Home Cinema - Anyone into it?

Unijak said:
Been into it for some time, though the only thing that's changed in the last few years is a 6090 in the front room replacing the 608D which I now have in my office.

My multichannel Kef Reference/JL Audio setup:

mjvlgh.jpg


More pics and info can be seen here if interested. I must get round to updating the pics too! :thumbs:
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A nice setup Jon, did you or anyone get to the AV show Bristol this year? I missed it, but then it saved me on tissues for wiping up the dribble :lol:
 
I wonder if anyone can help me with this question about my home cinema setup.
We bought a system back in 2007 (Sony HTK250), and initially used it with our Panasonic DVD Player and 28" CRT TV. It worked really well and the sound was awesome with DVD's.
Last year we bought an LG 50" plasma TV, and I connected everything up. However, I do not seem to be able to get full surround with the DVD, and the only sound I get is when I select DVD (instead of TV) on the Sony control box. I am getting the two side speakers, the subwoofer, but no centre speaker and no rears.
I have an optical connection from the Sony box, and I am obviously using good quality scart leads, but am I missing something here? Should I be using a HDMI lead?
I may take some piccies of the back of the Sony box and the back of the TV later, and see if anyone can help me regain full surround sound.
 
andy700 said:
I wonder if anyone can help me with this question about my home cinema setup.
We bought a system back in 2007 (Sony HTK250), and initially used it with our Panasonic DVD Player and 28" CRT TV. It worked really well and the sound was awesome with DVD's.
Last year we bought an LG 50" plasma TV, and I connected everything up. However, I do not seem to be able to get full surround with the DVD, and the only sound I get is when I select DVD (instead of TV) on the Sony control box. I am getting the two side speakers, the subwoofer, but no centre speaker and no rears.
I have an optical connection from the Sony box, and I am obviously using good quality scart leads, but am I missing something here? Should I be using a HDMI lead?
I may take some piccies of the back of the Sony box and the back of the TV later, and see if anyone can help me regain full surround sound.
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Optical lead from your DVD to the sony "should" give you surround Id have thought, its effectively the same as you had it connected before the new telly no? DVD->optical link->sony amp -> leads to telly and speakers.

If your new TV is HD freeview then a HDMI to your sony amp (if it supports it) will pass the sound from the telly back to the amp so you should get surround sound on HD channels (i think).

Your best bet is probably to sign up to AV Forums and post a detailed query in there somwhere.
 
DorsetDude said:
Optical lead from your DVD to the sony "should" give you surround Id have thought, its effectively the same as you had it connected before the new telly no? DVD->optical link->sony amp -> leads to telly and speakers.

If your new TV is HD freeview then a HDMI to your sony amp (if it supports it) will pass the sound from the telly back to the amp so you should get surround sound on HD channels (i think).

Your best bet is probably to sign up to AV Forums and post a detailed query in there somwhere.
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Cheers Keith I will have a look at that. It would be nice to get full surround on the HD channels as well.
 
u8myufo said:
A nice setup Jon, did you or anyone get to the AV show Bristol this year? I missed it, but then it saved me on tissues for wiping up the dribble :lol:
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Cheers Rich. :thumbs: I know a few people that visit the Bristol Show (and I've met a couple of the Kef guys), but I've never been myself.

I keep meaning to but I always seem to have something else planned when it's on. Maybe next year, and I'll have a dribble too. :D
 
http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4247255111.pdf

If thats your kit in that manual andy it looks like there's no HDMI connection. You should still be able to get surround from your DVD though. Page 6 & 7 cover settings.
your new tv might have an optical out if you're lucky that you could connect to the sony.
 
http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4247255111.pdf

If thats your kit in that manual andy it looks like there's no HDMI connection. You should still be able to get surround from your DVD though. Page 6 & 7 cover settings.
your new tv might have an optical out if you're lucky that you could connect to the sony.
 
If possible Andy I would ditch the scart cables, if you have optical from the DVD player to the amp and a scart to the tv then double check any of the menue`s of the DVD,TV and amp. You would obviously have to choose DVD on the Sony if it is outputing the audio signal.
 
Cheers for the instruction manual Keith. The optical lead is going from the Sony to the TV at the moment, so I will change that over to the DVD.
Rich, I will have a look at the scart connections and swap them around. I also have audio cables going from the Sony to the TV - I guess that these are not required as I am using the optical lead - or am I mistaken?
 
I was into home cinema years ago. Those who remember the birth of CD will know that Dire Straits - Brothers in arms was the top selling disc because it sounded so good on CD. Well when home cinema was quite new the film of choice to show it off was Top Gun :D Basically the fight sequence at the end of the film where you hear planes coming from different directions etc. I still have a surround sound setup now but Mrs C complains that it is too loud all the way through a film so it tends not to get used the same.
 
andy700 said:
Cheers for the instruction manual Keith. The optical lead is going from the Sony to the TV at the moment, so I will change that over to the DVD.
Rich, I will have a look at the scart connections and swap them around. I also have audio cables going from the Sony to the TV - I guess that these are not required as I am using the optical lead - or am I mistaken?
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You may not need the audio leads from TV to sony, but having said that when the TV is in SD mode it only outputs stereo which may only come down the audio leads and not the optical link, I dont know.
Scart leads only pass stereo sound I beleive, and even then only on more recent scarts, used to be video only so you needed a scart and audio connections together.
Your best bet is optical from DVD to Sony and if your TV has an optical out, bung that in the other inupt on the Sony.
Until I got an HDMI amp thats what I did.
 
Dvd to Amp via either Coaxial or optical.
There should be an optical or coaxial out on the TV. If you have built in Freeview then run which ever you want from TV to your amp, if you do this then dont forget to disable sound on TV or else it will be outputting to TV speakers. The only connection you will require from Amp to TV is an HDMI, and that is only if your amp handles video signals as well as audio. If not then all video cables go direct in to the TV from their relative sources. As you have replaced the TV Andy you may well have accidently pulled a speaker cable on the amp, take time to pull out and check all connections.
 
DorsetDude said:
Scart leads only pass stereo sound I beleive, and even then only on more recent scarts, used to be video only so you needed a scart and audio connections together.
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SCART has had stereo audio since at least 1996 - first time that I created a "home cinema" system by connecting the VCR, TV and amp together and part of that involved a SCART to twin phono (left and right audio) lead.
 
There is always the danger of me talking *******s when it comes to home hi fi :D
 
u8myufo said:
Dvd to Amp via either Coaxial or optical.
There should be an optical or coaxial out on the TV. If you have built in Freeview then run which ever you want from TV to your amp, if you do this then dont forget to disable sound on TV or else it will be outputting to TV speakers. The only connection you will require from Amp to TV is an HDMI, and that is only if your amp handles video signals as well as audio. If not then all video cables go direct in to the TV from their relative sources. As you have replaced the TV Andy you may well have accidently pulled a speaker cable on the amp, take time to pull out and check all connections.
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I had a quick switch around today Rich, and I need an extra optical lead. I have rerouted the optical lead from amp to DVD and I have full surround again, so that is good. The TV is just using its own sound at the moment (which is not exactly fantastic:(). The amp does not have a HDMI socket, but does have the extra port for the other optical lead.
I guess that the end result will be full surround on the DVD but basic front/centre and subwoofer on HD channels.
 
andy700 said:
I had a quick switch around today Rich, and I need an extra optical lead. I have rerouted the optical lead from amp to DVD and I have full surround again, so that is good. The TV is just using its own sound at the moment (which is not exactly fantastic:(). The amp does not have a HDMI socket, but does have the extra port for the other optical lead.
I guess that the end result will be full surround on the DVD but basic front/centre and subwoofer on HD channels.
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The thing is Andy, as long as you got an audio out on the TV then that will go into the Amp, just make sure it is an optical input and not output which is spare on the amp. Regarding 5.1 from the TV, you have to realise that Freeview HD pushes out a Dolby Digital Plus signal, which is intended for most modern Amps to decode that into surround. Now I am not saying it wont work on yours but it may well be the cause if you cannot get it. The other thing is that you will only get the ocassional sounds on the rear speakers with the majority of stuff that is broadcast.
 
Im thinking of splashing out on Q Acoustics speaker setup, 2 x 2020i as the front pair, one 2000C middle and 2 x 2010i rear surrounds. I already have a fairly stonking sub-woofer, a BK electronics Gemini II, and I think these will be a good setup with it. Anyone here got them and can comment?

This will leave me with 5 spare speakers. My amp, a Yamaha V671 supports front "high" speakers, so maybe I could use my current rears (Gales satellite 10) as front highs? New speakers will be black and these are black so thats good.

I'll then have 2 mission M72's and a Gale 3050C in beech finish gathering dust.

Cheers
 
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u8myufo said:
The thing is Andy, as long as you got an audio out on the TV then that will go into the Amp, just make sure it is an optical input and not output which is spare on the amp. Regarding 5.1 from the TV, you have to realise that Freeview HD pushes out a Dolby Digital Plus signal, which is intended for most modern Amps to decode that into surround. Now I am not saying it wont work on yours but it may well be the cause if you cannot get it. The other thing is that you will only get the ocassional sounds on the rear speakers with the majority of stuff that is broadcast.
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Cheers Rich. Yep, there are two optical inputs on the amp - one for SAT (satellite I presume), and one for DVD. I have the optical linking the DVD at the moment, so the other one (when I buy it) will go from the TV output to the amp SAT input.
I was wondering if just a fraction of the HD output would make the full surround "kick in".
 
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