Help setting up speaker system for Home Ent Sys

[pjewett]

I've setup my Home Theatre System as best I can being a newbie and do get decent sound but am sure I don't have everything right. Any suggestions any pros out there might have more optimizing my rig would be very appreciated.

My setup:

Receiver:JVC RX-778 VBK Receiver High End Audiophile
* Stereo: 110 watts per channel, Surround: 2 x 110w, 8 ohms, 20Hz to
20kHz, with 0.006% T.H.D.
* Surround Front: 100 watts per channel, 8 ohms, 1 kHz, 0.8% T.H.D.
* Surround Center: 100 watts, 8 ohms, 1 kHz, 0.8% T.H.D.
* Surround Rear: 100 watts per channel, 8 ohms, 1 kHz, 0.8% T.H.D.
* Dolby Digital Decoder built in
* Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround Pro Logic
* Banana-plug speaker terminals (front left/right (1/2)
* High-rigidity Z-Chassis
* 3-D PHONIC
* Digital Acoustics Processor (DAP), with 4 preset sound fields
* Multi-Color On-Screen Display
* Multi-brand A/V-CATV-DBS remote control with TEXT DISPLAY key
* One touch operation
* Subwoofer input
* 3-band electronic S.E.A. equalization with 5 presets and 1 manual
setting for each source
* 3 video inputs: VCR, DVD, DBS
* 4 audio inputs: PHONO, CD, TAPE/MD, TV SOUND
* 2 optical digital inputs with assignable function (DBS, CD, MD, DVD)
* S-video input/output
* Loudness on/off
* TEXT COMPU LINK
* A/V COMPU LINK
* 15 AM and 30 FM station memory with character input for each station
* Enhanced COMPU LINK Control System

Speaker System: Bose Acoustimass 700 six speaker system
There's (3) cube speakers and (2) larger front speakers.
Note: There are (6) total connections (all bare wire) in the back of the subwoofer (at least I think it's a subwoofer).

* the lower three are clearly labeled as center, right, left and are
connected to the corresponding connections on the back of the
receiver.
* the upper are for the cube speakers and they are connected.
* there is absolutely no power cord coming out of this subwoofer(?) and it
seems it must get it's power from the receiver via the center, right, left
connections? this seems odd to me and i'm confused about it.
* though i get sound from the cubes and fronts i get nothing from this
bose subwoofer unit.

DVD: Kawasaki 5 Disk DVD/CD player

*RCA VID
*SVIDEO

TV: Magnavox 32 inch Color

*RCA VID
*SVIDEO

My questions:

As the main unit of my speaker system seems to not have a power source do I need to purchase another component that would have it's own power, and sit in the middle of the receiver and Bose sub(still assuming it's a sub)?

I have SVIDEO connections on my T.V., DVD and receiver. How do I properly use these connections?

Currently DVD is RCA out to RCA in on receiver and then back out to RCA in on T.V.

I'll take any suggestions on how to improve this existing setup.

Thanks!

 

[xboxweasel]

I thought that with an Bose Acoustimass unit you simple connect the speaker outputs from the receiver to the Acoustimass. Then connect all speakers to the Acoustimass.

Since you have an Acoustimass unit I think you would be better off setting all your speakers to Large (in the receiver). Disable any subwoofer output (in the receiver). The acoustimass takes care of the crossover work.

You should setup the speaker distance and speaker levels (in the receiver). Refer to the manual (or like some people say: RTFM).

You might also get better (different) sound if you (can) use optical digital connections between the DVD/CD player and the receiver.

I think you did it correctly. The acoustimass unit is powered by your JVC receiver. Stick you ear close to the acoustimass. Maybe turn up the volume. Or the unit could be defective. Do you have any DVDs with the THX audio/video setup program (look for THX rated DVS's - like Signs)? You can use that to test your speaker set-up too.

If you can, use S-video for all your video connections. It's a much better picture compared to using RCA (composite) connections. Use s-video instead of composite. From DVD out to receiver in; receiver out to TV in. Or go directly from the DVD player to the TV if you only have one video source. Less connections, less possible interference.

 

[pjewett]

"I thought that with an Bose Acoustimass unit you simple connect the speaker outputs from the receiver to the Acoustimass. Then connect all speakers to the Acoustimass."

Yup that's how it's set up. Center, Right and Left channels into the receiver and the speakers attached to the Acoustimass.


"Since you have an Acoustimass unit I think you would be better off setting all your speakers to Large (in the receiver). Disable any subwoofer output (in the receiver). The acoustimass takes care of the crossover work."

All were set to large but the receiver was set to subwoofer (yes). I've now set it to "no." I see a connection for a subwoofer on the back of my receiver. Should I invest in one to improve my sound?

"I think you did it correctly. The acoustimass unit is powered by your JVC receiver. Stick you ear close to the acoustimass. Maybe turn up the volume. Or the unit could be defective. Do you have any DVDs with the THX audio/video setup program (look for THX rated DVS's - like Signs)? You can use that to test your speaker set-up too."

I hear something but it's not a strong sound. I'll try turning the receiver volume up tomorrow in the daytime so as not to bother the neighbors. I'll look into the THX program. If it turns out my Acoustimass unit is defective can I just get another sub or some other equipment to replace it and plug the speakers into that. Any suggestions?

I've been through the paltry manual I can find for the JVC unit but what little info is there I don't understand in come cases.

I disconnected all RCA video and am now simply running one SVIDEO connection from TV to DVD. I left all RCA audio connection the way they were. I think I see the difference but I liked the picture quality anyway. I think I see the SVIDEO difference though.


Thank you very much for your reply. You've already been very helpful.

 

[xboxweasel]

About adding a sub: I do not know how low the acoustimass goes, but a powered sub will/should go a lot lower and with more authority.

As for connecting the Bose speakers directly to the receiver and doing away with the acoustimass.....not sure. Should work. But their frequency response range might be limited since they are designed to connect to a acoustimass unit. ie: their low end cutoff might be in the ballpark of 200Hz. That would result in a terrible transition from speakers to sub. I'd need more info on the speakers (which might be hard to find. Bose does not give out much info on their products). Maybe someone else here has experience in this area.

 

[pjewett]

Okey dokey, well I may look into investing into a powered sub. I picked up both my receiver and speaker system for $60 from someone who was moving and wanted a new system. Won't hurt to throw a few dollars into a sub.

The speaker info I found on the back states:

"Compatible with amps or receivers rated front & center 10-200w/ch 4-8ohms
Surround Channels 10-80w/ch 4-8ohms."

Don't know if that helps? If not, thank you for the info you've given me.

About adding a sub: I do not know how low the acoustimass goes, but a powered sub will/should go a lot lower and with more authority.

As for connecting the Bose speakers directly to the receiver and doing away with the acoustimass.....not sure. Should work. But their frequency response range might be limited since they are designed to connect to a acoustimass unit. ie: their low end cutoff might be in the ballpark of 200Hz. That would result in a terrible transition from speakers to sub. I'd need more info on the speakers (which might be hard to find. Bose does not give out much info on their products). Maybe someone else here has experience in this area.

 

[xboxweasel]

I picked up both my receiver and speaker system for $60

Not too much invested. Good. And your starting to learn. That's good too. Eventually you might upgrade to a $10,000 stereo. :d But not for a while.

"Compatible with amps or receivers rated front & center 10-200w/ch 4-8ohms
Surround Channels 10-80w/ch 4-8ohms."

Means something, but more info is needed here. You want to know the speakers frequency response range. Usually looks like this 50Hz-20,000Hz +/-3dB or 50Hz-20kHz +/-3dB. This tells you want range of the audible spectrum the speaker can reproduce. The small the number (ie: 50Hz in this case) the lower the frequency. These are the bass frequencies. They are felt more than heard and can shale the china in the cupboards. Unfortunately I could not find anything using google.

Try playing around a little. You can not do much damage with moderate sound levels. See if you can figure it out. Change settings in the receiver. Try different sources (DVD, CD). Maybe check wire connections (red to red, black to black). Red=positive connection. Black=negative connection. Maybe a cross in the wiring is causing the acoustimass to not work properly.

Maybe disconnect all the speakers for now. What do you hear? If that works, then add one speaker at a time. Make sure you turn the receiver off when making connections. Better safe than sorry.

Good luck.

 

[einsteinjb]

Whoa, hang on a second guys. I'm amazed by this. You two guys are having a perfectly ordinary, back & forth conversation about how to optimize and troubleshoot your surround system -- but your system is a Bose Acoustimass!!!!!!! And not one other person has jumped in to comment on it!!!!! There's something inherently wrong with that scenario.

I hate to sound rude, I really want to help you learn here, but have you searched this forum or any others for the word "Bose" at all? Give it a try. I think you'll find that trying to optimize a Bose system is like trying to optimize a piece of chewing gum. It really doesn't do much, can't really do anything differently, and isn't worth much effort.

The one really good piece of news is you paid about the right price for it. Bose is HUGELY overpriced junk. For $60 it's great, but please, don't waste another penny trying to make that system sound better.

BTW from what I understand, you can't just replace the acoustimass module with some other sub. (Actually it's not a "sub" at all since it doesn't actually play real bass frequencies.) The system is designed to go through that thing. If you hooked the little plastic and cardboard cubes up to your receiver directly, they're likely to go up in smoke.

What I'm trying to say is, what you're hearing is probably all you can expect from that thing. All the great marketing hoo-hah you've heard about Bose is just that, lies and BS.

Try this page: http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

After that, for fun, google the phrase "bose sucks". I think you'll find some interesting reading. Also search this forum and avsforum.com for Bose and see what you find.

Look, welcome to the forum, I hope you find it enlightening. Enjoy your system as much as you can because you really did get it for the right price. If you want better sound, don't spend any money yet. Just keep reading and researching for a while here and on other sites until you start to feel you know what to look for, then go out and listen to some things and see if you care to spend more money to get into real audio. If so, I'll look forward to reading about your experiences.

 

[einsteinjb]

Means something, but more info is needed here. You want to know the speakers frequency response range. Usually looks like this 50Hz-20,000Hz +/-3dB or 50Hz-20kHz +/-3dB. This tells you want range of the audible spectrum the speaker can reproduce. The small the number (ie: 50Hz in this case) the lower the frequency. These are the bass frequencies. They are felt more than heard and can shale the china in the cupboards. Unfortunately I could not find anything using google.

By the way, don't bother looking for "specs" on or about your Bose system. It doesn't exist. It's a commonly known fact that Bose does not publish actual specs on any of their products because if they did, their marketing department would have a cow, and rightly so -- all their hard work and money spent would be down the tubes. The specs would be a joke, and would make it clear to everyone what kind of junk they're producing. They just want you to buy into the "Bose is the best" marketing message, overpay for their junk, take it home, hook it up, and marvel at how much better it sounds than your TV's speakers.

 

[xboxweasel]

I know they Bose cubes not the best, and he did only pay $60 for the entire system. I am just helping the guy out. Everyone has to start someplace. And maybe he'll like it.

I know two people that have Bose. And they both are happy with it. It's not of the cube variety, more along the ways of bookshelf speakers. 301 and 201 direct reflecting series. Rather over priced I must say. But they might sound good. I don't know.

I know you said you did not want to be mean, but it's not nice crapping on someone's parade. What do you have for speakers? Maybe someone will think they are crap or that you paid too much for them. It's a starting point for pjewett. I just want to get him/her up and running. System improvements / upgrades come later.

Too bad that Bose does hide behind marketing though. Even for their "higher end" 301 speakers they don't list specs. Strange. And to think that I was going to go with an Acoustimass once too.

PS: good link. It was good reading. I was close. The satellites cutoff at 280Hz. I said around 200Hz.

 

[pjewett]

I don't understand why the peanut gallery got involved at all. I never expressed a desire to have my system critiqued nor that I was shopping. I just wanted advice concerning getting the most out of what I have and I got that. $60 for a 5.1 Channel receiver and a 5 speaker BOSE system is a great deal and I get very good sound from it. It's certainly better than the $150 RCA all in one system that I had since college.

Additionally my receiver has a connection for a subwoofer and that addition should only improve my situation.

Anyway, thanks xboxweasel.

And no thanks to the folks that like to hear themselves speak.

 

[xboxweasel]

No problem. Sounds like you got it working them!

 

[Sheep]

What he was trying to get at is that you are better off getting a different system altogether, then wasting money optimizing that Bose system.

SheepStar

 

[einsteinjb]

What he was trying to get at is that you are better off getting a different system altogether, then wasting money optimizing that Bose system.

SheepStar

Yes, thank you Sheep, that's exactly what I was trying to do -- give you important information about Bose products to help you realize it's not worth spending any money to improve that system when you'd be much better served (IF you wanted better sound) to start with something different. I also thought you might find it helpful to know that you might fry the whole thing if you hooked it directly to your receiver instead of through the module.

However, since you've thanked me for my trouble by calling me "the peanut gallery" I'll refrain from offering you any more of my professional advice, and yes, that's what it is, since I'm a full-time pro audio engineer and have a bit of a clue what I'm talking about. It's always difficult telling someone that something they've bought is junk, but I'm an honest person, I can't help it. If you're too sensitive to accept brutally honest advice (even after you ASKED for it), I'll leave you to learn on your own. I surely wouldn't want to upset your delicate sensibilities any more.

Good luck to you.

PS: Xbox, I understand you're trying to help him, and nice of you to do it. I just thought it was appropriate to point out a few details, like the fact that you're wasting your time looking for specs or trying to squeeze real performance out of something that's not designed to give it to you.

You asked what speakers I use. I have Swans Classic 5.2F mains, Swan 5.2C center, Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE surrounds which I also use as mixing monitors. SVS PB10-ISD sub, Hsu Research VTF-2 Mk2 sub. I'd laugh myself silly if anyone suggested I overspent on any of this gear, which is all Internet-Direct and all incredible values.

 

[Nick250]

Yes, thank you Sheep, that's exactly what I was trying to do -- give you important information about Bose products
However, since you've thanked me for my trouble by calling me "the peanut gallery"
[snip]

I have been telling Sheep for a long time to upgrade his Bose system, but there's no reasoning with him.

Nick

 

[einsteinjb]

I have been telling Sheep for a long time to upgrade his Bose system, but there's no reasoning with him.

Nick

LOL Yep stubborn old goat innee?

 

[mulester7]

......Pjewett, make no mistake, the Bose head has mated equalization for the small Bose fronts and three double cubes that will tie you to the Bose head from here on using the Bose small fronts and cubes....without the Bose head in the mix and only trying to use the JVC receiver or any receiver besides what Bose offers, you will get only a scant amount of midrange through the five speakers that will have no brightness or life at all....you could use the JVC receiver to send the stereo signals to the Bose head via the pre-outs of the JVC, and then you could get a powered sub and send the sub signal from the sub-out of the JVC, but you would be wasting the amp sections of the JVC....if you choose that route, what you'll want is rca pin-jack cables taking the stereo signals from the JVC pre-outs to a high impedence input on the Bose head....CD, Aux, or anything besides phono, not sure if the Bose head has phono input or not, and I doubt it does....if you do that, you could choose inputted sources at the JVC level that are connected to the JVC, and you could have the Bose sub being supported by a seperate powered sub, but as I said, you'd still be wasting the amp sections of the JVC....and, you'd have to work two gains to get any sound......

 

[xboxweasel]

since you've thanked me for my trouble by calling me "the peanut gallery" I'll refrain from offering you any more of my professional advice

All I got to say is that it came across a little rude. That's the problem with electronic correspondence and such....

I understand you're trying to help him, and nice of you to do it.

I was/am just trying to help. I haven't heard much from pjewett lately. I figured the unit was either defective or something was not connected correctly. Those acoustimass units should be dumping out something. Pjewett said

though i get sound from the cubes and fronts, i get nothing from this bose subwoofer unit

. Quality aside, there should still be some sound.

I have Swans Classic 5.2F mains, Swan 5.2C center, Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE surrounds...SVS PB10-ISD sub, Hsu Research VTF-2 Mk2 sub.

I must say the swans do look impressive. But we all had to start someplace. And there is so much room for improvement. My job, unfortunately, does not feed my addiction too well.

 

[Sheep]

I have been telling Sheep for a long time to upgrade his Bose system, but there's no reasoning with him.

Nick

Theres nothing cooler then being able to deep throat your fronts....

SheepStar

 

[xboxweasel]

Theres nothing cooler then being able to deep throat your fronts....

EWWWW. That's wrong.

 

[Darth Mike]

EWWWW. That's wrong.

On SOOOOO many levels.