5.1 without ARC in TV

[yaziron]

Hi all,

I got my first system set up (entry level, but okay for my budget I think) .. Pioneer VSX-523-K receiver, Pioneer SP-FS52 towers, Pioneer SP-C22 center, and the house I bought came pre-wired with surrounds in the ceiling (not sure what brand though). I have connected my Tivo and my Panasonic blu-ray to the reciever via HDMI, with the HDMI out from the reciever to my 50" Panasonic plasma HDMI in. Reading the AVR manual, I need ARC to get my 5.1 sound back from the TV HDMI to the receiver. My Panasonic plasma does not have ARC, only HDMI 1.3. So, my question is, should I run just plain ole RCA from the TV outs to the analog ins on the reciever, or one of the digital outs (TOSlink/coax/etc). Obviously, the sound has been decoded in the receiver at this point (which I am assuming the reciever's DAC is better than the Blu-Ray players or Tivos), but without the ARC I can't get the surround over HDMI back to the receiver. I am basically asking if, at this point in the system (after all decoding, etc), if there is any sound difference between RCA and TOSLink? Isn't it all analog at this point anyway?

Any yes, I know, I did not list a sub in my specs above. That's because me no have one!*!#@$ That's probably my next purchase but would need to stay under a $100 probably. Won't the woofers in my towers do okay for the time being?

Finally, are there any just basic cd players anymore? I want to listen to full, uncompressed music and you about have to rip a CD to a USB drive anymore since I don't have a cd player. I want to spend $30 on just a good ole fashioned cd player but so far haven't had any luck finding one, no one carries them in favor of mp3 ... I haven't checked Wal-Mart or Target yet...

Thanks all!!!

Yazzy

 

[yaziron]

Silly me! I just realized that neither my TV nor the receiver have all the RCA jacks necessary to get all 6 channels of surround, so my only option is the digital out. Thanks Yaz for asking a question before doing all your own homework

Still, just for my own knowledge sake, if the TV and receiver had the necessary ins and outs, could one just run RCA instead of the digital outs and still get surround since at that point all the decoding has been done ? I believe you can but just wanted someone else's opinion before I go spouting "facts" that I don't know are true!

Thanks again all!

 

[Adam]

Hi, Yaz. Some thoughts/comments:

• If the TV had 5.1 analog audio outputs, and your receiver had 5.1 analog audio inputs, then yes - you could get surround sound from the TV in that fashion.
• Are you using the TV's built-in tuner at all, say for OTA broadcasts or cable TV? If you aren't, and if you are only listening to your Tivo and blu-ray player, then you don't need any audio connection between the TV and your receiver. ARC is only for when the TV is producing audio, and it allows you to not have to run that one extra audio cable (normally an optical digital cable).
• There certainly can be a difference between analog RCA and toslink - toslink is not analog. I say that because you make a statement above about them both being analog. If you use analog audio connections, then the source (your TV in this example) is doing the digital-to-analog conversion. If you use a digital connection (like toslink), then your receiver is doing the digital-to-analog conversion. Which is better, if either, will depend on the performance of the DACs in those two components, as well as the impact of any signal interference/loss over the analog cables (you'd be hard pressed to get signal degradation over a digital line until you go to longer lengths of cable).

 

[Swerd]

Adam is right. Your receiver already has audio from the Tivo and BR player via the HDMI connections. If you are using the TV's built-in tuner, and want that audio to go to the receiver, your best choice is digital by either toslink (optical digital) or coaxial (electronic digital).

Finally, are there any just basic cd players anymore? I want to listen to full, uncompressed music and you about have to rip a CD to a USB drive anymore since I don't have a cd player. I want to spend $30 on just a good ole fashioned cd player but so far haven't had any luck finding one, no one carries them in favor of mp3 ... I haven't checked Wal-Mart or Target yet...

There should be no reason why you can't play a CD on your Blue Ray player. The receiver's DAC should (I haven't read the manual to be certain) get the digital signal via the HDMI connection, and handle the rest internally.

Basic inexpensive CD players have disappeared from today's market. Only the overpriced so-called high-end CD players remain, and their value and improved performance is questionable.

If you must have a separate player for CDs, look for inexpensive basic DVD players, either new or used.

Won't the woofers in my towers do okay for the time being?

The woofers in your towers may do for the time being, but probably less than OK for movie audio. A subwoofer will be noticeably better than the bass out put from those towers.

 

[yaziron]

Swerd, thanks for the info on the cd players. I didn't realize that a blu ray player would play audio only cds,although it kind of makes sense. I just like the idea of having the full, original audio content over the compressed version (I guess I am OCD or something). As to the ARC question I posted earlier, I got to wondering why I would need to pass the audio back from the TV after it has already been passed to the receiver (i.e., why would the receiver get rid of the signals it wants only to want them back), but I didn't think about that until after I posted the above and was talking to someone at work about my "problems" (not the mental ones, the audio ones). I think I read the idea of ARC, jumped to conclusions that I need it, and then posted here about it without really understanding. I am sorry for that. However, I jumped to that conclusion based on the fact that I hooked my system up last night and was only getting weak sound from the towers and no other speakers. I didn't get much chance to play with it since everyone was already asleep, but I am hoping that the reciever came defaulted to stereo instead of surround and that is why I didn't hear surround. I was only watching my Tivo (Sportscenter), will that output in surround or do I need to take a test drive with a blu ray? Ultimately, I need to configure the receiver, but I was just curious if anyone knew off the top of their heads.

 

[yaziron]

Well, this may not matter to anyone, but I just took the system for a test ride with The Dark Knight.... WOW!!! I am pretty happy, everything works, the towers sound phenomenal. I definitely need a sub, but you can certainly feel the explosions at the beginning, shook the upstairs. Anyway, probably not the right place to comment on this, but I wanted to share my joy with me friends here as the only comment my wife had was "Turn it Down! You are shaking the upstairs!" Ha
!