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Help setting up home theater with Panasonic CT-32HX42 and Aiwa NSX-V70 (1 Viewer)

Jim Elliott

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Jun 21, 2006
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3
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Jim Elliott
Hi,

I've just moved into a new house with a big family room in which I'd like to set up a decent home theater with the equipment I already own (i.e. I just moved into a new house and don't have the cash to buy a good home theater system right now and I'm making do with what I've got).

For a television, I've got a Panasonic CT-32HX42 which is a decent HDTV ready 32" flat screen (http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_CT...-20578356.html)
and for the audio I've got an Aiwa NSX-V70 (http://www.audioreview.com/cat/other..._2749crx.aspx).

Neither system is great, but the Panasonic has a good picture and the Aiwa has decent sound with DSP surround sound, BBE and so on.

I've read the simple introdcutions to setting up a home theater (e.g. this one: http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/...rspeakerlayout. php) but have a few questions about applying those ideas to the equipment I have.

Specifically, the Aiwa I have has no "center channel speaker" and no subwoofer. It does have to smaller surround sound speakers and two larger front speakers.

In my last house I had all four speakers on shelves about five feet high with the front speakers located above the corners of the television and the surround sound speakers a few feet further out from them, all along the same wall across from my couch. I had all kinds of problems hearing the dialog whenever I tried to use surround sound from the DVD player or from the television.

My question is mostly about the lack of the "center channel speaker." If I set things up in the standard configuration, front speakers above the television and surround sound speakers slightly behind the couch, then will this give a decent audio experience? Will I be able to have all the nice surround sound effects and hear the dialog?

In the past I've been disabling the speakers on the television, but I could enable those. If I did that, would they act as the "center channel speaker?"

Additionally, is there a best configuration of sound settings on the DVD player, stereo system and television? Each seems to have a few different settings; e.g. surround on/off, BBE on/off etc.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

Jim
 

KeithMoechnig

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Messages
123
As a note, don't put speakers up in the corner. with the system, you'll get the best sound you can get from that system. The speakers in the TV can act as a center, they should be too off-camber with the fronts. The fronts need to be around 2 feet from the sides of the TV.
For the settings, the DVD player, the subwoofer should be off, no center channel(if you don't set up the TV for the middle speaker) and all speakers set to large (no sub). The surround sound should be on, but I've never heard of BBE.
 

Charlie Campisi

Screenwriter
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Aug 20, 2004
Messages
1,645
You shouldn't use the tv's speakers as your center. There are lots of reasons including that they won't match the aiwa speakers, your volume among the speakers will be off, sounds will duplicated, etc. I think we actually have one of these systems from my wife's pre-married days. We even have it hooked up to a tv as the tv's speakers are shot. We only use the front speakers and it's maybe a slight improvement on what you would get from a tv. It's a music system, so the surround sound really isn't much benefit if your goal is to hear the surround effects the way they are supposed to be heard. This system is probably at least 10 years old and doesn't have Dolby pro logic or any kind of digital audio decoder. You could try it to see if you like it, but you would be falling way short of what even a $300 or $400 HTiB would get you. I also am betting that the speakers are not magnetically shielded, so don't put them too close to your tv, which sounds like a CRT.
 

Jim Elliott

Auditioning
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Jun 21, 2006
Messages
3
Real Name
Jim Elliott
The TV is a CRT, but I've never had problems from the speaker magnets even though they've been sitting on the shelf right above the TV. In any case, I'll be mounting them on the walls above and to the sides of the TV.

As with you Charlie, the Aiwa is my wife's from our pre-married days, so it's of the mid 1990's era.

Thanks for the tips about the TV speakers as the center speaker, or not as the center speaker as the case may be. I had wondered about the sound duplication issues and how the sound from the TV speakers would interfear with the sound from the Aiwa speakers.

I'm going to make due with what we've got (good or bad) for now because there's so many other things we're spending money on with the new house and because in a few years I hope to do a massive upgrade in our A/V systems. If nothing else I'll have the mounts for the speakers on the ceilings and walls just about where I want them when and if I get some new equipment.
 

Charlie Campisi

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 20, 2004
Messages
1,645
That makes sense. Just didn't want you to have unrealistic expectations or spend money trying to improve this system. I don't believe it even has digital audio inputs. You'd be better starting from the ground up when you get a tax refund, christmas gift, etc. As a stopgap, it likely has better speakers and some more power than your tv. Not sure if the mounts will translate to what you eventually get, but they might.
 

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