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ronnie | I see several ways to do it and I'm still ignorant on this new technolgy. The guy at CC had me buy an S Vid cable and a optical cable. These are the only 2 cables I own that are not composite. I only have the following: Anaolg TV, not HDTV. TV does have s video and the analog ins and outs. DVD/CD combo. This unit has componet, S video and Optical. VHS, Composite only. It is stereo hi-fi though. I have read some threads on this, but I cant quite get my arms around it. Should I retire the optical and s vid or go get more of them. I have plenty of composite cables. I dont think I can mix match them. If anybody wants to email me with some specific advice, feel free to. rcmot@aol.com In the meantime, I;m unpacking this baby and at least trying to get the DVD CD wired up. Thanks Ronnie |
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heff | Here's the H/K Quick start guide in pdf format http://manuals.harman.com/hk/QuickStart%20Guide/AVR%20325%20QSG%20(rev%204-1-03).pdf |
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ronnie | Thanks, I'll check it out now. |
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ronnie | I have no video going into HK. Can I run Optical from DVD/CD combo into HK rec and S vid from DVD to TV? This is how I have it now. From the HK I have the Video 1 IN going to the TV out. From the HK Video 1 out, I have them going to VCR in. From the VCR, I have the Video Out 1 going to Video In on TV. And finally, VCR Out to In on TV. All of these connections are composite except for the DVD/CD combo going into HK. Will I get didital sound with this setup? Am I losing something here. I will get more S vids if needed. I just watched a DVD that says it was remastered on 5.1. The sound was loud, but i think I'm missing something. When I tried the VCR, Surround not working properly. TV not surround either. I turned it way up and finally heard it. I know somethings not right. The manual seems to say to run the video into the HK, do I want to do that? Anybody else, feel free to pipe in here. BTW Heff, I couldt get to that link but I'm still looking. |
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GT | Ronnie, Lots of questions to ask. Do you use your TV tuner for watching programs or do you run your VCR thru it and leave the TV set to channel 3 or 4 all the time? I have a splitter so my TV and VCR run independent of each other. Here are my components and how I have them set up. TV - analog audio out to Video 2 audio input on HK HiFi VCR - analog audio out to Video 1 input on HK. Video output to Video 1 yellow input on HK. DVD/CD - optical cable to optical 1 input on HK. Video out (yellow) to DVD video yellow input. Make sure when you select DVD it shows DVD/ OPT 1 on the main display. HK to TV. Monitor out on HK to TV video input. This is for the on screen display. I don't know how many sets of inputs you have on your TV. If you only have 1 that is shared by the s-video and analog composite inputs, you could have problems. Now if you have mutiple sets of inputs such as Video 1, 2 and 3 you're set. You can connect the s-video straight from the DVD player to the TV if you'd like. Some people like to run all their video sources thru the HK and then run 1 cable to the TV. Others like to run the video sources directly to the TV and only use the HK for audio. Its up to you based on what is more convenient/practical. Also make sure in your DVD player setup, you have the digital outputs turned on and set to bitstream, not PCM. Also make sure DTS in turned on. What kind of DVD player is it? Once I get a few more answers I can probably give you a simple solution. There are many different ways to connect this thing. We'll figure out what is best for you. Don't buy any more cables yet. Sounds like you only need 1 optical cable since the DVD player is your only digital source. I doubt if you need any more s-video cables either. |
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heff | try this link. If the whole link doesn't appear underlined, just copy the whole thing and paste into the address field of your browser. --> http://manuals.harman.com/hk/QuickStart%20Guide/AVR%20325%20QSG%20(rev%204-1-03).pdf |
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DWK | I'm going to make some an assumption about how you currently have everything connected (without the reciever): * You have analog cable or use an antenna, and do not need a cable box. You have the cable routed through your VCR and into your TV. Assuming the above is correct, I suggest the following arrangement: 1) Cable or antenna coax into "Antenna IN" on VCR. 2) Composite video cable + stereo L/R cables into Video 1 on reciever. 3) Coponsite video cable from DVD player to Video 2 / DVD video in on reciever (no stero cables!). 4) Optical cable from optical out on DVD player to optical 1 in on reciever. Make sure optical 1 is associated with the video in (see below). 5) Composite out from reciever to TV composite in. The upside to this arrangement is that you'll never have to switch video sources on the TV, the reciever does all of the switching. The downsiders are that you'll have to have your VCR on to watch TV (which isn't any different than the way it is now if you had it set up the way I assumed you did), and that you'll always have to use your reciever for audio, there isn't an audio signal being sent to the TV so you don't even have the choice to use the internal speakers. To associate optical 1 with the dvd video in, switch the reciever to dvd, the push the 'digital select' button on the front of it. Using the left and right arrow keys select 'Optical 1', then press 'Set'. You may have to tell your DVD player to use its optical out if it doesn't do so automatically. Hope this helps. |
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ronnie | Dang, pretty good boys. Sounds like yall got this down pretty good. Heres exectly what I have and what I would like. 1. I have my analog cable running into VCR. I will have to run Composite out since thats all my VCR has. 2. The only digital device is my DVD/CD combo. It was on sale at CC. Its a JVC XVS 502, Digital Direct Progressive Scan. It does have the optical, Coax, Componite hook ups. I am pretty sure it has composite too. 3. The family uses the TV mostly for TV use. I get the HT on weekends and rainy days, so, I would like to be able to listen to HK while watching TV without turning on VCR if possible. 4. TV does have Vid 1 Vid 2 and S vid. 5. One more question. When I run S cable from DVD, that should be VID 1 on my TV right? Then, that means the Video coming from VCR needs to go to Video 2, right? I have played with the settings which we may have to get into further down the road, but for now I have: 1. The digital selected on the HK with Optical when playing DVD. 2. I have the front speakers on large, the rear and center on small. 3. I have powered sub, JBL WF 70 which has more than enough bass for the room. Where should I set ,my bass contolon the HK? 4. My speakers are Tower in front, JBL ND 310 II. The center is Infinity Model CC1, 10-80 watts. The rears are Infinity (they just say reference 2000.1) These rears are 15-100 watts. All speakers are 8 ohms. Damn you boys are good. Tell ya what, I'll drink that cold one for ya!! I will be playing with the hook ups tonight. I hope I can get to bed early instead of staying up half the night. Maybe I'll be able to hear this thing before this weekend. Thanks guys, keep the advice coming. |
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GT | I'm gonna give this a try... 1. Get a cable splitter if you want the TV and VCR to be independent of each other. Run one coax to the TV and the other to the VCR. This will also make it easy to record one channel while watching another. 2. Connect your DVD via s-video directly to the TV. It'll probably be video 1 on the TV but I'm sure you've figured out if it is Vid1 or Vid2 by now. Sounds like you already have the optical cable connected correctly to the HK. And while you're at it, also connect the yellow video out from the DVD to the HK DVD video input. I'll explain why later. 3. Connect the composite outs of the VCR directly to the HK including L&R audio plus video. Use the Video 1 input on the HK since you can program your remote to control the VCR if you desire. 4. So that you family can watch TV and use the HK for audio, connect the audio outputs (L&R) of the TV to the HK using the Video 2 audio inputs. You can also program the HK remote to control the TV using the video 2 button if you wish. 5. On the back of the HK there is a monitor out jack. Plug that directly into your TV, probably into the Video 2 input. You'll be able to do the On Screen display, watch the VCR and DVD all from this output. Your JBL ND310 has dual 10" woofers. Set them to large. Set the center and rears to small. The HK has a triple crossover feature. You can set the fronts to 60hz and center and rears to 80hz or 100hz depending on the capabilities of the speaker. Set your sub to whatever the highest frequency setting you have for your surrounds. 100mhz would be good. If there is a crossover setting on the sub itself, turn it all the way up and let the HK handle the bass management. You probably haven't calibrated the speakers yet. The HK has a feature called EzSet. It'll balance the channels automatically for you. Make sure you take the blue plastic film off the front of the faceplate if you haven't done so. The remote interfaces with the receiver many times during this process and having the film there will cause problems. The instructions how to use EZSet are in the manual. You can do it for every input and sound mode. When you're doing the calibration of DVD's having the video run thru the HK enables you to see the on screen display at the same time. If the EZSet doesn't do a satisfactory job, order a copy of Video Essentials. http://www.uln.com/cgi-bin/vlink/647715071224IE.html Its great for calibrating your system and cost around $15-$20. You'll also need an analog SPL Meter from Radio Shack. I don't see it listed online anymore but they probably still have it in stores. The product number is 330-2050. It should cost around $25. Those two products really help with adjusting your TV and sound system. Good luck with everything. I might have overloaded you with info. Sorry. |
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ronnie | Ok, hooked up like described (almost anyway) and here ya go: 1 I did not get splitter today, but hooked everything else up and VCR and DVD work fine. 2. I did not get the splitter today, (worked late). I did not receive sound with regular cable TV and Hk on, VCR and DVD was off.Is this due to the splitter? 3. I hate asking questions that are answered in the manual, and I will look into the following question more, but I did not figure out the 80 hz 100 hz for speakers. All I saw was the 0-10 DB setting. 4. I also did not see a large setting for the sub w. I only saw setting from 0-10 DB as well, and the L/R LFE setting. 5. I did calibrate the speakers though. That worked fine. 6. On screen works fine as well. You know, I can follow directions pretty good. I hooked it up like described and got no video the first time. I figured well, I'll start all over. The second time, it all went fine. It is real easy to make a mistake. Measure twice, cut once, and hook it all up 3 times. HAHA Let me know yalls thoughts on above. Thanks Ronnie |
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GT | What kind of TV do you have. Some televisions (Sony) won't allow the audio outputs to work unless your turn the internal speakers off. And others only have a variable output which you must adjust with the TV volume control. Let me know what kind of TV you have and we can work from there. The splitter wouldn't be causing this problem. For now, just set your front speakers to large and the center are rears to small. You can worry about the crossovers later. There's two different lines in the menu. Speaker Setup and Channel Adjust. Speaker Setup handles your large and small setting plus the crossovers. Channel adjust goes from 0-10db. But your EZset will handle that automatically for you. There is no large/small for subs. Just the xover point. |
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ronnie | TV has Fixed out and variable out. I had them on fixed. I took the cables from in back of the HK from Vid 2 and just tried them in Vid 3 and they worked. I wish I had a way to figure out how it should sound. I have nothing to compare it too Thanks |
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GT | Maybe your video 2 is set to a optical or coax input? Double check the settings. Mine works fine on Video 2 with analog inputs. If you have the TV on fixed output you should be fine. You'll need to run EZset on the TV input to get the levels calibrated properly. I mainly use DPL2 or Logic 7 Cinema with the TV input. On occasion I'll go to 7 channel stereo. |
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ronnie | OK thanks. I probably have something either crossed or not set right. Either way, Its up and going and I'm Loving Every Minute of it. Thanks for the help. Now if I can just get those speakers to the 80-100 setting. I will play with that tonite. Thanks again, and you wont have to wait too long before I hit ya with some questions. Thanks again man. |
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ronnie | Dang, Told y ait wouldnt be long. OK. I have 5 speakers and a sub. Is 7 speakers really that big-a difference. Educate me on what to do, what to buy, etc. I am mostly interested in just using the 7 speakers for Surround Sound. I am not wanting to jump off on the 2 room thing yet. That can come after I get more familiar with my set up. Thanks |
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GT | 7 speakers can sound better if the room allows proper placement. Its definitely not necessary to have though. For your system I'd get some more Infinitys if you can find the kind that best match your sytem. You also have JBLs up front so JBL surrounds may work to. Not sure how closely your speakers match as far as sound is concerned since you have two different brands. You'd probably be best with the same kind you currently use for your surrounds. As far as setting them up all you'll need to do is plug them into the SBR and SBL connections on your receiver and tell the OSD to turn them on. I use 7 speakers mainly to play with all the functions on my receiver, so I can learn more about it's capabilities. Its more of a tinkering thing for me right now. Definitely not critical to have. |
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Chris | My tv only has 1 rear s-vid in, so here's how I hooked my 325 up. S-vid & rca audio from the satellite to the 325. I also split the audio & ran it & the composite out from the satellite to my analogue TV. S-vid & opt in from the dvd player. S-vid & rca audio in from the computer. Since the 325 doesn't convert composite to s-vid, I bought 2 s-vid signal converters (pt. no. 15-1238) from Radio Shack & used them on the vcr. So I now run s-vid & rca audio in from & out to the vcr. The converters work quite well. I ran 1 s-vid from the 325 to the TV. With it hooked up this way, I can watch the satellite without the 325 on, or I can watch the satellite, computer, vcr or dvd through the 325, over the s-video cable. |
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ronnie | Thanks. Hey GT, the on screen made the speaker set up a breeze. I now have them set up like you described. Now I just have to play with it. Thanks |
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ronnie | Thanks Chris, I just didnt want to go buy 2 or 3 more s cables unless it was necessary. Thanks again |