First time theater setup. Help?

xaronax

Hi! Blew most of my tax refund on speakers. Will be setting up my theater system Friday as soon as the UPS man arrives with my spool of wire. I know a decent amount about what I'm doing, but I have a few minor questions!

First, my setup;

2 x Monitor 70's for front L/R
CS2 Center
PSW505 Sub
2 x Monitor 40 Rear L/R
All connected to an Onkyo SR-607 AVR

Ok, questions;

1. My 70's can be bi-amped. With a powered sub, should I do this? If I do, what connection (LFE, inline wiring, pre-out?) and settings (on the AVR, SUB on/off?) should I use? Basically which is the best way to wire the fronts and the sub?

2. What does the phase switch (0 or 180) on the sub mean? I can't find a decent explanation except "try it and find out!" lol...

3. I will eventually buy another set of 40's for 7.1, and they will need to be on stands, does anyone have a nice pair that are cheap and effective?

4. I am intrigued by the DPL IIz, what speakers would you match with my setup for the L/R height channels? I'm assuming something lightweight and 2 way?

5. I haven't decided whether I want to run the wire for the rears through my attic or underneath the house. Input/suggestions/warnings?

6. Got a great deal on a spool of 12 gauge wire from monoprice. Will this be good for wiring everything?

7. Will girls go out with me now?

Thank you very much if you made it this far. I really appreciate any help!

packetjones

Welcome to the club. Here are some short and sweet answers.

1. Typically bi-amping with a receiver does not make a noticeable difference. Use the sub out on the receiver to the LFE in on the sub
2. If the subwoofer is out of phase with the speaker system, bass frequencies will cancel each other. the switch will allow you to put the sub and speakers in phase. It is basically a try it and see if it makes a difference. It is based on the location of the sub more than anything else.
3. I recently purchased some sanus stands from racksandstands.com. They have tons of options.
4. No real comment on this. Look at the OWM series as there are tons of mounting options.
5. no real comments on this either. I would do what ever is easiest. lol
6. This is what I am using currently. There is a huge discussion about speaker wire and what is good/bad. Start with the monoprice wire and see what you think.
7. With the new system wouldn't you rather they stay inside with you?

Congrats on the new setup. Hope you enjoy it.

kcoc321

^^ what he said plus
#3. Research here about 7.1 before yo worry about it. there are numerous threads. Most concenses is that it doesn't really add much.
#5. I would run them in the attic, since you will be mounting the rears closer to the ceiling than the floor. I would also rather climb thru an attic, rather than a crawlspace.,but that's just me.

wutadumsn23

I am with the guys on this one. I agree with the advice given so far and will emphasize a few points. Before you jusmp into 7.1, make sure you will benifit from it. A properly setup 5.1 will outperform a cramped up 7.1 anyday. IMHO, the height/presence/width speakers (whatever you want to call them, lol) aren't all they are cracked up to be. If you want to try it though, the Monitor 30's are wall mountable out of the box and probably would do a good job. LFE is the way to go with the sub, connected via sub cable from the pre out on the back of your AVR to the 505's LFE IN. The speaker wire you got will do a good job, and I agree that Bi Wiring with an AVR isn't going to make much of a difference. The only drawback to that 607 is that it has no pre outs for adding an external amp, so if you ever wanted to send some real power to those 70's and amp would not be possible. Looks like you have a pretty good rig on the way (very similar to mine) and good luck with the setup. Welcome to Club Polk.

-Jeff

harpdawg

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum, my first post. I also just blew most of my tax refund on new HT system. I went from a 27" CRT TV connected to the old Sony stereo receiver (now powering the sub) to the 50" plasma & surround AVR. Wow, didn't know what I had been missing! I do have the height speakers connected & the 607 set to PLllz. Contrary to others opinions I've read here & on other forums, I do think they make a big difference. I watched "Gamer" (7.1 dts HD Master Audio) last night & this movie is a good one to showcase your HT! Bullets wizzed around the room at all angles. Helicopters sounded like they were directly overhead. I tried the same scenes on both the regular dts HD & the PLllz, and the height speaker do add some spacial & overhead positioning of things happening above you. The other night I turned on the end of "Reign of Fire" & in one scene the dragon growls from behind you then flies overhead (surrounds), then down in front (fronts), then pulls up over some building (front heights). At first I had the height mistakenly connected to the rear surround in the AVR, but now sound much better. After hearing what they can do, I'm now going to get 2 more & connected the rear surrounds; I'm thinking the AVR will choose either the rears or heights depending on the Onkyo 607 setting. Does anyone know if my thinking is right on this? By the way I'm bitstreaming from the PS3 & letting the Onkyo do the decoding; I like the cool lights on the reciever display instead of just always reading "All Ch PCM".

ViperZ

Just 1 comment: you have to decode in the PS3 and then PCM it out. PS3 cannot do a full bitstream over HDMI of DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD, unless it's a new version PS3.

harpdawg

Yep, mine is the new slim one; think mine is rev 2.85 FRMWR. Hit the display last night ("Gamer" BD) & sure enough the PS3 said 7.1 Dolby dts HD Master Audio bitstream & the display/LED's on the Onkyo said the same thing; that's until I switched it to PLllz, then that's what the display reads, but the dts HD & Master Audio LED's remain lit. The PS3 was defaulted to PCM, but once switched to bitstreaming it does. I could do it either way, I just like to see the LED's light up on the reciever. What's wierd is the Onkyo somehow knows what I have set for different channels on the Direct TV receiver as when switching channels it reverts to what was set the last time the channel was viewed??????