New Setup (1 Viewer)

[paco mcgraw]

Hi everyone!

I am a long time lurker, reading and gaining all the info I can. This is just to make sure I have everything correct before I buy.

What I currently have is a Logitech Z-5500 setup which is ok but I want to add a TV to the mix and upgrade the sound quality. I would still like to be able to use the system with my laptop for music and maybe video out to the TV for dvd/blue ray. For the most part, my usage is 70% music and 30% movies.

My room is 10'x12'x10', with one door leading to a hall.

What I was thinking of getting is:

Receiver: Denon AVR-791
Speakers: SVS: 5.0 SBS -02 surround system
Sub: SVS: PC12-NSD sub
TV: Sony Bravia 46" (or something similar in size)

My plan is to have the laptop connect to the receiver with HDMI for video and toslink for audio. (My laptop doesn't send audio over HDMI for some reason).

Cable box to the receiver via HDMI.

Receiver to TV via HDMI.

Wire the speakers with 12 gauge in wall wire with banana plugs (already have the wire and plugs from a friend).

RCA to sub.

Speakers should be set to small and crossed over at about 60hz-100hz, depending on what sounds best.

Tune with Audyssey.

All the wires either I have or I will get from monoprice.com.


The TV is really the least of my worries. I am still using a 24" CRT that has blown speakers and the picture quality is complete crapola. ANYTHING made in the last 5 years is going to be an upgrade, my main concern is getting the audio part correct.

Is this setup ok, or is there something I should change?

Thanks,

Sam

 

[Al.Anderson]

You've made great choices on your new equipment (the usual disclaimer that you should hear the speakers first, or make sure you can return them), and your connection plans are also on target. (Unless you're running over 100 feet, I think 12 guage is overkill. But many people like to over-spec the speaker wire, so nothing terrible there.)


I was confused by the video out portion of this statement:

I would still like to be able to use the system with my laptop for music and maybe video out to the TV for dvd/blue ray. For the most part, my usage is 70% music and 30% movies.

Not being sure what you meant I'll still add that given what you intend to buy I don't know why you'd want to run anything to those older speakers. While they are great computer speakers, they don't hold a candle to what you're getting.


Also, if you are used to playing music off of compressed mp3s, you will find that format not as satisfying when you get this system, as the limitations of the compression will be much more evident. If you haven't already, consider using a lossless format for playing through the receiver. I've just started toying around with FLAC and I like the sound; although I'm having some trouble with tags. (So the recommendation is lukewarm overall; but for sound it's night and day better.)

 

[paco mcgraw]

Thanks for the response Al!


For the video out, I meant to hook up my laptop to the new speakers. I am not keeping the Logitech speakers. I plan to take HDMI to the receiver and use a Toslink cable for the audio on the laptop. My laptop does not send an audio signal over HDMI. I assume that is because the video and audio processing is on different cards or chips. I am pretty sure this will work. I have the laptop connected to the Logitech now with a toslink cable and it works fine. I have used HDMI in the past to hook up to a tv before, so I think this should work. At least it does in theory.


For the wire, the only reason I am going to use 12 gauge is because I got most of a 100' roll for $10 with 16 banana plugs. I am only going to use 10 of the plugs though. Otherwise I would get 16 gauge wire from monoprice along with a couple of other things I need from them.


With the FLAC format for music, can I just use a converting program to change all of my MP3s? I don't have all of the CDs anymore since I have lent some of them out and never got them back, and my dog chewed a few up when she was a puppy. I know that iTunes can convert all my music to AAC, although I am not really sure what the difference is; I am not a computer genius, just someone who knows enough to get himself into trouble.


Anyways, thanks for the tips!


Sam

 

[Al.Anderson]

For the video out, I meant to hook up my laptop to the new speakers. I am not keeping the Logitech speakers.

Aha, I get you now. Sounds good.

For the wire, the only reason I am going to use 12 gauge is because I got most of a 100' roll for $10 with 16 banana plugs.

~100 ft of 12g in-wall for $10? Yes, use that wire!

With the FLAC format for music, can I just use a converting program to change all of my MP3s?

You could do such a conversion, but it won't help any. Once you lose the data in ripping to a lossly format, you can't get it back. I suggest just playing around with some lossless formats and seeing if you can hear the difference. Rip something in standards mp3 (however you normally do) and then rip it with something like FLAC and compare the two. (I think winamp offers a free version that rips to FLAC.) If you agree with me that you can hear the difference then use it when you rip future CDs. At this point I'm still ripping to both formats so I can use mp3 on my portable players, as I haven't had much luck finding portables that support FLAC.