it all finally worked correctly. That doesn’t mean it is very reliable though. Smart TV’s want to be the hub. TV manufacturers want you to buy their sound bar and be done with it. They would be more successful as a hub if they had more HDMI inputs, if built in apps were better and lossless audio could pass over ARC. They are getting there. No two systems are alike so experiment, tinker and test to your heart’s and ears’ delight. Oh, and get a sub or two.

 

[sand87]

1. You can connect your Firestick to any input on your TV. If your TV has a HDMI (ARC) connection, then you should use that connection between the Yamaha and your TV. Then plug your Firestick into ANY other HDMI input on the TV. Let's say your TV is setup this way:
HDMI 1 (ARC)
HDMI 2
HDMI 3

Plug your firestick into HDMI 2. Plug the Yamaha into HDMI 1 (ARC)
Turn the TV on, and put it on HDMI 2.
Turn on the Yamaha.
If things work right, which they sometimes do, the Yamaha will automatically know to use the audio return channel (ARC) from the TV for audio playback.
If this does NOT work, then you may want to hook an optical audio cable from the TV into one of the inputs of the Yamaha. That's a different discussion.

As a follow up question: You could just hook the Firestick up directly to the Yamaha and then turn on the Yamaha to the proper input and leave your TV on HDMI 1 all the time. This is what their own manual recommends that you do. It does require that the Yamaha be powered on and switched to the proper input every time, but that can be handled by a $50 universal remote.

2. Front presence speakers are NOT what you have. You have your main Front Left and Front Right speakers. That's where you hook up your speakers. Presence speakers are for sound effects in movies and are part of a larger 5.1.2 type of setup (or similar).

Back of your product I believe:

ok.so plugging the firestick to hdmi2 and using arc hdmi port didnt quite work out.maybe i need that optical out cable

 

[Trebdp83]

Using optical will work fine until you get more speakers and want better audio. Then, you would want to connect the Firestick directly to the receiver.

 

[Pogre]

ok.so plugging the firestick to hdmi2 and using arc hdmi port didnt quite work out.maybe i need that optical out cable

Or just go Firestick to one of your AVR HDMI inputs, then out from AVR to TV. Boom. Done.

 

[Trebdp83]

Yeah, boom. I don’t remember if he is using his TV’s tuner or apps. He may still need the optical cable after connecting the Firestick to the receiver. He may also need to be compelled to connect the Firestick to the receiver. “It puts the Firestick into the receiver or it gets the hose!” Yikes, I woke up too early.

 

[Pogre]

Yeah, boom. I don’t remember if he is using his TV’s tuner or apps. He may still need the optical cable after connecting the Firestick to the receiver. He may also need to be compelled to connect the Firestick to the receiver. “It puts the Firestick into the receiver or it gets the hose!” Yikes, I woke up too early.

Well, we know he's not using his TV's FireTV app!

But yeah, if using the TV apps then optical or beating ARC into submission would be the way a to go. I don't use any of my TV apps and do all my switching through my avr.

 

[Trebdp83]

The last time I beat something into submission it cost me extra. I haven't found one streamer to rule them all and I switch between the TV apps, the Apple TV apps and the receiver's apps. Oh well, I can't find one good all around grocery store, either.

 

[sand87]

currently i have connected firestick to av receiver and then taking output to earc port on TV.Wanted to connect the firestick to TV to allow it to handle the picture than the AVR nd get the sound from the tv to the AVR

 

[Pogre]

currently i have connected firestick to av receiver and then taking output to earc port on TV.Wanted to connect the firestick to TV to allow it to handle the picture than the AVR nd get the sound from the tv to the AVR

I think the video signal is just passed through the AVR so your tv should still be doing the processing. Not my area of expertise tho, so I could be wrong. I've never really worried about it tho.