New to the Obsession

[R-Star]

Over the last year I've been getting more and more into audio/visual, to the point where I wanted to find a good forum site and it looks like I've stumbled upon it.
Right now Im just looking to tweak what I've got, Ill post some picutes and list what I've got, then hopefully you guys can give some insight.





Ok, so heres the setup.
Pioneer 50" PDP-5010FD Plasma
Harman Kardon AVR 247
4 Polk Audio towers and 1 center
1 Polk Sub
XBox 360
Sony PS3


The Polks are the lower end ones, nothing fancy but nice for a beginer. My main problem I have is trouble hearing voices when watch a movie. It seems the music and sound effects overpower anyone talking. From what I understand its the center speaker that takes care of this. Im stuck at work, but when I get home Im going to try to tweak the reciever to get better voice quality/clairity. If that doesnt work, should I be looking into getting a new center?

Also, I have a sub, but it is hooked up incorrectly. With my setup, is this the proper way I should be hooking it up?



And one last question for now. Right now Im running just your average 50+/- channel basic cable. Can I wire my tv to the Harman Kardon to get audio? I know it wont be true 5.1, but it seems like a waste not getting any use on the surrond for tv.


I was reading around on here last night and realize these are some very amateur questions, but I am just starting out and would appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance.

[kennyt]

First I would wire the speakers directly off the receiver, then the sub via the RCA jack (I am assuming it's a powered subwoofer, if it isn't, then you will need to keep it wired as you have it)

Do you have an SPL meter???? Device to measure sound pressure levels, they can be had @ Radio Shack for ~$40 (buy the cheaper analog one, not the digital one) and go through speaker setup and adjust the levels, likely your center channels levels are low, some speaker do not reproduce voices well, so this is also a potential problem. You might also benefit from placing the center as forward as possible on that shelf to aid with it's dispersion, this might also help some enhancing the vocals.

Your speakers also seem to be positioned a little off. The fronts are very close to the AV stand and look to be toed out, try moving them around, rarely do speakers sound best 'toed out', see what you can do and adjust the angle to see what sounds best to you, you might also play with varying the distance to the rear wall and watch for changes in bass response.

Your rears seem to be almost on the side of the couch and aiming forward, I would try them off the the sides and behind and aiming at the seating position, you will of course need to readjust the speaker distances and levels after finalizing what works best for you and your room.

As for the cable, you can get 5.1 from it, just wire a digital out from the cable box to a digital in on you HK receiver and you'll be set.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

[koyaan]

Have you balanced your speakers ? This is generally the biggest culprit is problems with voice clarity. I would recommend using an SPL meter rather than adjusting by ear.
I don't see any reason that you couldn't run your TV sound through your reciever. I have my TV sound turned off all togeather and the digital audio out from my cabel box run to my pre/pro. It works great , and it does give you real 5.1 whenever the cable company sees fit to broadcast it.
I haven't been able to pull up the manual for your TV, but consult your copy. I should
think it would have instructions for hooking the TV up to an audio system.It should be a simple mater of going to the audio setup screen on the TV, setting the speakers to OFF and the audio output to FIXED ( so the AVR can control the volume ) and connecting the audio outs on the TV to an unused set of audio inputs on the AVR.

[R-Star]

Thanks for the info guys. Ill go about moving the speakers around when Im home. To clarify I dont have a cable box, its just the old school cable from the wall jack into the back of the tv.

Ill post my progress once I get home and am able to work on it. Thanks again for the help.

[JerryDelColliano]

Welcome to the forum!

If you can, you might want to try to move the speakers away from the TV a little. To the side and or up a little.

You might also to get your HDTV professionally calibrated. Its AMAZING to see what the pros can do for you in terms of better performance from your TV. The Imaging Science Foundation's website is a good resource to start with...

j

[R-Star]

Originally Posted by JerryDelColliano

Welcome to the forum!

If you can, you might want to try to move the speakers away from the TV a little. To the side and or up a little.

You might also to get your HDTV professionally calibrated. Its AMAZING to see what the pros can do for you in terms of better performance from your TV. The Imaging Science Foundation's website is a good resource to start with...

j

Thanks, Im enoying the site. Good place to learn and get my feet wet.
Looking at imaging science right now, hopefully I can learn a bit.

Im going to try to move the speakers out as much as I can, although I dont have the largest living room. Im home from work wednesday and pretty excited to start tweaking everything, Im sure Ill be letting you guys know how it goes.

Again, thanks to everyone for the help.