front speakers drowned out (1 Viewer)

[noob5684]

I am new to the home theaters, I have a 42" plasma with a sony dav-hdx500 dvd/reciever and polk audio r300 as my front left and right speakers with the polk audio cs10 center and the polk psw10 for sub with the polk monitor 30 as surround. I use my pc to watch blu-ray and dvd..


seems like the front gets drowned out from the action. my pc is hdmi. the actually video card is a xfx hd5870 xxx edition.

but on the computer sound settings it only comes up as a 2 channel. but you hear it wrap around you.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Welcome to Home Theater Forum Colin. Its very possible that you are sending out only two channels from your PC via HDMI, but your receiver is using Pro Logic II or some other surround mode to generate a realistic surround signal from it.


I'm not sure what you mean when you way the front gets drowned out by the action. Do you mean the surround speakers are drowning out the front? Is it just dialog that is being drowned out or all three speakers across the front?


Did you ever set speaker distances and calibrate/setup your receiver?

 

[noob5684]

Thank you for the Welcome. I am new to this. I read other forums and listening to others say how much Home theaters gets them off to be blunt. I was thinking that sounds like me. but thank you for the welcome.


Now you hit it right on spot. with PC via HMDI it is only supporting two channels after looking around, there is no setting to change it to a 5.1 surround setting. I have to do some more research on that issue.


Meaning "drowned out' it sounds like all three front speakers lose their vocal aspect I guess you could say. When a action part of the movie happens.


I did a custom calibration on my receiver not using the mic that was offered with the receiver. I am going to use it this time. and see what the difference is.. Thank you for your response.

 

[CB750]

Welcome Colin,


It appears that you have replaced the speakers that came with your very basic Sony HTib with a set of Polk speakers. I wonder if part of your problem might be a lack of compatibility between the Sony receiver that was designed to use Sony speakers with proprietary connections and the Polk speakers you have connected. The Sony appears to have some sort of an auto speaker calabration have you tired to use it.


I also wonder how you have connected your PC with a HDMI connection to the receiver as the Sony appears not to have any HDMI inputs. If you went through a HDMI connection on your TV, then the TV will only pass a stereo signal to your receiver. Also check out the sound card set up on your PC to see how it is set up.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I didn't catch that it was a HTiB (Home Theater in a Box). Good catch, thanks Bill!

 

[noob5684]

Thank you for the responses. Yes it is a HTib. I am Waiting to buy a receiver. Hopefully 2 weeks or sooner. cross your fingers for me please that it is sooner. I have the PC hooked up via tv and then out digital opt? to the receiver. I was reading through some threads on here, trying to figure it out. I think I am going to wait and just buy a nice receiver and give this HTib away.


thank you guys. time to start a new thread on what av receiver to buy. Thanks Again! I love this forum. Girlfriend is going to kill me, I should be saving up for a house but hey I Look at it like. Now we don't have to buy this stuff, when we get the house. bigger tv maybe a projector and bigger speakers..

 

[CB750]

Given your current set up even with an optical cable your TV will only pass 5.1 sound through the TV's internal tuner. For other sources like your PC the TV will down grade the signal to two channel.


A new receiver should solve your problems, as one of the major advantages is it will serve as the Hub of your system where all of your components are connected together and the receiver acts as the switch between your equipment. With a new receiver you would connect your receiver HDMI out to your TV HDMI input and your PC HDMI output to a HDMI input on the receiver. This would pass both the video and audio to the receiver with one cable and your TV becomes nothing more than a large monitor. Therefore when looking for a new receiver you are going to want one that has a sufficient number of connections to handle your current and future equipment needs.


Good luck on that new house, now is the time for the first time buyer to invest in real estate. Just remember three most important words in looking for a house. Location, Location, Location.