First the projector - now the dolby thingy.

Mark W · #1 (**permalink**) 02-15-2009, 08:42 PM

I have often railed against surround sound - 7 shit speakers and amps is going to be worse then 2 decent ones - but I am going to give this surround thing a go anyway.

One of my rich family values work hard earn lots friends ( i cultivate them ) has given me a surround sound amp and as I ahve a set of 250 quid gale floor standers and some jbl min monitors spare i tht I should give it a go. The amp / preamp / decoder was £500 new four years ago so it is probably ok ??? Or is that too old to be good in the fast changing world of home cinema ?

Trouble is - well - see pic of the amp rear......

Much fun and cable sniffing next week ! I have lots to learn befor I get this set up right....

Mark W · #2 (**permalink**) 02-15-2009, 08:45 PM

Just one question from a thousand....

Why does it have ' dig video in ' - do I assume this box has video decoders in it ??? surely not??? I feel thick !

Marc Peters · #3 (**permalink**) 02-15-2009, 09:13 PM

It will accept multiple video feeds from analogue formats, much like a VCR or DVD player. These will then be output to the single source. My AV reciever accepts HDMI sources and will also upscale SD sources. It also accepts a digital signal from an ipod, but I tend to hook up my laptop via an HDMI cable.

HDMI and upscaling are probably the main difference between this and newer AV recievers.

Marc Peters · #4 (**permalink**) 02-15-2009, 09:21 PM

Originally Posted by Mark W

I have often railed against surround sound - 7 shit speakers and amps is going to be worse then 2 decent ones - but I am going to give this surround thing a go anyway.

My surround sound just pisses me off. The mrs didn't want the speakers in the 'proper' place (apparently they don't look good there), so the rears sit at 90 degrees to the front. Whe I forget to turn them off, it's bloody anying to be scared out of your wits by a an explosion, a whisper, or some such sound. As a superficial kind of guy, the biggest difference from me between a having just the TV front facing speakers is the sub that currently doubles as a small cofee table. Feck me, that thing should NOT be in a flat, and it's normally turned down to a feint rumble.

Bear in mind I'm a numpty when it comes to all these technical things!

Mark W · #5 (**permalink**) 02-15-2009, 10:26 PM

Lols several times - sub coffee table - I couldnt bear that (unless it really was a sub letting me use her as a coffee table - lols ) - all my speakers are on spikes - levelled with a spirit level and in presicely measures equidistant from everyithnig within a mile positions. Even the cat aint allowed on them.

I will apply the same zeal to my s sound set up - and I can cos I am single - lols.

I dont need a sub as my decnt floor standing denons - £400 new i think ( was another gimme ) are driven by a £500 quality musical fidelity opewr amp - one amp per speaker bi wired. I am certain the limiting factor with bass depth is the room size.

Most people play thier subs way too loud and decent subs that can play tunes not just boom need to be active and costalot.

Marc Peters · #6 (**permalink**) 02-15-2009, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by Mark W

Lols several times - sub coffee table - I couldnt bear that (unless it really was a sub letting me use her as a coffee table - lols ) - all my speakers are on spikes - levelled with a spirit level and in presicely measures equidistant from everyithnig within a mile positions. Even the cat aint allowed on them.

Speakers are on spiked speaker stands, but speakers are normally pointing in every which way. I am your very worst nightmare. By the way, Hollie says I wouldn't be allowed the sub if it didn'ty have the flower pot on. She's deadly serious.

Mark W · #7 (**permalink**) 02-15-2009, 10:37 PM

Love is about compromise or the polar opposite in my expirience.

Here is the polar opposite - a sub being used a table - lols. (pic)

Zero · #8 (**permalink**) 02-16-2009, 08:52 AM

You should have a great sound from your set up Mark. Good cabling, without paying for big name/big bucks is the key. Try a search on audio forums.
I've experimented with all sorts of SS sytems over the years.
The 1st and best was a bose set, driven by a sony amp. Music or video sound was beautiful at top and bottom end. I heard stuff that wasn't even measurable on the normal hi fi kit.
I now have 'kit' sony on one tv and pioneer on another. Both these come with on screen calibration for speaker set up and depending on the mix by the producer is as good as it gets bearing in mind my 'trick' ear.

Oh how I wish I'd set my drum kit up further away from the dick of a guitarist who liked savage volume through his amp parked next to my left lughole.

Mark W · #9 (**permalink**) 02-28-2009, 12:54 PM

I am now surrounded by sound. I will spare you the dramas and strops during the six hours it took to get things up and running -bloody rubbish instruction manual.

Now I have a 23 quid DVD player driving a very expensive but oldish decoder. Pre outs then drive amps for the front speakers - 2 old but quality musical fidelity mono power amps - one per speaker. Front speakers are tannoy M3 spiked to floor in ideal positions.

The rear speakers are more small floorstanding Gale 4040 that are a bloody bargain in richer sounds at £100; cheap big speakers are normally crap but these have very detailed mid / treble and nice if shallow bass. These rears are being driven by the amps built into the decoder.

The sofa is ideally placed 1.5 times screen width from the 72 inch width screen. I am lucky to, well I choose to be single in the womaqn sense so the only feng sui that bothers me is of the sound staging kind - lucky me - I have the perfect combination of screen / seat / speaker postions.

No centre - yea I know the centre channel is purposely mixed but my vocals are clear and integrated with the rest of the sound so why bother ? I cant help thinking that you only need a centre speaker if your front pairs performance and set up is poor. Also my front pair are driven by £800 worth of brown rice power amps from when I was a rich bloke, I fear that powering a centre, even a matched centre with a porr amp will make things worse not better - I am almost sure that will fail.

No sub - Feeling is believing. I didnt expect huge improvements in bass depth and tunefulness. Everyone so far thinks there is an active 12 inch sub hidden somewhere. I am guessing the the audio D to A convertors in the foolishly cheap dvd player that previously drove the stereo pair are crap. Decoding the digital surround data in the decoder is just better hifi.
The rear speakers are also very much full range as is the surround often so I suppose the whole set can really shift some sir. I suspect the box is very clever and is using all 4 speakers as a virtual sub.

First impressions home surround sound? It totally owns the room. All the speakers look cool. What I thought I would like I dont and what I tht I wouldnt get I like - obvious dolby fun as in star wars et al is actually rather silly - a star figher flying through your head and so on; I like the subtle improvements it gives to movie sound - you are pulled into the scene much more effectively. In a crowd mumblings are all around, rain is the same.

Now I am looking forward to a few happy days of nerdy tweaking an obessing. I am already wondering about getting a pair of tannoys for the rear so all the speakers match.

The obvious next upgrade is a dvd player that costs more than a bag of revels. I guess that means blu ray as I have seen players for £125 - I wonder if thay are any good ??

Mark W · #10 (**permalink**) 02-28-2009, 01:04 PM

Oh yea - decent speaker cable all round and component video cables. The long one - 3m - that drives the projector looks and feels like a thick hose pipe - and bloody should be substantail at £45.