Help with setup please

Dirk Diggler

Dirk Diggler

Dirk Diggler

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I'm currently putting together a home cinema setup and this is the system so far:

Denon S760 amp
Dali Spektor speakers connected to front L & R
Dali C8D subwoofer
Samsung TV connected via HDMI plus optical cable
PS5 connected via HDMI

The issue I have is that I can't get any subwoofer output. When I go through the amp test & config setup then I do get subwoofer output so I know it's getting a connection, but it seems to be disabled when I exit the setup menu. I've been toggling through all the sound modes but no change. The sub is connected according to the manual, i.e. a single RCA cable between them - pre out 1 on amp to LFE on sub.

No doubt it's something simple I'm getting wrong and would appreciate some help!

TIA
 
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Ok, that didn't help but I did get it working by messing with some settings. Annoyingly, I don't really know what I did to fix it and I'd like to understand it better. I'll post my settings and hopefully someone could spot if I should be changing anything.

I've got the amp set at 50% volume and 50% crossover.

Because I've only got 2 front and a sub for the moment, I've got sound mode settings to stereo as opposed to surround or anything like that. Here's my amp settings..

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I'm really enjoying the setup and would be interested in expanding it a little bit. Basically I'd like to progress from stereo to something better for movies.

My TV is wall mounted in front of the settee and the settee is hard against the back wall. For that reason, I won't be installing any rear speakers.

2 questions..

  1. As I have 2 front speakers, one either side of the TV, would there be any point including a centre speaker?
  2. I could stand mount 2 additional speakers, one in each corner of the room. World this then upgrade me to 5.1 audio?
 
@lucid yes I could accommodate the left and right to the side.

Focusing on the centre speaker, and considering that I'm building this system piece by piece, it sounds like it would be worthwhile picking up a decent centre speaker and adding the rear speakers later?

The budget for centre speaker is around £300 - £500. I would like something that matches the finish of the Dali Spector speakers I already have. Would you have anything in mind your could suggest?
 
lucid said:
The centre speaker should match the tone of the front stereo pair. You've got Spektors. Have you locked at the matching centre? Seems like an obvious place to start.

Surrounds. Yes, add later.

£500 is a significant budget in the context of the hear tou have. Beware of going too high on the centre. It can throw a magnifying glass on any shortcomings in the rest of the system.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the steer; I'll get researching. Thanks again. :)

Edit: it's looking like the Dali Spektor Vokal@ £179.
 
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I bought the Dali center speaker, and yes I'm pleased with it. I did notice when I first enabled it that it didn't get any sound output when I had the system set to stereo, I had to switch to multi channel stereo and then it got it's output.

Is that the correct preset for a 3+Sub setup? I'm assuming I couldn't use any of the surround or DTX etc?
 
I've been testing speaker placement and was running this YouTube video. When it gets to the LFE part then I get no output, and my understanding is that this should be my subwoofer output? My subwoofer does work when it plays all the speakers (I can tell for sure as the speaker vibrates).

Is there an issue with the video or am I understanding incorrectly?

 
Cool, Google came up with this: https://www.demolandia.net/cinema/dolby-demo-trailers-hd/page-1.html

I take it I can plug the USB into my LG TV and it will have the codecs to play the files properly?

Edit: I'm getting the same issue with the downloaded file. It doesn't output anything to the subwoofer when it gets to that part, but when all the speakers are triggered then there is definitely output from the sub.

I've definitely got LFE set; I can't think what's causing this unless it's a faulty unit.
 
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@lucid thanks, that's reassuring to know that the YouTube vid worked the same for you.

For clarification, I'm now connected to a LG55CX via ARCe with 4K HDMI cable. My previous post refers to a test I did with a downloaded test file that I played via USB plugged into the TV. This is the file I downloaded (the channel check file): https://youtu.be/_ttYSpt8oiw and it still didn't output the sub part.

I appreciate that remote diagnosis isn't very practical, so I suppose the best question I could ask is how can I best test that my sub is working as it should?
 
lucid said:
Do you get audio from the sub with the amp's test tones? - [Yes/No]
Click to expand...

This is a no, unless I turn the volume up to almost max. However, the sub definitely gets an output as I can hear and feel it for sure during movie playback.

It's a bit annoying not to see the bass play individually like it should in the test files, but I think I'll need to give up as it's turning into a bit of a geeky time sink.
 
lucid said:
For the purposes of any test, set the DALI sub's power control to ON. Now go set the Sub's volume control clockwise to 3 o'clock.
Click to expand...

Power was at auto, everything else was as you suggested. Test tone now working. I'm still not getting the sub output when I run the channel test, but there's definitely output from the sub when the multi channel section starts - I think the Denon is outputting bass as a blend of total output if that makes sense?

Anyway, I'm getting sub output so all good. I take it the best way to adjust bass level is via the volume knob on the sub?
 
Jesus, what a wild goose chase I ended up on there. So, I did the Auto Setup with the mic and afterwards I'm getting no sub output, even though it tested the sub during the calibration. Just as I'm starting to think this unit hates me, I end up looking through the manual config again which is basically showing me all the settings that the amp has just auto configured... And I randomly change front speakers from "large" to "small" and that's what the problem was, sub output is now back.

What a carry on.
 
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