Home Theater Setup Question

[AOS]

Hey guys,

I just bought the Panasonic SA-HT05 5.1 surround sound home theater system. I have it hooked up directly from the reciever to just my television at the moment (via RCA cables). I wanted to know how would I hook it also to my dvd player? Would I just guy another set of RCA cables and hook it up that way? And another question, when I was playing my tv audio through the surround sound speakers, all of them sounded great except for the Right Front speaker, little or no sound came out of this one when all of the others were booming. I ran a test through the system and it does that fine so I have no idea whats up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Ideally you should hook your dvd player up to your home theatre with an optical cable.

As for the one speaker problem, have you run the test? Most systems have a test mode where it will play a sound to each speaker individually. Make sure all the speakers are connected properly, other than that, I dunno.

<edit> I guess you did run the test

 

[AOS]

How much do optical cables usually cost?

 

[AlphaWolf]

How much do optical cables usually cost?

They are fairly expensive as cables go, probably about $10-20 US. I paid $14.99 cdn for a noname one last fall.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

And another question, when I was playing my tv audio through the surround sound speakers, all of them sounded great except for the Right Front speaker, little or no sound came out of this one when all of the others were booming. I ran a test through the system and it does that fine so I have no idea whats up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Check you haven't wired it up backwards, or got some lose wires touching across the terminals. Ideally, you should be using the same length of cable for both front speakers.

 

[Nite_Hawk]

As far as digital inputs go, you are really no better off using optical versus coax. I'd get a $2 mono RCA cable and just use the coaxial digital output on your DVD player.

Nite_Hawk

 

[rabidrabbit]

Hey guys,

I just bought the Panasonic SA-HT05 5.1 surround sound home theater system. I have it hooked up directly from the reciever to just my television at the moment (via RCA cables). I wanted to know how would I hook it also to my dvd player? Would I just guy another set of RCA cables and hook it up that way?.

Check if your DVD has an optical digital out, or coaxial digital out (or both). If it has a coaxial, you can use a regular RCA cable (you can split a stereo cable in half, or just use the other cable, leaving the another unconnected) for that (although a little better quality cable that usually comes with the gear is recommended). The Panasonic receiver seems to have a coaxial input marked "(DVD) in Coaxial".

If your DVD has only optical digital out, use an optical cable (Toslink), they are not too expensive, around $5-10 depending on the length. Check that the cable you purchase has the right size connections on bouth end, there are mini and regular size, you most likely need regular size on both ends. Connect the optical cable to your Panasonic's OPT1 or OPT2 connections (OPT2 might be preferable, as it is marked DVR in, just for the sake of clarity, otherwise there should be no functional differences between OPT1 and OPT2).

And another question, when I was playing my tv audio through the surround sound speakers, all of them sounded great except for the Right Front speaker, little or no sound came out of this one when all of the others were booming. I ran a test through the system and it does that fine so I have no idea whats up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Check if you TV set has some balance setting, you might have accidentally adjuted the TV sound balance too much to the left.
-Is your TV a stereo set?
-The RCA output on the TV might be corroded, try to clean it for better contact.
-Check the cable for defects.
-Is the RCA connection on the back of your tv input or output? It must be OUT or Output. Connected to receivers "TV IN"
-Check the speaker connections. Is the speaker functioning ok? Even if the test noise signal sound fine, the noise signal is just a limited frequency range. It might sound fine, but when fed a wider range material, a bad connection or defective speaker could sound thin or low on volume.
-Are your speakers in-phase (+ on +, - on -)

 

[covermye]

Good places for cables:

www.pccables.com

www.partsexpress.com

Follow this link for some cheap optical cables ($2.80 for a 3-footer)

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=3

I spent nearly 3 years designing and finally constructing a dedicated home theater room, with two 6' equipment racks nearly full of equipment, and I see no reason to go elaborate with digital cables. This is the same $2.80 optical cable I used in my setup...