M
Midnight Rider
Audiophyte
After years of only having a two speaker stereo system, consisting of an old Yamaha Natural Sound Amp, FM Tuner, Bose 301 speakers (on the wall) and an Onkyo CD Player, I am finally going to put in a HT system. We are moving into my wife's home (recently married) which consists of a large living room/den (or whatever you want to call it) about 18 X 22 feet that will be used as the TV/Music room. The room has a rather tall cathedral ceiling (house built in the late 70's). For now, I am forced to use my entertainment center w/ bookshelves on either side...the center piece will only accomodate a 32" TV, so I have a 7 year old Sony Bravia. That, along with a TV stand, will be upgraded later...I have to do this in stages, as we are retired and do not have unlimited resources available. Her den is pre-wired in each corner of the room, at the transition from wall to ceiling. She had some cheap Panasonic speakers mounted.
Here's what I've purchased to begin the process of upgrading: A new Yamaha RX-V773WA Receiver/Amp (7.2 w/Airplay, Wifi, etc), a set of Polk TL1600 HT speakers, which consists of 4 speakers for the corners, a center speaker for under the TV, and a Subwoofer. Not the best in the world, but they got good reviews from the things I read. I will also be using my Bose 301's, which will sit on top of the bookshelves on either side of the center piece. The two Polk speakers will be about 3-4 feet to either side, and back just a bit. The other two Polks will go in the two back corners of the room, approximately 6-8' behind the couch. The couch will be about 8-10 feet from the TV. The Amp has several speaker connections, including Presence R/L, Center, Front R/L, Surround front and rear R/L, and two subwoofer outputs. We will have Charter HD TV service. The plan is to run the HD box output into one of the HDMI inputs, then HDMI out to the TV. Onkyo CD player will have to be plugged into the audio input on back of the amp, along with an older Toshiba DVD player. I also have a new Sony Laptop that has Blueray DVD ability and an HDMI output, so I plan on inputting that into the other HDMI input on the amp, when I play a Blueray DVD.
Questions: Is it better to run the two front corner speakers as Presence speakers or just R/L surrounds? The two rear corners can also be either Presence or Surround. I have not fully wrapped my head around exactly what the differences are in Presence vs. Surround in this application, so advice would be appreciated there as well. The Yamaha Amp is capable of a lot of things, so I just want to get the most I can get out of what I have to work with. I have ordered some good HDMI cables and subwoofer cables, along with new audio cable for the CD player.
Comments/Advice regarding optimal configuration with what I have to work with at this time would be appreciated.
Here's what I've purchased to begin the process of upgrading: A new Yamaha RX-V773WA Receiver/Amp (7.2 w/Airplay, Wifi, etc), a set of Polk TL1600 HT speakers, which consists of 4 speakers for the corners, a center speaker for under the TV, and a Subwoofer. Not the best in the world, but they got good reviews from the things I read. I will also be using my Bose 301's, which will sit on top of the bookshelves on either side of the center piece. The two Polk speakers will be about 3-4 feet to either side, and back just a bit. The other two Polks will go in the two back corners of the room, approximately 6-8' behind the couch. The couch will be about 8-10 feet from the TV. The Amp has several speaker connections, including Presence R/L, Center, Front R/L, Surround front and rear R/L, and two subwoofer outputs. We will have Charter HD TV service. The plan is to run the HD box output into one of the HDMI inputs, then HDMI out to the TV. Onkyo CD player will have to be plugged into the audio input on back of the amp, along with an older Toshiba DVD player. I also have a new Sony Laptop that has Blueray DVD ability and an HDMI output, so I plan on inputting that into the other HDMI input on the amp, when I play a Blueray DVD.
Questions: Is it better to run the two front corner speakers as Presence speakers or just R/L surrounds? The two rear corners can also be either Presence or Surround. I have not fully wrapped my head around exactly what the differences are in Presence vs. Surround in this application, so advice would be appreciated there as well. The Yamaha Amp is capable of a lot of things, so I just want to get the most I can get out of what I have to work with. I have ordered some good HDMI cables and subwoofer cables, along with new audio cable for the CD player.
Comments/Advice regarding optimal configuration with what I have to work with at this time would be appreciated.
