Basic Home Theater Setup Guide - Hooking It All Up

[admin]

So, you bought a home theater system? Great! Watching a movie on a properly set up surround sound system, or listening to your music through a new set of speakers can be an amazing experience. But, the key to a great home theater isn't just spending a lot of money. Setting up the system correctly is just as important as what you buy. This guide, very simply, walks through the basics of speaker placement, bass management setup, how to hook everything up, and how to change a few settings to really make your system shine. Throughout this article are links to other more advanced articles that go into more depth on each topic.

Discuss "Basic Home Theater Setup Guide - Hooking It All Up" here. Read the article.

 

[Marshall_Guthrie]

Good solid start up guide that is easier to follow than most user manuals. I've been meaning to do a setup series, and even have some footage shot, but haven't had the time to shoot and edit the rest. I keep promising myself that when my projection project is into the re-wiring phase, I'll shoot footage along the way while everything is out.

 

[scott911]

DUAL center channels ?

I'm thinking this might be a good place to post this question, although it might be sligthly beyond the scope of a simple set-up.

What do you think about dual center channels, and how do you hook them up?

understanding the important of the center channel - and happening to already have a two available for this usage - I was thinking of putting two speakers in for the center.

Looking for general thoughts.

And thoughts on wiring series, parallel? These are 4 ohm D'Appolito Array speakers. and my center amp channel can handle real 4 ohms.

Also - placement?: OoO OoO or O O or OoO
o o OoO
O O

btw - these are IN Wall speakers (I have no choice) so it's hard to test out options effectively - so I'm really appreciative of everyone's kind assistance!

Thanks.

 

[gene]

I'm thinking this might be a good place to post this question, although it might be sligthly beyond the scope of a simple set-up.

What do you think about dual center channels, and how do you hook them up?

understanding the important of the center channel - and happening to already have a two available for this usage - I was thinking of putting two speakers in for the center.

Looking for general thoughts.

And thoughts on wiring series, parallel? These are 4 ohm D'Appolito Array speakers. and my center amp channel can handle real 4 ohms.

Also - placement?: OoO OoO or O O or OoO
o o OoO
O O

btw - these are IN Wall speakers (I have no choice) so it's hard to test out options effectively - so I'm really appreciative of everyone's kind assistance!

Thanks.

I would generally advise against dual center channels. IMO you are better off using one really good center channel rather than two mediocre ones. Some folks place one center at the bottom and one at the top of the screen and like it but I haven't heard a scenario like this that I preferred to a quality center channel that exhibits good on and off axis performance. If you were considering running dual centers, you are better off running them in parallel assuming the amp can handle the lower impedance.

 

[agarwalro]

Shouldn't this be a stickey, with bold flashing font, in the Beginners and Audiophytes section?

 

[Adam]

Nice article!

Before you know it, you'll have an article on how to read an owner's manual...and I'll just become a forgotten relic. Oh, wait...it's not that people can't read them, they just don't. Whew.

 

[wgscott]

nice summary

As a newcomer to home theatre, I think this is pitched at a reasonable level. I realize this has to be limited in scope, but a couple of points I wish it had touched on, because they caused me some degree of problems or confusion, are the following:

1. Many people want to hook up a computer (mac mini or PC equivalent), and I found the conventional instructions supplied with my receiver (Marantz NR-1402) ignore this topic completely. I have a 2010 mac mini, so it should simply be a matter of hooking up via HDMI. I eventually wound up having to hook it up via HDMI for video directly to my TV and via optical mini-Toslink to my receiver. I still do not know why this should be, but turning off the receiver when the computer was connected to it via HDMI resulted in kernel panics, and the lack of display information with the relayed video signal complicated video playback. Also, getting 5.1 rather than (default) stereo sound from iTunes movies was a bit of a challenge in iTunes (and I still haven't figured it out for Front Row).

2. DSP compensation for speakers placed at different distances from the primary listening position. This is a bit of a black box for me, and is essentially opposite from what one tries to achieve with a two-channel audio system.

I think "setup" (noun) should be "set up" (verb) in the context you are using the term.

 

[chriscmore]

I concur that dual center channels is a terrible practice. Possibly you can get a flat frequency phase lock for one small listening spot, but anywhere else will suffer from wave interference. In simpler terms, a terribly phasey, unclear and inconsistent sound from seat to seat. Definitely put more money into one center speaker and better yet if you're on a fixed budget putting yet more money into quality L/R and running without a center is often better since at least they will both be perfectly matched and hopefully more capable.

A technical point I'd like to see corrected is your verbiage on 5.1 and the number of subwoofers: The .1 does not refer to the amount of subwoofers but rather a discrete LFE channel. The 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 refers to the number of discrete or derived channels and has nothing to do with bass management. If you are using two subwoofers (or ten) for LFE, which would be driven in parallel, then you still have a x.1 system. If you are running multiple subs and not using the LFE but instead having your processor blend the discrete LFE channel into the others (what I do since LFE is not always low-passed and is generally poorly mastered) then you are actually running a x.0 system with however-many subs for bass. If you had a sub on each non-LFE channel for bass capabilities, it'd still be a x.0 system, not a 5.5 or 7.7. While I have four subs, I technically have a 7.0 not 7.4 system since I'm technically only running 7 channels and not 8 or 11.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[josko]

I confess to being overwhewlmed by the processing modes on my UMC-1. For processing options, it's got: DSP, DOLBY PLIIX, DTS Neo:6, ANALOG, PCM, MultiPCM, DIGITAL 2/0, DOLBY D, DOLBY DDEX, DTS 2/0, DTS, DTS ES, DOLBY HD andDTS HD. Each has multiple options, as well. Does one really need that many modes?
I've been reading up on these options in Wikipedia, but it's confusing as hell (to a newbie such as myself). Manual simply says to use the one you'd like.

I can figure out my CD's want a straight analog pass to a 2.0 system (and I think I have that set up correctly), but what to do about movies? Most video content comes via HDMI from an Oppo 93 feeding bitstream, either from Netflix or hard-copy disks. My system is 5.1.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Johnnybeltway]

Hooking up HDMI.

So I am almost embarrassed to ask this. I believe that I need to get anew receiver. I am definitely going to go with one hat has HDMI. here is my question. If I hook up my ps3 and my cable tuner into the the receiver using HDMI, then use one HDMI to go to my tv do I HAVE TO have the receiver on all the time?
Or will it let me play the audio through the tv speakers? I don't want to have the surround sound on all the time.

Also since there is only one video out source how does the receiver know which device I want to watch? The cable tuner ( TiVo ) stays On all the time.

Thanks in advance.

John

 

[ImcLoud]

So I am almost embarrassed to ask this. I believe that I need to get anew receiver. I am definitely going to go with one hat has HDMI. here is my question. If I hook up my ps3 and my cable tuner into the the receiver using HDMI, then use one HDMI to go to my tv do I HAVE TO have the receiver on all the time?
Or will it let me play the audio through the tv speakers? I don't want to have the surround sound on all the time.

Also since there is only one video out source how does the receiver know which device I want to watch? The cable tuner ( TiVo ) stays On all the time.

Thanks in advance.

John

you will need to keep it on all the time, your new avr wil do the hdmi switching you command through its interface...

 

[beoutside]

looking for advice

I have a few situations I'm hoping to combine and solve thanks in advance!
equipment dell pc optiplex 745 with video card hdmi output....... lg flat screen 780pi as monitor, sony dav hdx 274 receiver . the stereo is not connected to PC but within 12 feet of it.

We have a sony surround that has a main right and left channel, surround right and left channel, center channel, and sub woofer channel. Our PC has a video card with hdmi output that runs to a lg flat screen via hdmi, the screen also has a hdmi 2nd input port plus rca inputs. The only output from the back of the tv (we are using as a computer screen) is a digital optical port.
I have installed outside speakers and put an A/ B speaker switch on top of the stereo. I have the living room speakers going to the box for line A and the outside speakers going to line/switch B. The the box runs off the main right and left channel only.... nothing to the surround channels. To switch the subwoofers I have to manually switch the plugs i have marked inside and outside at the back of receiver. PS my outdoor speakers are from a car stereo I wired them to meet the 8ohm resistance of the home stereo.
One problem is there is no volume control so when you have the outside and inside speakers on it just doesnt work,( to load inside) also you have to manual swap the subwoofer plugs behind the stereo to run the base I placed outside.


We play internet radio via the stereo /itouch dock but need the wireless router running for this to work, after reading up on microwave radiation I just dont want the wifi running all day or night for that matter ( we have a 3 and six year old).
Since the PC and Stereo receiver are in the same room I want to hard wire the PC to the Stereo and magically hoping there is some configuration/program which will also allow me to run separate speaker configurations with some fancy audio card for the PC?

I need separate volume controls for the indoor vs outdoor set up and a way to switch from outside to inside subwoofer with out messing with the plugs.

DO I just need to install an audio card with connections to run to the stereo for the internet radio issue

Do I also need to get a speaker selection switch with separate volume controls which will run 4 channels vs the two channel one I have?

Would it be cheaper and better to just get a different receiver that would do all this maybe a 7.2 system?

If I run a digital optical cable from the outport on the lg screen to the stereo will it run audio from the pc ( since the screen is connected to PC via hdmi card) I was thinking this was a way for internet radio and PC connect to stereo via flat screen.
Please help?

Both stereo receiver and PC have DVD drive so also wondering if a sound card comes with amp to allow me to remove receiver altogether.... yes I'm cheap to !
hope this isnt to garbled

 

[zorrier]

Do I set up my receiver on multichannel, all stereo or just stereo?

Do I change the distance that I already established on my settings from previous placement? It is set up at 20 feet or I change it to the minimum distance of the receiver? Mine is 0.5 feet.