Advice on My Vintage (Not Really) HT and Toslink 5.1 Question (1 Viewer)

Hello. I am just getting back to home theater by breaking out my old system and adding a few new pieces. Believe it or not, it's been years since I owned a TV. The new piece is a Samsung H6203 in 50 inches. Also a lot of Monoprice cables and speaker wire. My old stuff is:


Onkyo TX SR600 (No HDMI)

JVC XVFA90BK (DVD Player)

Polk Audio RTi28 Bookshelf Speakers (Mains)

Polk Audio CSi 30 (Center)

Polk Audio FXi 30 (Surrounds with the Bipole / Dipole thing)

Infinity BU2 Subwoofer


Tonight I put together the cables and wire. The wire is 12 AWG in wall from Monoprice, and I used sheathing and bananas.


Two questions, please:


1. All speakers, cables, and wires are functional according to sound checks from the receiver, but I can't get 5.1 from either the TV or the DVD player. Both are sending sound to the receiver by Toslink optical cable, which seemed the best option without an HDMI capable receiver. Can I get surround sound this way? It seems maybe not. I tried some Netflix from the smart TV and I tried Zero Dark Thirty since it's a newish DVD, but I can't even get dialog out of the center so it seems something is wrong.


2. More of an open request for advice on improvements. Nothing is really wowing me here. What do the gurus think I should upgrade first, receiver, mains, amplifier? Obviously the lack of HDMI is a little crazy in 2015, so maybe the receiver should be first?


Thanks for your time, I appreciate any advice on how best to set this up, whether Toslink is going to work and so on.

The fact you aren't getting 5.1 from the TV and DVD player is a set up issue...of, apparently not done any.

The TV is only going to send 5.1 from its own tuner...and maybe(but doubtful) an app or two. You'll have to use DPL.

The DVD player needs set to not downmix to 2.0 PCM.

As for updates...

Speakers are forever, unless they have a problem. My "newest" speakers are a decade older than yours.

AVR and a BD player.

Not having HDMI is just a PITA these days, so yes to receiver just for that reason.


As for the sound, #1 is to perform a set-up, that might be your problem right there. With an older receiver you may need a calibration disk. (Or get a new receiver and use the auto-calibration.)


#2 (speakers) and #3 (room) are tied in my opinion. If you don't like the sound, it's probably the speakers. But a room which is too "soft" or "hard", or just speaker layout could be a problem also; and it's cheaper to restructure a room than buy new speakers. (Of course, it's more fun to buy new speakers!)

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate the advice. Solved my problem and helped me with my next upgrade research.