Problem playing sound through Harmon Kardon SB 16

[hamilcar1]

I'm definitely a newbie when it comes to sound and have only used the speakers from the TV for all my movies.

I recently bought a 55" Class (54.6" Diag.) LED 7500 Series Smart TV and purchased a Harmon Kardon SB16 sound bar. I believe the problem lies that when I play a movie the audio is 5.1 but the speakers are 2.1 , Is there any way I can play/convert the 5.1 to play on the 2.1. Can a receiver change the signal? Or am I basically screwed and need to buy a 5.1 set?

Thanks
Chris

 

[markw]

It's already being done.

You've got a 2.1 system. It's taking a 5.1 signal and "downconverting" it to 2.1 so it can play it.

Unless you're running a cable from the blu-ray player to the TV, and from there to the sound bar. In that case, the TV is most likely downconverting it to 2.0

If you want 5.1 through-and-through, you've got to go back to ground zero and start all over aain with a receiver, 5 speakers and a subwoofer. Then you can get 5.1 from your sources.

Anything you feed through your TV will be most likely be passed thru as 2.0, like it is now.

 

[hamilcar1]

Thanks markw

I would be happy if the soundbar played audio when I put in a dvd. I believe there is no down converting going on. Is there a way to make all audio (dvd, satellite, etc) play through the 2.1 system?

 

[markw]

It should. How do you have everything connected?

Details, please.

 

[hamilcar1]

Satellite and DVD are connected to the tv by separate Hdmi cables. The sound bar is connected by optical cable and the subwoofer is wireless.

 

[markw]

I'm assuming this is the manual for your TV?

If so, it's about 700 pages, perhaps a record, but it's in big, big print. The section dealing with sound seems to start around pae 87 and goes on to about page 105. You might want to see if you've done everything required.

Did you turn the external speakers on?

 

[hamilcar1]

Tried the settings in the manual and no luck. The speakers built into the TV work fine for what they are, but I bought the soundbar to give me a little richness and bass (with the subwoofer).

I was reading from another post on a site that my speakers only handled the 2.1 format. I didn't quite understand that. I know it is a 2.1 system, but can't the sound bar and subwoofer just play like the speakers in my TV.

Thanks

**Didn't see this listed in my above posts, I can get it sometimes to play regular TV (Satellite, not movies) through the speakers but it appears to be random.

 

[Grador]

You could possibly set all of your sources to output a 2 channel signal. Also, I imagine the tv shows that work are being broadcast in stereo and the ones that don't are multi-channel.