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New member Username: TennisnutPost Number: 1 Registered: Feb-07 | I had an existing setup with a home theater in a box system by Sony, and the DVD player/amplifier went bad. I am now looking to set up a new system but for the present time to utilize the existing speakers, if possible. The wires from the system had proprietary connections, but I assume I can cut those off and then use the bare wires to hook up to a new receiver. However, the new receiver, Sony STR-DG800 calls for a monaural audio cord to connect between the subwoofer and receiver. My subwoofer has no jack for such a cord, only a +/- wire connection. Is there any sort of adapter that can be used to make this connection? Part 2 of this is the component hookups. In addition to the receiver above, I have a Cablevision DVR HD box, a Panasonic DVD Recorder/VHS unit, and a Sony HD TV. All 3 components have HDMI connections - 1 for the DVD Recorder, one for the Cable box, and 3 for the receiver. The TV has a DVI connection. I am totally baffled as to how to blend all this together so that I take advantage of the surround sound capabilities of the receiver as well as being able to record from the Cable box to the DVD recorder. Hopefully this makes sense to someone out there - it sounds baffling just writing it!\clipart{rofl} |
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Bronze Member Username: UsernamexLondonEngland Post Number: 58 Registered: Oct-05 | I think you have a "passive" sub where the amplification occured in the dvd/amp box. The new amp supports "active" subs that contain there own amp. If you've only got a 5.1 speaker setup, it might be possible to power the sub from one of the unused channels (amp is 7.1), but is probably a bad idea (I probably deserve a kick for mentioning it!). I expect it would be best to flog the speakers on ebay and buy some new speakers. I can't help too much on the hdmi front, but I can tell you that hdmi has a few different flavours /versions and has been causing people a few headaches. As a starting point, finding out what version of hdmi each component has might help. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdmi#Versions Aside from that, I can tell you that HDMI is based on the DVI standard and you can get a cable with hdmi connector one end and dvi on the other. There are three flavours of DVI (DVI-D or DVI-I, and DVI-A), but DVI-A is analouge only and not compataible with hdmi. I'm pretty sure that a tv should have a hdmi compatible DVI-D plug though. Agin, I'd double check the version before buying a cable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVI-A some reasonably good dvi/hdmi info at this link http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/dvi/index.htm Good luck, Mike |
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Bronze Member Username: UsernamexLondonEngland Post Number: 59 Registered: Oct-05 | "What Kind of DVI Cable do I Need?" http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/dvi/dvicabletypes.htm |
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New member Username: TennisnutPost Number: 2 Registered: Feb-07 | Thanks for the suggestions. I wanted to add where I have gotten so far. All speakers (except the subwoofer) have been connected, and I have run the HDMI cable from the cable box to the TV using a DVI/HDMI adapter. I would have thought it best to run the cable box via HDMI to the receiver and then the receiver via HDMI to the cable box, but that doesn't work. Apparently that connection would require the TV to have an HDMI connection rather than a DVI with an adapter. Next, I have to figure out sound. The cable manual says using adapter means you need a separate audio source. If I take an RCA connection from the cable box, I can get sound from front or center or rear, but not from all of them together. I also noticed that using digital out to digitial in on receiver gave a much richer sound, but again only from the front speakers. So now the trick is to get sound from all the speakers. Once this is done, I will venture to connect the DVD Recorder. I also did some exploring and was thinking if I need to replace the subwoofer I might try replacing all speakers with HSU Perfomance 2 set. Seemed a decent deal at $519 and all the reviews seem pretty good for that price range set. Again any help on this is truly appreciated. |
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Bronze Member Username: UsernamexLondonEngland Post Number: 61 Registered: Oct-05 | "If I take an RCA connection from the cable box, I can get sound from front or center or rear, but not from all of them together." hmm, have you used the test tones to check you've got the speakers hooked up correctly? ie front left output to front left speaker etc "I also noticed that using digital out to digitial in on receiver gave a much richer sound, but again only from the front speakers" At a guess, I the cable box is ouputing stereo only. In this case you'll need to select a prologic II (or equivalent) to split the stereo signal over all your speakers... and yes, I'd expect the optical cable to provide better sound (as the better quality decoder in the amp is doing the digital to analouge conversion). I can't help with the speaker recomendations though. |
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New member Username: TennisnutPost Number: 4 Registered: Feb-07 | Well, with a little phone help from a friend I have almost everything working - I had to hook up the RCA cables into a different connection in the receiver, and set up the receiver and all was working. Don't know why the digital audio connection from the cable box to the receiver didn't work, and although the RCA cables work fine I may still try the optical audio and see how that works out. Even got the DVR recorder to work on the playing end, although I notice a wavy purple vertical line that moves across the screen from right to left. It shows anytime there is a black background, and is slightly visible at other times when playing movies. I hooked up the DVD recorder to another TV, although that set could only accept component cables, and there were no lines. I guess I need to see if the problem is with the HDMI cable or connection from the DVD recorder. After I get past this part all that is left is to replace the subwoofer and then hook up from cable box to DVD recorder to record from the box. That connection looks easy enogh - but who knows? These manuals are really quite useless at times. Thanks for all the input - it is helping me sort through all of this. |
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Bronze Member Username: UsernamexLondonEngland Post Number: 65 Registered: Oct-05 | No worries, I'm still a bit of an amateur myself, but make a comment if I think I can help. Not sure what's up with that purple line, can you try the component connection on your tv? |
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Gold Member Username: John_sColumbus, Ohio US Post Number: 1345 Registered: Feb-04 | Dan, a couple points: I hooked up the DVD recorder to another TV, although that set could only accept component cables, and there were no lines. As Mike suggests, try component on the Sony TV. Yes, I know HDMI is supposed to solve the world's problems, but in a lot of situations component works just as good and is more trouble free. I'll bet the wavy purple line goes away. The HSU company enjoys a very good reputation in subwoofers, and I would guess their Performance 2 speakers represent a substantial improvement over those old Sony HTIB speakers you now have. I think you can buy the sub and speakers separately, so you might get the sub soon and the rest later. http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_4/Hsu/htib-hsu-vt-12-stf-2.html |