First post and a noob, so please bear with me. I just recently changed my 2nd floor bonus room around due to well needed open space (two little kids, you get the pic). I primarily use the bonus room for watching movies, playing video games, listening to music and a desk for work/school. I went from 7.1 to 5.1 and moved my TV/receiver etc. My speaker placement is good, except I feel that the center and front L&R speakers’ way overpower to the point I can’t even hear the subwoofer. Don’t get me wrong, the front B&W speakers feel like they’re bosses already. It’s been a good 8 years since I purchased the Yamaha receiver and the Sub is at least a decade old (came as a 5.1 Samsung set with a Samsung receiver long ago). The 7.1 I had setup previously utilized 2 of the smaller Samsung speakers for the rear L&R speakers. I noticed when I went from 7.1 to 5.1, I had to tweak the three front speakers to large and turn on extra base for the sub to even show up as connected from all sources consistently.
When I setup everything in the bonus room I wanted to try something new…..simplify my connections with fiber optic cable from source to source (used to be a network geek). I was having some serious issues with my 4k disc player (1 HDMI out to TV for pic and 2 HDMI out to receiver for sound) on lip-sync (like 20-30 ms setup on the 4k disc player itself), which varied depending if I used Netflix or disc from the player. So I changed it and went HDMI out to TV, then from TV fiber to the receiver……lip-sync issue is now unnoticeable. But, I connected my Xbox the same way (can tell somewhat of a better picture) and now I see the action before I hear the sound…so delayed (probably 15-20 ms off). I have my Xbox one audio output set as HDMI audio 5.1 uncompressed, which is going to the TV. Should I change it to bit stream, run a separate fiber optic cable from the Xbox to the receiver, or revert back to HDMI from Xbox to receiver, to TV?
My other question is, what would be a good sub given my front B&W speakers….and can my current receiver handle it? Would you recommend upgrading the receiver, if so to what? I don’t think I’ll need a second zone from a receiver, I couldn’t imagine running the cables. I really appreciate any feedback/help, thanks in advance!
Receiver: Yamaha RX-A700
5.1
Front L&R Speakers: B&W 683 Towers
Center: B&W HTM61 S2
Side L&R Speakers: Polk TSi 100 bookshelf spearkers
Subwoofer: Samsung PS-AW720S
TV: Sony XBR-65X930D (4k)
Other sources: Samsung UBD-K8500 4k disc player, Xbox One (non 4k), PS4 (1080P), AT&T UVerse 1080i only, Amazon Fire stick TV
Room Dimensions: 21.5x18.5
Questions:
1.) What’s the optimal way to connect my Xbox One?
2.) What’s a good sub with my current B&W front speakers? Do I even need a sub?
3.) Can my current receiver handle my setup? If not, what would be a good receiver?
