sound from receiver on new tv

[mbologna]

I just purchased a westinghouse 37in LCD HDTV, my old TV got fried in an electrical storm. Anyway, I planned on connecting it to my receiver the way I connected my old TV which was to just run the red and white cables to my receiver and the coax staight to the TV and call it done. The problem has been that when I do that I have to turn the receiver up extremenly loud before I get any sound. Under the thinking that maybe some part of my receive fried as well I went and purchased a new one but the smae problem exists.

the only thoughts I ahve on why this is happening is the tv output may only be in 5.1 or 7.1 and since I don't have everything set up in the new house it is not making it loud enough. That would not make sense to me and that was not a situation I encountered with my old TV.

Anyway, any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated. If I can't figure it out this week I am returning the TV and new receiver and looking for the simplest TV I can find.

 

[nibhaz]

It sounds to me that the audio output from your TV is the culprit. What you probably need to do is go into the TV’s user menu and shut off the TV’s speakers and set the TV's audio outputs to fixed volume. Other wise the strength of the signal you send to your receiver will be dependent on the volume you have the TV set at, which means if you have the TV's volume at a low setting the signal sent to the receiver will be low, and thus require more amplification, which in turn equals cranking the volume in the receiver.

 

[markw]

first off, strongly doubt the TV outputs anything except two channel audio, which is fine for those red/white cables you're using. 5.1 and the like require a digital connection, usually from the cable box or DVD player directly to the receiver. I can't recall any TV that has the required circuitry to decode x.0 digital audio formats.

Second, since this seems to be common to both receivers, I'd suspect the TV, and it may well be doing exactly what's being asked of it.

You might want to get acquainted with your owner's manual and see what options it offers for outputting audio via those two analog connectors. Most modern TV's offer several options. I know my prehistoric five year old Proton 32" CRT offers several flavors and I'm sure they have gotten even more complex in the interim. In my case I had to set it to "speakers off, fixed level" and the volume was controlled by the receiver.

IOW, before jumping I'd spend a little time checking the manual and audio functions menu first. They ain't as simple and intuitive as we would like.

 

[mbologna]

update

thanks for the tip. I tried that and still the same problem. On my ONKYO receiver I need to put the volume on about 74 before you start to get any sound. On my TV I ahve to set the sound at about 30 to get acceptable level of sound.

That being set I did set the speakers to external only and got the above result.

One last item, if i set the speaker to external only and then mute the TV it mutes the audio going to the receiver. Also, as I up the volume on the TV it ups the volume on the receiver as well even though the volume on the receiver stays set at the same number the entire time.

I am beginning to think the issue is the TV itself and not my receiver at all.

 

[markw]

There's a significant difference between sending an amplified signal to external speakers and sending the line level audio signal to en external amplifier and speakers.

Looking at page 16 of your owner's manual, what do you have your "audio out" set for? It does appear ambigious. When you go to that menu item, what options does it give when you try it? Does it have any options other than 5.1 or 2.1 (SPDIF)?

 

[mbologna]

2.1

Markw,

thanks for the replies and you are correct it will allow you to pick 2.1 if you are in certain modes. Once I was able to select 2.1 it still exhibited the same problem that I must turn the receiver volume up extraorinarilly high in order to hear whatever it is that I am interested in. I have conlcuded that the issue is not the receiver but the TV.

I acknowledge that I tried to go HDTV and LCD as cheap as possible with the Westinghouse. the realty is the picture is great but its menu's and documentation are lacking greatly.

I ahve never had the degree of difficulty I am having now setting up any ohter home audio or computer products.

 

[MDS]

thanks for the tip. I tried that and still the same problem. On my ONKYO receiver I need to put the volume on about 74 before you start to get any sound. On my TV I ahve to set the sound at about 30 to get acceptable level of sound.
...
One last item, if i set the speaker to external only and then mute the TV it mutes the audio going to the receiver. Also, as I up the volume on the TV it ups the volume on the receiver as well even though the volume on the receiver stays set at the same number the entire time.

I am beginning to think the issue is the TV itself and not my receiver at all.

I believe the very first reply from nibhaz is the issue. If your tv volume control changes the volume, then you are using the variable audio outs from the TV. I would bet the setting for 'external speakers' does nothing more than route the audio to a different set of speaker terminals on the back of the tv, rather than routing it to the internal speakers.

You need to use the 'fixed' audio outs and depending on your tv there may be a few other steps necessary:
- You may have to turn the internal speakers OFF (not set to 'external'). This is sometimes a menu setting. One tv I had required the internal speakers to be off before it would send audio out the audio out jacks.
- You need to use the fixed audio outs. Sometimes this is also a menu setting on the tv and sometimes there are two different sets of audio outs on the back of the tv and one is marked fixed and the other variable.