Hello! I'm the new guy! (1 Viewer)

[Teddy]

Hello! I just wanted to intoduce myself, I just joined the board and I'm currently setting up my home theater and thought this seemed like a good place to start!

I purchased a used Harman/Kardon AVR 310 off eBay
It's hooked up to 2 Harman/Kardon HKB6 speakers
I also have the HKC center channel and HKB4s for the surounds
All the speakers were purchased new from Harman Direct also on eBay
I haven't hooked up the surrounds or the center because I still need to get mounting brackets for the surround speakers.
Is there any advantage to hooking up the center without the surrounds? or will it just sound funny?
Most of my video equipment isn't hooked up at the moment because I have been a little short on cash lately and the cables are all pretty pricey, also I have an older TV which I plan to replace in the next couple of weeks and I want to be sure that I don't need to replace what I've just bought.
I currently have a Motorola Digital cable box, Sony DVD player (about 5 years old), basic Sharp VCR (I don't watch too many VHS movies), a PS2 and a GameCube. any advice on hooking these things up would be greatly appreciated as I'm very new to all of this.
The only thing hooked up to my system now is an Apple AirPort Express and an iPod, and those sound great!
Thanks for all your help and I look forward to getting to know all of you!

 

[Paul-D]

Welcome!!

as far as audio goes, use the best possible connection (that being digital) for the things you use the most. For instance, i would be sure to use a digital connection for the cable box and DVD player for sure. I don't have a PS2 or GC, so you'll have to look yourself for the best connection there.
Good luck to you, and keep us informed

 

[Ryan Leemhuis]

Make sure the Gamecube is hooked up to the receiver as it uses PLII in many games

 

[Teddy]

What's PL II? I looked in the glossary, but I didn't see it...

 

[Ryan Leemhuis]

a matrix decoding method to derive a simulated 5.1 out of a stereo source. You would be amazed how well it works on gamecube. In Star wars:Rouge leader you would swear its 5.1 DD

 

[Teddy]

OK, cool, I had noticed when I got the GC that it didn't have 5.1 and I was a little disappointed, so I'm glad to see there is another option!

 

[Ryan Leemhuis]

just look for games with the Pro logic II symbol on the back and turn it on in the game, turn it on on your receiver and be wowed

 

[Teddy]

I've only got 2 games right now, but I checked the back of the games and they both have PL II so now all I need to do is hook up my surround speakers. Should I hook up the center channel without them? What is the best way to hook up the GC? just use the supplied cables?

 

[Ryan Leemhuis]

yup the supplied cables work fine. Just hook it into the receiver's R/L audio inputs and the video into the corresponding video input. Then ouput it to the TV. Turn on PLII and your set to go(you usually have to enable surroudn sound in the game itself too)

To work properly you should have all 5 speakers and a subwoofer hooked up or more

 

[Ted Lee]

us ted's gotta stick together! yes, you can still hook up the center. in surround sound, it's generally considered the most important speaker anyway. just make sure you tell your receiver you're only using three speakers, instead of five. that way the receiver will redirect the rear channels to your front speakers - at least that way you'll hear all the sounds.

don't worry about buying uber-fancy cables. the gold plated ones from radio shack are a good value, as are the acoustic research brand available at best buy. believe me, those will work perfectly.

check out the beginner's faq link, there's lots of good info in there about how to hookup all this stuff, including one written by me. bottom line is that i would run all the audio and video through the receiver first.

hope that helps some...if not just ask!

edit: here's the url: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...595#post560595

 

[Teddy]

Thanks for all your help guys! I now have my GC and PS2 hooked up along with my center speaker. I set the receiver to dolby 3 as recommended by my manual if there are no surround speakers. I was also able to find Monster Lightspeed optical cable on eBay for only $17, so I snagged that for my DVD player, hopefully it will arrive quickly! I'll head out during the week to see if I can find some of the less expensive brands of cables that you guys have recommended.
I've only got one problem, I put my center speaker on my TV and the top of the picture turned green, The speaker is video shielded so I didn't think this would be a problem. My TV is an older Magnavox that I've had for about 7 years or so and it's only a 20' set, the speaker is nearly as wide as the whole TV, could it be the size of the TV compared to the speaker that's causing the problem? or the age on the TV? I put a box under the speaker which has gotten rid of most of the green, but there is still some in the corners and the cardboard box isn't exactly great looking either. Do you think when I get a new TV it will solve the problem?

 

[Ryan Leemhuis]

I would say its the fact that your speaker is either poorly shielded or not shielded. I would get a new center channel or move it up a bit higher

 

[Teddy]

Thanks for all your help guys! I'm going to look for a shelf I can put my center channel on and I'll let you know how it goes!