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Denon 590 - Beginner's Surround Sound Setup

post #1 of 9
3/13/10 at 5:48pm
Thread Starter 
Hi All,

I recently purchased a Denon 590 from Best Buy and I'm having major issues with the sound. I have a PS3 connected to the HDP slot, DVR to the Cable/Sat slot, Xbox 360 to the component and a Wii to the standard A/V slots. Then I route via HDMI to my Samsung 720p Plasma.

I'm using the Boston Acoustic speakers that came with the purchase. The issue is the sound; no matter which settings I seem to try it leads to two scenarios. The rear speakers not playing at all - or them working faintly but the any "Voice" from a show/movie seem to scream out of the center channel. Nothing seems to equalize either; leaving me to have to lower/raise volume in between shows and commercials. The setting on the Denon display reads PLIIX-M as this seems to work the best. I've tried to do the Audyssey auto setup but it's asking for a microphone which I apparently don't have. Any suggestions is greatly welcomed.

P.S. I also noticed my Blu-Ray movies from the PS3 come up very, very dark. Is this a TV limitation due to it having to down convert to 720p?

Thanks!

M
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post #2 of 9
3/14/10 at 10:14am
Michael,

Superficially, your description of the sound suggests either that your speakers are not connected to the receiver correctly or that the receiver is broken.

Just to start, I'd suggest unplugging all of your speaker wires from the receiver. (Turn it off, first, of course!)
Connect just the front Left and Right speakers, each with its own pair of wires, to the corresponding Left and Right front speaker binding posts on the back of the receiver. Do not connect the center or surround speakers. Does that work?

The automatic Audyssey Dynamic sound level adjustments for commercials, etc. can't work until after you've run the Audyssey setup.

The microphone for Audyssey should be in a small white box about 2"x2"x3" on a side. The microphone itself is a small silver module. It doesn't look like the kind of microphone that is used at concerts.  If it is missing, you need to contact BestBuy and find out why.  (Did you buy a reduced price"open box" perhaps? That might explain the missing microphone and bad sound if somebody returned the receiver to BB because it didn't work.)

Exactly what models and how many of each of Boston Acoustic speakers do you have? I dunno what speakers your local BB might have provided.

Most TVs have separate brightness settings for each of their different inputs. With all of the video inputs coming through the receiver to just a single input, though, only one setting can be applied. Your description sounds like the video signals coming from your PS3 are different from the ones it generates for games. Is that the case?

Some modern movies are intended to be quite dark, though. Exactly what titles are you watching that seem dark to you?

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post #3 of 9
3/14/10 at 11:54am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, Selden.

You actually called it right on. The Best Buy was an Open Box item. I suppose that's what I get trying to save $100. I'm going to Best Buy in about an hour to return it and get a find another receiver.

The speakers are the ones from this set: http://www.amazon.com/Denon-DHT-590BA-Channel-Receiver-Acoustics/dp/B002GE5A3K

Oddly enough, those speakers came in the Best Buy box minus subwoofer. So I plan to return it all and find a complete new system. My current speakers are only rated at 3 ohms which apparently need to be upgraded to support the current receivers.

Thanks again for the help and I'll follow up once I have my new equipment!

Michael
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post #4 of 9
3/15/10 at 8:05pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, well I returned the Opened Box unit and picked up the combo unit with all the BA speakers. This set did have the microphone and I was able to fire the Audyssey program and the sound is wonderful. The voices on certain shows seem to occasionally be lower than ideal but I imagine that has to do with the show itself.

A new issue has presented itself. While everything is great on my PS3/DVR connections (HDMI), my XBox/Wii have no audio. They are both connected via Component cable now (1/2 respectively). I went back and forth over the manual but I can't find a solution as to why only the Component connections won't play. Any ideas is appreciated!

Michael
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post #5 of 9
3/16/10 at 3:17am
Michael,

You don't mention what audio connections you're using for the XBox and Wii. Only HDMI mixes audio with video. The other video connection methods only provide video and require separate audio connections -- either digital (RCA or Toslink) or analog (red/white pairs).
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post #6 of 9
3/17/10 at 7:25pm
Thread Starter 
Selden,

Thanks again - I assumed the component cables did sound as well. I plugged in the RCA audio jacks and now everything is working great. I appreciate all the help and patience with a media theater newbie!

Michael
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post #7 of 9
3/18/10 at 6:49am
Michael,

You're very welcome.

If you connect your Xbox to your receiver using an optical digital audio connection (also called TosLink), you'll get better surround sound from it. Some information about that is at
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/hooking-up-xbox-360-sound.html

Optical cables are available at BestBuy. Their least expensive brands work fine: you don't need to buy their expensive ones.
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post #8 of 9
5/4/10 at 7:56am
Hi. There seems to be a lot of knowledge on this receiver so I'm taking it to the experts. I just bought the classic bestbuy open box Denon 590. Everything seems to be intact. I'm having what might be a simple problem but I'm stuck. As a basic setup, I have my tivo cable box connected with the rca cablesto the inputs on the 590. I have another rca connector from the monitor output to my Sony tv rca video in ( I know, old school ). I cannot get video. Audio works fine. I have the correct device selected, I'm using sat/cable input. I'm baffled... Any ideas? Thanx. Mike.
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post #9 of 9
5/4/10 at 9:23am
I don't know anthing about the Denon 590, but you usually have to map the input to the channel (the sat/cable setting could derive it's signal from HDMI1, HDMI2, Component1, Composite1, etc).  The receiver probably defaults to something other than composite1.
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