No Sound from Center Channel (1 Viewer)

[jeff123]

Hello,

I have a Kennwood HTB-404 which consists of a VR-507 receiver and a KS-505HT 5.1 channel speaker system. I moved my system several months ago and noticed that on some tv shows voices appear muffled. I just got around to looking into this today. I went through all the steps of making sure the speakers were setup correctly and the settings were correct for playing digital audio. They seem to be. But, after this closer check, the problem seems to be a bigger issue than I thought.

I have Comcast digital/HDTV and the audio from the cable box is hooked up to the Video 2 coaxial digital audio input. I play DVDs through my Xbox and the audio from the Xbox is hooked up to the cd/dvd optical digital input.

The problem is, when I watch an HD channel on the TV, nothing comes out of the center channel or the surround channel speakers. Likewise, when I play a DVD nothing comes out of the center channel or the surround channel speakers. I know that the speaker wires are set up correctly because I get tones in all of the speakers when I go through the setup.

Any advice is very much appreciated!

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[JGiampa]

Are you getting all 5 speakers when watching non HD channels?

I've got some obvious suggestions you might be annoyed with that they are so simple but sometimes we overlook things you know...

Is the receiver in stereo mode? Try selecting a "movie" mode or or another mode like Dolby Digital 5.1.

Also

Your problem could be as easy as hitting a button on your receiver that will select "speakers A/B"- make sure both are selected.

Joe

 

[jeff123]

Joe,

Thanks for your ideas! Both a & b speakers were selected, but your message made me think to try turning b off. It worked! Now the surround sound processes. I'm not sure why this worked, but it did. Thanks again.

Best,
Jeff

 

[bassman99floyd]

My receiver works the same way. If speaker A&B are selected, I only get stereo from speakers A. I'm sure the internal amp that would be used for Speakers B, runs the surround channels when Spk B is not used.

Glad it worked out for you...

 

[enrique1085]

I just bought an Onkyo HTR520 A/V reciever and have the same problem. I hooked up the two main front speakers to terminal A, and one of the three back speakers(6.1 System) to speaker B terminal. There is no audio from center speaker when the system is not in stereo mode. If the system can't use both terminals A and B at the same time, what use will terminal B have?

 

[Al.Anderson]

I hooked up the two main front speakers to terminal A, and one of the three back speakers(6.1 System) to speaker B terminal. There is no audio from center speaker when the system is not in stereo mode. If the system can't use both terminals A and B at the same time, what use will terminal B have?

Ignore the front-B channel for now you won't need it based on what you said you have). You should hook up your side speaker to the "Surround" connection and your rears to the "Rear Surround" connection. (I assume you don't have a center?) Then either run auto-config or manually set the channels.

 

[enrique1085]

Thanks, I'll do what you said and ignore the B terminal. I do have a center speaker I would like to be able to use simultaneously with all the other 5 speakers and subwoofer.

 

[Al.Anderson]

You just hadn't mentioned a center. So obviously use the posts labeled "center" (not the "B" channel).

 

[enrique1085]

That's what I did, I also ran the auto config like you said and the system sounds great! I get awesome sound from my bluray player (dts) 6.1 with the optical cable input.

 

[Al.Anderson]

Excellent! One question, 6.1? From what you've said you should be running 7.1.


As for that B-channel, it's usually used to run a set of stereo speakers in another room. It could also be used to run heights in the same room as your main setup. Sometimes it uses some of the channels that the main location would use (say by disabling the rear surrounds), sometimes it has its own channels (or uses the heights). I can't tell in your case without reading the manual, and I can't find the manual.

 

[enrique1085]

Thanks for the info. I'll leave the B terminal unused for now. This is the setup I have:

Two Main Front
Three Rear
Center
Sub

 

[Chris M34]

Excellent! One question, 6.1? From what you've said you should be running 7.1.


As for that B-channel, it's usually used to run a set of stereo speakers in another room. It could also be used to run heights in the same room as your main setup. Sometimes it uses some of the channels that the main location would use (say by disabling the rear surrounds), sometimes it has its own channels (or uses the heights). I can't tell in your case without reading the manual, and I can't find the manual.

Could you use the b channel to bi amp the fronts for better music experience?

 

[Al.Anderson]

Could you use the b channel to bi amp the fronts for better music experience?

It would depend on the receiver, some are designed to support it. But even if the receiver supported it, the effectiveness would vary. First the receiver would need to have independent amps, and then it would have to have a large enough power supply to ensure it was going to be maxing it out. And after those, the receiver would need to have an independent crossover that more or less matched the speaker's; otherwise you've changed the acoustic characteristics of the speaker and that's generally not a good thing.

Bottom line, bi-amping is not a casual endeavor and in most cases you're probably not getting anything from it.