RM6900 and Onkyo SR503

Dave Sage

I'm a newbee with a couple of questions. Generally, I don't feel like I'm receiving true surround sound with cds and digital cable channels.

1. Should I hook the two satellite speakers that came with the 6900 package up to the surround right and left or surround back left/right? My surround speakers are set to back left/right. Will this make a difference?

2. I've used yellow, red, white RCA cables to hook up my dvd and cable box to my receiver. Do I need a digital audio cable to get true dolby surround gound? My cable box and dvd/cd do not appear to have an optical output, but do have a digital audio output.

Thank you,

Dave

McLoki

Dave Sage wrote:

1. Should I hook the two satellite speakers that came with the 6900 package up to the surround right and left or surround back left/right? My surround speakers are set to back left/right. Will this make a difference?

I would hook them up as surround left/right and be sure to set the back left and right as off or none in your AVR.

2. I've used yellow, red, white RCA cables to hook up my dvd and cable box to my receiver. Do I need a digital audio cable to get true dolby surround gound? My cable box and dvd/cd do not appear to have an optical output, but do have a digital audio output.

Yes - you HAVE to have a digital cable to get digital surround. Optical or Coaxial does not matter (use witchever one both your DVD and AVR supports)

You will also see a marked improvment in the way your picture looks if you can use a better cable to hook it to your TV.

The lowest connection would be the single cable that you are using.

There is a better single cable option called S-Video (end looks a little like the plug at the end of a keyboard).

The next step up is to use component video. It is 3 cables all going from your dvd to your TV. I know this sounds like what you are using now (and may look like it) but all it carries is video signal, no sound at all (that is taken care of by your digital audio cable)

The next step up and current top end (most DVD players and TV's more than a year old do not support this one) would be DVI or HDMI.

I would use the best connection that both your TV and DVD player support.

good luck and welcome to club polk...

Michael

Edit - forgot to mention, digital cable and CD's will be in stereo. You can set your AVR to do 5.1 or 7.1 processing, but it is still not a true 5.1 or 7.1. For that you need a digital cable and a source coded with 5, 6, or 7 discreet channels. (will usually say Dolby Digital or DTS if this is the case)

Dave Sage

Michael,

Thanks for the information!

I will try switching my speakers so that they're on the surround left/right outputs and I'll turn the back surround off in the Receiver setup. I'll let you know if there's much of a difference.

I seem to have a bit of a problem now. My DVD player has a digital co-ax for my audio out. I can hook that up to my Onkyo "digital in" co-ax audio input. It's interesting to me that the one digital co-ax output provides better sound that two analog cables (left and right).

Unfortunately, my cable box also only has a digital co-ax audio output. The problem is that the Onkyo receiver only has one co-ax digital audio input.

Are there any other options for digital surround, other than buying a new dvd/cd with an optical out?

Thanks,
Dave

John K.

Dave, welcome. You haven't given full details, but what you've described wouldn't give you surround sound at all. If you've got your surround speakers assigned as back surrounds, in most modes they're getting nothing to play with CDs and cable channels. To get surround sound from two channel sources such as CD, FM and TV you should use the DPLII mode, which will extract surround ambience present in two channel material(in varying degrees)and steer it to the side(not back) surrounds where it belongs. If possible, your side surrounds should be positioned 2-3' above ear level, to the side of the listening position and slightly(maybe 1-2')behind.

As to the cables, in the yellow/red/white set the yellow is of 75 ohms impedance, which digital specs call for, while the red and white may also be the same 75 ohms or may be lower(in that case they'll usually be slightly thinner than the yellow). In either case, for the typical distances of a few feet involved in home hookups the impedance isn't critical and you don't have to use a cable specifically labeled as "digital"; what you have should be fine. At least it would be if you had two coaxial inputs. Consider the inexpensive coaxial to optical converter already mentioned, from sources such as RadioShack, Parts Express etc., to allow the use of the optical input on the 503.

Dave Sage

John,

Thanks....I just hooked up the two surround speakers as surround speakers, not back/rear speakers. I don't really notice much difference yet, but I have not tried any dvds or any dolby encoded tv. Yes, I do have more listening modes that make use of the speakers.

In regard to the speakers, from your information, I gather that the standard RCA cables that I'm currently using for Left/right analog audio inputs would work for the one digital audio cable input.

I must say that I'm a bit surprised that this Onkyo model does not have more than 1 digital audio input. With only 1, you cannot hook more than 1 input device up to the receiver that will deliver digital dolby sound, unless existing components also have optical outputs.

I guess I'll look at the digital/audio converters.

Do the DVD players with component outputs (sub/front/center/etc.) cable outputs have any better sound than using either a digital coax audio output or optical audio output?

Thanks,
Dave

John K.

Dave, keep in mind that with two channel sources you shouldn't expect to hear musicians or whatever coming loudly from the surround speakers. Most of the sound in a concert hall reaches the listeners as reflected sound from the sides and other room surfaces rather than the front, but the effect is relatively subtle. There is a 5-channel or all-channel stereo mode which simply duplicates the left front in the left side surround and likewise for the right, and that of course would be loud, but it isn't a true surround effect.

Also, note that both the coaxial and optical outputs/inputs are "digital", so your 503 has four of them, but three are optical inputs. Here's an example of a converter, which would be used with an optical cable, such as the one shown beneath the converter, to feed the receiver input.

On your question about "component" connections, that term actually refers to video, not audio, connectors. What you may be thinking of is the six analog connections(5 speakers plus sub)which are used to carry DVD-A/SACD signals, which can't be sent over the digital connections on most equipment. So, this isn't relevant to your questions.

Dave Sage

John,

You are correct; I was referring to the 6 analog audio connections.

I have learned a lot through this discussion and I'm now experimenting with the different options.

My only concern now is this: if I hook my dvd and cable box to the receiver using digital audio, then I'm not sure I'll be able to send sound to my zone b (two outdoor speakers). I think the Receiver will only send analog sound to the second zone. Will it be sufficient to keep my analog cables connected along with the digital audio cable. Will the receiver select the appropriate inputs depending on the zone I would like to power?

reeltrouble1

Dave,

I am getting a feeling you are looking for musical sounds from your multi-channel system. If this is the case just forget all this nonsense these audio nuts offer and listen to me. (j/k) actually, they have given you good advice.

I recommend you look into sacd/dvd-audio using the 6 analog outputs you mentioned. If you like multi-channel there are several discs you will enjoy. DSOTM, Rumours, Hotel California, Queen, Diana Krall, Norah Jones, there is alot to choose from.

RT1