Thank you for your reply BMXTRIX.
The issue that was leading me to experiment with the Denon hooked up to his speakers was because I was not getting 5.1 ‘surround’ audio with the previous configuration. The reason was that the cable box (Sky) and Blu-ray player were connected via HDMI to the Samsung TV, and then using a optical cable from the TV to his original receiver. It seems that some TVs (especially pre 2014s), don’t allow for Dolby to be passed through. This seems to be the case with this TV.
I did borrow a powered subwoofer to see what it would be like with the other speakers and the Denon. It did allow for Dolby 5.1 to be passed through via the Denon (i.e. Sky box and Blu-ray to the Denon and the HDMI ARC to the TV from the Denon). At least it was Dolby 5.1. The previous set up was set to 5 channel stereo, which was basically sending the same signals and level to each of the 5 speakers which didn’t provide for a surround sound effect.
Going through the Denon wasn’t mind blowing or anything but did have different things coming through different speakers. However, when looking to put things back in place it occurred to me to connect the Sky box and Blu-ray to the TV via HDMI but to then connect the Sky box to the original audio receiver via optical (keeping with his original speakers). This actually sounded better than when things were set up through the Denon. I’d imagine this was because the speakers were a better match for the receiver than the Denon (as lovinthehd mentioned the impedance of the speakers wasn’t ideal for the Denon).
With the configuration as it now stands it means that the Sky box is getting better sound but the Blu-ray is only getting sound via the TV, rather than the surround system for now. I have a optical switch on order to try that out shortly so that both the Sky box and Blu-ray can be connected to the audio receiver via optical (as the receiver only has one optical in).
The primarily reason I was going through this initial trial and error, is that my father is in the near future going to be upgrading his TV and it would be nice to be getting better sound from it. Unfortunately the room configuration is a million miles from ideal for good speaker placement. I was to experiment with what he currently has with proper 5.1 settings (rather than the 5 channel stereo it was on), so I might get a feel for how bad the impact from non-ideal speaker placement would be with a 5.1 system in actual 5.1 surround setting (rather than the previous 5 channel stereo setting).
It was a bit hard to tell much from what is there, though I think the incorrect placement of speakers (due to the limitations of the shape of room, etc.) would only be amplified with better speakers. I’m beginning to look at a soundbar (researching passive and active options) with sub and satellite speakers as a possible solution as the locations where the actual TV is located is very limited for locating speakers and aesthetics have to be considered for this room, etc. (living area, etc.). I know this isn’t going to be as good as separates but I think having the soundbar would be better than badly placed separate front speakers.
Thank you all again for you input. I didn’t blow anything up so I’m calling that a success
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