# need some new sound



## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

hi everyone, I am new around here and this is my first post.

Let me give you some back ground on my situation.
My home theater system pretty much evolved from miscellaneous components I guess i just pieced everything together from the years.

When I sold my last house about 2 years ago i got rid of about everything I owned.
The only thing I kept from my home theater systems was a sony powered subwoofer (i think its 12 inch) and a matching JBL set (center speaker and two rear speakers)
I would say that those components are about 6-7 years old.

When i purchased the house I live in now (a little over a year ago) I bought a phillips 47 inch 1080P LCD tv (the one with the ambient light)
I also bought two smaller JBL front speakers and a harmon kardon AVR146 receiver.
I thought the receiver was cool because it had HDMI inputs... at the time i didn't know that audio wouldnt work through it which kinda made me mad.

I bought a tv stand from walmart the one where the tv mounts to a big arm on it and have everything pretty much just sitting on it with the subwoofer next to it. (I wanted to run the wires to the rear but its going to be a lot of work to do and just haven't had the time.

Well a couple months ago my AVR146 stopped working.. basically i hit the power button and 10 seconds later it turns off. harmon kardon has 2 year warranty but I don't have my receipt so I am pretty much screwed.

I have never been pleased with the JBL center or rear speakers. The newer JBL speakers sound pretty good but i am in no way attached to them.

I basically have been thinking about getting a hole new system or maybe piece something new together 

I am just not sure what to buy that is why i am posting this.

The other components I now have in my system is a Panasonic Bluray player, an HD cable box and a media pc with HDMI out.

I would like a receiver that does hdmi audio i like the idea of just using one cable.
I like the idea of a surroundbar so i don't have to run a bunch of speaker wires.
I do think my sony subwoofer sounds good so I could incorporate it into the new system if possible.

Any recommendations would be excellent....
As for price.... i really don't want to go over lets say 600.... but cheaper is even better


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

For an AVR, go with the Onkyo 606, should be able to find it for around $350. What model are your new JBL speakers? Try to find a matching sub (or just buy a 3rd speaker).

I'd start there. Unless your room is perfectly square, or you only watch movies alone, I can't recommend a soundbar that would keep up with 3 nice speakers across the front, much less a full 5.1 setup.


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

First of all Welcome to the forum ...:wave:



panaman said:


> .... i really don't want to go over lets say 600.... but cheaper is even better


You have two options with that budget:

1) Get an HTIB it will be the easy way to upgrade everything (AVR, seven speakers and a sub, you'll have two subs :yes, the  Onkyo S5100  is a good starting system, better than most HTIB's ...if you decide to upgrade the speakers in the future, you can do it; not like some HTIB that you need to replace everything.

2) Start piecing together your system. In this case start with an AVR (again Onkyo, Yamaha, Pionner, etc.) and maybe a pair of speakers for the front; you can also get good deals on refurbished or used equipment and speakers :yes:


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Unfortunately, the 5100 still only offers HDMI passthrough (i.e. no audio to the AVR via HDMI) so that won't solve...

"I thought the receiver was cool because it had HDMI inputs... at the time i didn't know that audio wouldnt work through it which kinda made me mad."


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

Ok, I finally got something and it was really cheap.

My parents got some all in one 5 disc pioneer dvd player/receiver home theater in a box setup and they were not using their old RCA receiver, so they gave it to me for free! Its probably 5 or 6 years old

I am not home at the momment so I am not sure the model of the RCA receiver but its a 5.1 dolby digital receiver. It has the volume knob in the middle and has a universal remote. (no hdmi) but I realized i don't need it.

My 47 inch LCD has 3 HDMI ports on it.
So I have my HD Cable box, my bluray player and my media pc plugged into the 3 hdmi ports on my TV. The TV has one digital coax out which I plugged into the receiver.

As for a previous post above my JBL monitors are the two way Venue series monitors. They sound pretty good. I would still like to replace my center channel and rears... I've heard that the LC1's and LC2's are pretty good center channel speakers So I might look for one of those.
I think my venue series speakers are discontinued I don't see them at best buy anymore where I got them and I don't even see them on JBL's website.

One more thing...
I didn't get the antenna for it and the antenna for my Harmon Kardon has a different plug on it than my RCA receiver.
The rca's antenna plug looks like a speaker connection kind of plug. the one where you push the tabs and you slide a wire into it.
You think i can get a new antenna with this connection at like radio shack or something? I would like to be able to listen to the radio on it. With no antenna i get 0 reception.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

You are aware that the digital audio output of the display will not pass through any of the 5.1 audio from the components plugged into the display? You will only get 2 channel stereo. You will have to connect your audio sources to the receiver through optical in order to receive any of the dolby digital signals.

All you need for an antenna is two small pieces of wire about 6 ft in length that will work very well for fm reception.


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

is that why the dolby digital thing wasn't popping up on the receiver.... thats so stupid...
why do they even put a digital out on the tv if it won't pass the 5.1

also... another question on the antenna.
Do i loop the wire? because the fm has two inputs on the back of the receiver


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

panaman said:


> is that why the dolby digital thing wasn't popping up on the receiver.... thats so stupid...
> why do they even put a digital out on the tv if it won't pass the 5.1


its a copy write issue but I agree it is dumb.



> also... another question on the antenna.
> Do i loop the wire? because the fm has two inputs on the back of the receiver


no, just leave them separate run them in opposite directions on the floor.


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

well, i do have 2 more fiber optic cables in a box at home.

I do believe my receiver has 2 fiber connections and 1 coax.
So i suppose i can hook my cable box and bluray up with the fiber connections and then use the coax on my media pc.
I'll have to wait till i get home to find out for sure.


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

you are so right about the copy protection thing with the digital out....

I just got this from philips website



> If your media device is connected with an HDMI cable to your TV, you might not have digital sound on the S/PDIF connector.
> 
> This cinch connector is usually labeled 'Digital Audio out'.
> 
> ...


i still think its stupid


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

Ok i just called my wife because the curiosity was killing me.
The receiver my parents gave me is a RCA RT2300

I looked it up and it seemed to be part of a HTIB setup.... but they didn't give me any speakers.. lol
anyway... it does have 2 fiber connections and 1 coax.. so i should be able to hook all 3 of my accessories too it when I get home tonight.


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

panaman said:


> My 47 inch LCD has 3 HDMI ports on it.
> So I have my HD Cable box, my bluray player and my media pc plugged into the 3 hdmi ports on my TV. The TV has one digital coax out which I plugged into the receiver.


Just remember, if you use optical/coax cable you wont be able to hear True HD, DTS HD, DTS MA, etc. ...for that you need to use HDMI :yes:.



> my JBL monitors are the two way Venue series monitors. They sound pretty good. I would still like to replace my center channel and rears... I've heard that the LC1's and LC2's are pretty good center channel speakers So I might look for one of those.
> I think my venue series speakers are discontinued I don't see them at best buy anymore where I got them and I don't even see them on JBL's website.


I have some Venue series too ...mine are the Stadium (see my avatar :whistling, I also have the Voice (center) that I'm not using anymore and is stored; and you're right ...they discontinued that series, but you can still find some on ebay. I don't know if the combination of Monitors and LC1/LC2 will work, I know that for Stadium and Stage they're okay because they're three ways ...but you can try (if you can get three LC1/LC2 for the front will be excellent :bigsmile


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

so what your saying is, since my monitors are only 2 way that I can't use a 3 way center? and I should just get the voice center?

I have still been contemplating just replacing my speakers with one of those sound bars. Polk audio has a 42 inch one on newegg.com and its like $280 bucks.
I have a 3 month old and soon she will be climbing on everything, so I may have to rethink my setup.
Also, I thought about putting my monitors on shelves on the wall... that will get them away from a toddler


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

panaman said:


> so what your saying is, since my monitors are only 2 way that I can't use a 3 way center? and I should just get the voice center?


No, what I'm saying is that probably they won't be a good match for that reason (2 way vs 3 way).

That's the reason most of us changed the Venue Voice (2 way) to a different center speaker (I'm using SCenter II that is a 3 way) to complement the Stadiums in the front, but you can try it and maybe you'll like the results.



> I have still been contemplating just replacing my speakers with one of those sound bars. Polk audio has a 42 inch one on newegg.com and its like $280 bucks.
> I have a 3 month old and soon she will be climbing on everything, so I may have to rethink my setup.
> Also, I thought about putting my monitors on shelves on the wall... that will get them away from a toddler


Sound bars are nice, but what I don't like is their frequency response ...I think you'll be better using the speakers wall mounted.


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