Cable, DVD, TV & AVR Connections... (1 Viewer)

[Steve Penn]

Newbie to the group here. I just purchased a Denon 3803 AVR, Denon DVD 1200 Progressive Scan Player and Paradigm Professional Series speakers (Phantom Tower Mains, CC170 Center, PDR 12 Sub and ADP 170 Surrounds.)

Pretty sure this is gonna do the trick and am excited for final delivery. I plan to upgrade to a HD-ready flat screen soon, but for the moment have only a four year old Samsung 27" CRT box with a simple coax and composite three-way in and two-way audio out. I have Comcast cable with the standard box with coax in/out and composite three-way outs.

How should I connect? (I presume for audio, of course, wires for the mains, center and surrounds, RCA single line LFE out to sub from receiver). More interested in proper A/V outs/ins from cable box and DVD player to TV. All into the receiver? Not sure.

Can't wait for a new TV with component connects ... and the big screen but want to do this right for now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Justin_D]

Are you sure your cable box has coaxial (digital) outs? I just ask because mine doesn't, and if Comcast is futzin me over, there is gonne be heck to pay . Anyway, if it is coax, thats definetly the way to go. If not, then you only have 1 option :frowning: For the sub, you should get a Y-Splitter, you get a fuller signal.

DVD player should go components directly to new TV if possible, but can be routed through the receiver if you run out of jacks. Audio can be either optical or coax, whatever jacks and budget permits. They sound just about identical.

This is how I would set it up

DVD Player --> Component Cable --> Component-ins on TV
DVD Player --> Component/Opticle Cable --> Component/Opticle In on Reciever
Cable Box --> Red/White RCA outs --> Receiver ins

You can just hook up the cable box to the TV like your normally would.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Justin, when he says coax, he means the RF coax, not the digital audio coax. It also appears he does not have component in on the TV.

Steve,

I would do the following:

DVD->Receiver - via composite video, digital audio (optical or coax)

Cable box->Receiver - via composite video, RCA audio

Receiver->TV - via composite video, RCA audio (if you ever want to use the TV's speakers)

An alternative for the audio on the cable box is to run it to the TV, then to the receiver via the TV audio outs. This will preserve any PIP functions or close captioning you may have/want.

 

[Steve Penn]

Thanks, guys. You are right, Jeff. I did mean RF coax. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks.

So I still should run a single RCA line out from the sub LFE in the preamp area of the 3803 directly to the subwoofer, correct? The PDR 12 only has one line input and two speaker connections. My understanding is that I shouldn't use the speaker-level inputs, but rather the line-level input.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Yes, use the RCA line-out on the receiver for the sub. You then have to set up the receiver so the sub is on and the crossover is set correctly (speakers set to "small", sub set to "on").

 

[Steve Penn]

Brilliant. Will do. Thanks, Jeff. I really appreciate it.