troubleshooting new home audio system

[gregfi]

I recently purchased a Yamaha RX-V663 and a pair of TST3's from theSpeakerCompany. I hooked everything together with some 12 AWG speaker cable from the folks at BlueJeansCable and fired it up. This is my first serious home auido experience, so I really don't know what to expect.

I have my mp3 player hooked up to the receiver through an RCA-to-mini cable (of unknown origin), which is attached to the "CD" port on the back of the receiver. Everything seems to be a little bit muddier than I was thinking it would be, and the treble sounds a bit harsh, or over-emphasized.

As a comparison, I hooked up my Playstation 2 (the only thing that I have that functions as a CD player within eyeshot of the receiver) to the "CD" bank on the receiver and popped in a CD. The audio clipped in and out at some frequencies, and it was very quiet. When I connected it to the "DVD" bank, the volume increased, the clipping-in-and-out issue went away, the sound quality improved, and seemed more balanced. The sound quality also sounded notably better than my mp3 player, even when my mp3 player was hooked into the "DTV" bank.

I have a feeling that I'm in need of some fairly basic education here.

1. Should there be any difference between any of the audio banks on the receiver, or is it possible that I have a flaky connection on the "CD" bank?

2. Would any of the RCA ports on my receiver be better than any of the others for attaching an MP3 player? Also, what's the best way to get mp3s into my receiver? I have a decent library of .ogg's and .mp3s, and I'd like to be able to surf through them without getting off my couch.

Many thanks!
Greg

 

[TLS Guy]

I recently purchased a Yamaha RX-V663 and a pair of TST3's from theSpeakerCompany. I hooked everything together with some 12 AWG speaker cable from the folks at BlueJeansCable and fired it up. This is my first serious home auido experience, so I really don't know what to expect.

I have my mp3 player hooked up to the receiver through an RCA-to-mini cable (of unknown origin), which is attached to the "CD" port on the back of the receiver. Everything seems to be a little bit muddier than I was thinking it would be, and the treble sounds a bit harsh, or over-emphasized.

As a comparison, I hooked up my Playstation 2 (the only thing that I have that functions as a CD player within eyeshot of the receiver) to the "CD" bank on the receiver and popped in a CD. The audio clipped in and out at some frequencies, and it was very quiet. When I connected it to the "DVD" bank, the volume increased, the clipping-in-and-out issue went away, the sound quality improved, and seemed more balanced. The sound quality also sounded notably better than my mp3 player, even when my mp3 player was hooked into the "DTV" bank.

I have a feeling that I'm in need of some fairly basic education here.

1. Should there be any difference between any of the audio banks on the receiver, or is it possible that I have a flaky connection on the "CD" bank?

2. Would any of the RCA ports on my receiver be better than any of the others for attaching an MP3 player? Also, what's the best way to get mp3s into my receiver? I have a decent library of .ogg's and .mp3s, and I'd like to be able to surf through them without getting off my couch.

Many thanks!
Greg

Unfortunately you bought lousy speakers. The design concept at that price range is totally flawed.

 

[mperfct]

Unfortunately you bought lousy speakers. The design concept at that price range is totally flawed.

I'm not going to comment on the quality of his speakers, but I don't think that any speaker produced by TSC would result in the experience he is having. Tom rather liked the TST2's which are a "step" down from these speakers. Link

Gregfi, hooking your MP3 player up to your system will most likely result in a craptastic sound. I hooked mine up to my Marantz and it was readily apparent that MP3 sound bad when played through any speaker that costs more than $15. As for your PS experience, I'm not sure what's going on there. The only way to be sure if it is the PS or the receiver is to get another CD/DVD player and play it through the CD jack and see if you have a similar experience. If so, swap out the cable, and if the experience is still the same, better take your receiver back.

That all being said, the various inputs on your receiver should perform very similarly, between the same input types (RCA/HDMI/Optical/etc)

 

[TLS Guy]

I'm not going to comment on the quality of his speakers, but I don't think that any speaker produced by TSC would result in the experience he is having.

Gregfi, hooking your MP3 player up to your system will most likely result in a craptastic sound. I hooked mine up to my Marantz and it was readily apparent that MP3 sound bad when played through any speaker that costs more than $15. As for your PS experience, I'm not sure what's going on there. The only way to be sure if it is the PS or the receiver is to get another CD/DVD player and play it through the CD jack and see if you have a similar experience. If so, swap out the cable, and if the experience is still the same, better take your receiver back.

I recently had a PM about exactly he same issue with those speakers. When I looked at the design concept, my opinion was NBG.

 

[mperfct]

I recently had a PM about exactly he same issue with those speakers. When I looked at the design concept, my opinion was NBG.

Wow, that's pretty surprising. What's NBG?

 

[TLS Guy]

Wow, that's pretty surprising. What's NBG?

NBG = No bloody good.

 

[gregfi]

Gregfi, hooking your MP3 player up to your system will most likely result in a craptastic sound. I hooked mine up to my Marantz and it was readily apparent that MP3 sound bad when played through any speaker that costs more than $15. As for your PS experience, I'm not sure what's going on there. The only way to be sure if it is the PS or the receiver is to get another CD/DVD player and play it through the CD jack and see if you have a similar experience. If so, swap out the cable, and if the experience is still the same, better take your receiver back.

That all being said, the various inputs on your receiver should perform very similarly, between the same input types (RCA/HDMI/Optical/etc)

Then it's gotta be a signal issue of some kind. I'm unconvinced that the problem is with the MP3's, themselves.

 

[murl]

Is your mode by chance Dolby prologic 2 or DTS Neo 6, or something of the like? If so you should try it on stereo, some receivers in those modes seem to have a hard time with the mp3s Is your mini cable mono or stereo? How many lines does it have on the tip that you are plugging into the mp3 player?

 

[Rickster71]

I'd try turning up the volume on the MP3 player.

I use an MP3 player for background music during BBQ's and get togethers, and have found it to sound surprisingly good for that application. With the only problem being the MP3 player's volume had to be turned up high.
Remember MP3 players don't produce perfect audio; the convenience they offer, trumps it's audio misgivings.