4.1 'Surround Sound'

Slipery99

Hey everyone,

So I recently came upon a pretty decent deal up here in Canada. I got mint RTI 6's and a PSW 111 for $250. I have mission 780's as my rear surrounds. They are all being powered by a sony strdh520 (not that great).

Now I am just curious, I am 90% doing HT, and the most obvious link that I am missing is a center channel which really sucks considering everything is 5.1. I would love to get a CSI A6, but with money being tight, I will have to wait until Christmas before I can afford it. Hopefully I can get a boxing day deal at the same time on an A4 or an A6.

Until then, I need to make due with my 4.1 system.

I have heard of a way to have a 'phantom' center channel by sending the signal to the two front speakers. I am not sure how to do this exactly.

In media player classic I can set the audio options manually, so would I stick this to 5.1, and then on my receiver how would I set it up so that the center signal is being distributed? Put 5.1 as my setting but then disable the center speaker manually?

I am awaiting a wire cutter, so I won't be able to connect my rear speakers until this weekend, but I thought I would ask so I can have it set up properly.

Also, I have heard that it is better to remove the metal plate between the binding posts on the RTI 6's and connect them with wire. Right now I just have bare wire going through the hole and I am **** the top down on it. If I am going to connect the top and bottom binding posts with wire, do I need banana plugs or do I just fit in the second wire with the 1st one (making sure that they are the same polarity of course).

Thank you for the help.

falconcry72

DSkip wrote: »

Letting us know what receiver you have would help. On my HK 240, you can set the center channel to off and it does it automatically. You shouldn't have to do any crazy wiring jobs.

Same with my receiver. Setting the center to "off" sends its signal to the fronts.

It's only beneficial to gid rid of the metal jumpers and use wire if the wire is better than the solid jumpers; cheapo wire isn't going to help any.

Ronster267

If money is tight you can still get a hell of a center channel speaker that would blend well with your setup. I can think of the CS1, and CS2. Both can be had for 100 bucks or less. If you want an exact cosmetic match, well... Christmas IS only 4 months away! Oh, the Polk CS1,and CS2 are av available at www.newegg.com. Enjoy your setup!

Slipery99

Thanks for the help.

I did mention my receiver in the original article.. It is a lowly Sony STRDH520. It is the most I could afford being a student. I don't have any sort of "off" function for the speaker, all I can really do is set it to 4.1. Perhaps it will automatically send it to the front LR in this case?

Anyways, I actually just picked up a Polk CS245i off of kijiji for $60. Not the greatest center speaker and I am not sure how well it matches, but it will have to do for now.

I have a new dilemma though. Thanks for your patience and hopefully you can help.

I am currently sitting about 8 feet from the TV. I just bought a wall mount so that I can put the center speaker under the TV, so it might be moving back a couple of inches, but that is about it. I have the Front L and R speakers positioned on either side of the TV on the same TV Bench so that the center of the speakers are 4 feet apart. Now that I am getting a center speaker in the middle, is this too close to have my FCR positioned? From what I am reading it will be. I have the oppurtunity to purchase some decent stands for $40 that will fit my RTI 6's, but if I do put them beside the bench then they will be up against the front of a bookshelf (on either side). If you can imagine it, this means that my front speakers will be sitting about 7 feet apart if I buy these stands, but they will be pushed out from the center speaker a bit more. The compromise is that this is kind of awkward for spacing putting it in front of the bookshelves, and also I feel like while this will be better for the sweet spot, it won't be as nice for friends listening on the outside. As well, I have a couch running along the wall to the right, so it places my FR speaker almost in line with the far arm rest on that couch.

Basically I think it is asthetically more pleasing to have the speakers sitting on the stand next to the TV, but I am wondering if in terms of soundstage and 5.1 audio if it is worth the $40 to have them on the stands and at 7 feet apart.

I am 7'6" away from the center speaker if I have that pushed to the front of the TV bench. I will actually be pretty close to that number for the front speakers because they are placed farther apart.

I have to decide if I would like to get them by tomorrow, so any help would be great.

Here is a picture I just took on my cell for help. Sorry for the horrible quality, something wrong with my camera on my phone. As you can see, the speakers nestle in nicely right now (although I know this probable isn't good for acoustics). So if I were to put them on stands, they would be on either side just to the inside of the bookshelf.

My subwoofer is in the corner between the couch and the shelf.

Slipery99

*double post by mistake.

Slipery99

Sorry, just to add.

Another option is putting it in the actually bookshelf by removing the 2nd shelf, but I thought that this would be the worst of all 3 options in terms of acoustics.

HTguru1982

Stands will work best. The soundstage will improve greatly with the front l/r speakers placed further apart.

Ronster267

Ditto