cwineman
Auditioning
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2009
- Messages
- 5
- Real Name
- Corey Wineman
I have an HTR-6150 and I'm trying to get 5.1 surround sound working correctly. I have L,R,center, and l-rear, r-rear speakers conntected. The first input source I'm trying to use is my cable box for now. For reference, here's a link to the manual for the tuner: here I can confirm that all of the speakers are connected and I can at least hear output from the tuner. Depending on what mode I'm in on the tuner I can hear output to all 5 speakers at once. But I'm not sure what I'm hearing is "surround" sound as opposed to simply the same output from the tuner being sent to all 5 speakers. I've tried the auto setup, but it fails with an error code:
I'm not positive, but I think that the auto setup only supports 7.1, and it's not happy that I don't have surround left and right speakers connected. So I tried various things using manual setup, but I'm not sure I'm making any progress. One thing in particular is bothering me. On the right side of the tuner display (See manual page 24 en #17) there is an area - Input channel and speaker indicators - that I'd assumed is suppose to indicate which speakers are connected and/or active at the moment. But maybe not. The word Input in there seems strange. Right now when I look at it, it only has the L and R indicators on. When I used auto setup, those indicators changed as the tuner was testing all the various surround speakers using the mic. That's the only time they've ever said anything other than L and R. That makes it seem like that tuner only thinks I have the two front speakers attached. But that doesn't make sense since as I said I can hear output to all 5 speakers during auto setup. So it "knows" they're there. I realize this is a long rambling post and I haven't really posed a question yet, but I'm not even sure what to ask. I guess I just want some advice on how to trouble-shoot. Can anyone throw me a bone here? Thanks, -cwineman
Code:
E-5: CHECK SUR. Don't use SP SP without SURR SP
. Make sure you connected the speaker wires to the "Surround" speaker terminals and not the "Surround Back" terminals. The SB channels won't work unless the SR channels are connected as well. In a 5.1 system the Surround speaker terminals are used and in a 7.1 the Surround and Surround Back terminals are used. You can't use the SB by themselves. In order for your receiver to produce true surround sound it must receive a digital signal from the source (in this case, the cable box). The speaker indicators on the right side of the display do exactly what you said they are doing. When performing the automatic setup they indicate which speakers are hooked up to the receiver. When playing a source they indicate what speaker signals are being sent to the receiver from the source component. The fact that only the L and R speaker indicators are lit means your source component is only sending a Stereo signal and not a 5.1. Either a setting in the cable boxes Audio Menu is in-correct (set to Stereo or Analog) or the program is broadcast only in Stereo. How is the cable box hooked up? With the red and white analog cables or an optical digital cable.
. It's YPAO. Yamaha Parametric Acoustic Optimiser. It's Yamaha's automatic speaker setup and equilizer program. "Also, I tried to connect my optical cable, but I'm an optical cable virgin. I think I'm sticking the correct gazinda into the correct gazouta, but the cable doesn't seem to want to stay. Do you have to push very hard to sort of make the cable "click" into place? " The optical connection isn't the best in the world. It is important to make sure you have the gazinda orientated correctly with the gazouta before pushing it in. If you look at it closely you can see there is only one way it goes in. You should feel a slight "click" and have the feeling it's in there. But it isn't a very secure connection. But since it's a digital connection it will either work or it won't. There is no "part way" or partial connection. If you hear any sound then it's connected. After connecting the optical cable you may have to "assign" the input you want to use on the receiver, like DVR or TV. This way the receiver knows to look at the optical port (and which one) for audio when you select the appropriate input. See pg 71.
1) The auto setup features do work fairly well but there are a couple of things to look at. Make sure all the speakers are set to Small and the crossover is set to 80hz or higher. This will direct the bass to the subwoofer where it belongs. It also doesn't hurt to double-check the other settings like speaker distance and their individual volumes. Maybe the center channel is set a little too low which is causing the problem of not being able to hear the dialog very well. But I would write down the settings on a piece of paper so you can put things back where they were if you screw them up. If you ever listen to stereo movies or music with Dolby proLogicII then you might want to re-adjust the Sound Field parameters like Panoramic, Dimension, and Center Width. See pg 42. 2a) I think Dynamic range is only applied to Dolby Digital and DTS sources. And I doubt it would make all that much difference with those annoying commercials. You would need Audyssey Dynamic Volume or Dolby Volume to really make a noticable difference in volume swings. 2b) For this, as I mentioned earlier, you can increase the volume of the Center channel speaker to help hear the dialog. I'm not sure if Yamaha allows for this, but maybe you can re-adjust the mid-range frequencies (250hz, 500hz and 1000hz or there-abouts) of the center channel which can also aid in hearing dialog. I think the Center GEQ is used to adjust the frequencies of the center channel. 3) Optical (or Toslink) uses a fibre optic cable to transfer light which caries the digital audio signal. Coaxial uses an old fashioned coaxial cable to transfer the audio, but it's still a digital signal. Optical is more high-tech but there is virtually no difference in sound quality between the two. We usually recommend the coaxial cable simply because the connection is far more stable than a toslink connection, as you've already found out 
