Starter 5.1 setup with Projector

Surfer said:
Yeah the 2.1 wharfdale diamond looks nice but probably too big for my living room. (its not that big)

Is it worthwhile going second hand to save a fortune?

i can get KEF 2005.2 with 5 satelittes and subwoofer for £130 ?
Also can get the z5500 for £50 ?

To add i guess if i want 5.1 surround sound i need to have a 5.1 dedicated sound card..i dont think my mobo has it (asus z79-k)
Click to expand...

Yup go second hand, I saved about 80% on second hand speakers.

Those 9.0 ARE TINY
 
looks like i will be getting the yamaha yht1810 for £240 (£10 vip discount). RS dont have anything in clearance at the moment and are waiting for the next few pallets to come in. I could wait a few weeks and see what appears or get this now. Unfortunately i missed the VIP deal on these at the start of the year (£199 with VIP RS)

edit: oh wait i will give edinburgh RS a phone tomorrow and see what they got in clearance...shame their website is not operational for this atm.

Main plus point is i can swap in other speakers etc. It has the limitation of no HDCP2.2 but cant have everything especially at the budget end of the spectrum.

Had a look on gumtree and avforums but couldnt see anything equivalent or better for comparable price. Didnt go for the wharfdale 5.1s because feel they are too big (saw them at RS).

Now i just need to get a projector screen.....another area mired with complexity...differences between £15 - £80 - £500 screens jeez... have thought about the Duronic MPS100 and EPS119 and they are pretty cheap
 
Difference is quality. A 100 quid screen compared to a 1k screen is like comparing a cheap Chinese 24" monitor designed for people who don't care to the latest 4k IPS gsync gaming monitor...
 
FurryLemon said:
Difference is quality. A 100 quid screen compared to a 1k screen is like comparing a cheap Chinese 24" monitor designed for people who don't care to the latest 4k IPS gsync gaming monitor...
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Biggest different really in my experience is in situations where you have less than ideal lighting conditions, etc. to deal with - you don't need to spend 1K to get many of the benefits in a dark room. £100 or so screen unless its poor quality with lots of creases, etc. is infinitely better than any old wall and fairly acceptable - spending a bit more can be a benefit.
 
Ok hopefully this will be ok

Hdmi from receiver to projector
Blu-ray player going to receiver hdmi
= Watch Blu-ray's no worries in 5.1 ?

I need to cut this speaker cable now...

Hopefully be watching Interstellar in 20 mins
 
Some sites say striped wire negative and the clear wire (white in my case) is positive so I wire all the speakers up but when it comes to attach to receiver the grey stripe one seems to be in positive slot ? According to image

vyrjr81.jpg

Does it matter as long as I am consistent?
 
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Rroff said:
Biggest different really in my experience is in situations where you have less than ideal lighting conditions, etc. to deal with - you don't need to spend 1K to get many of the benefits in a dark room. £100 or so screen unless its poor quality with lots of creases, etc. is infinitely better than any old wall and fairly acceptable - spending a bit more can be a benefit.
Click to expand...

Definitely, a decent screen is so much better than a wall. I use my PJ at night or with the curtains closed.
 
Vargas said:
My Sapphire screen is excellent so can recommend that brand.
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I'd need to donate a kidney for one of them

Got it up and running...not sure if I am getting proper dd5.1 or virtual. The OCD doesn't tell me.. I have only connected the hdmi to it from the projector..so maybe it's only pcm stereo.

OCD says... Cinema DSP.... Prologic 1 + 2 straight....standard...sci-fi...drama.. adventure... Hdmi out (in red) etc hrmmmmm....

However straight seems to be just stereo because the OCD of the speakers changes to 3 instead of 6
 
Surfer said:
Some sites say striped wire negative and the clear wire (white in my case) is positive so I wire all the speakers up but when it comes to attach to receiver the grey stripe one seems to be in positive slot ? According to image

vyrjr81.jpg

Does it matter as long as I am consistent?
Click to expand...
Doesn't matter in the slightest as long as the same wire from amp terminal to speaker terminal.
 
Surfer said:
I'd need to donate a kidney for one of them

Got it up and running...not sure if I am getting proper dd5.1 or virtual. The OCD doesn't tell me.. I have only connected the hdmi to it from the projector..so maybe it's only pcm stereo.

OCD says... Cinema DSP.... Prologic 1 + 2 straight....standard...sci-fi...drama.. adventure... Hdmi out (in red) etc hrmmmmm....

However straight seems to be just stereo because the OCD of the speakers changes to 3 instead of 6
Click to expand...

*bump* anyone know ?

should i be getting 5.1 DTS via hdmi between the receiver and projector or will i need to go down the coaxial cable route? I dont think the w1070 has optical out connection so cant go that route.

If i force DTS via the bluray settings (bitstream dts) then DTS will appear on the receiver but it will only be in stereo. why not 5.1 ???? Its very confusing....

atm to get sound from all 5 speakers i have dts plus dolby prologic 2 movie setting is that dts hd ???? Why does it only say DTS and not DTS hd ??? (interstellar bluray)
 
hornetstinger said:
HDMI passes 5.1 DTS & DD. No need to use coaxial /optical unless you have legacy sources (CD player, DAT etc)

use bitstream setting
Click to expand...

thanks.

Curiously if i set it to PCM in the Bluray player menu then i will only get stereo in straight mode.

If i set it to bistream unprocessed i get zip nada no sound at all

If i set it to DTS then i think i get 5.1 because all the speakers show
if i set it to Dolby Digital then i think i get 5.1 because all the speakers show.

What is adaptive drc btw ?

Is dolby digital better than DTS?

Unfortunately there is another problem.... im watching Interstellar bluray ok.... and some scenes it is in clear 16:9 format (black bars top and bottom) and other scenes it is full screen no black bars top and bottom.
 
Ahh solved the aspect ratio change thing...its bucking chris nolan being fancy with his style of shooting
 
hrmm wonder if i should return this. The sound is pretty good but the best i will get is dolby digital and DTS. Not DTS-HD or TrueHD and most newish receivers have this as standard....


on RS site even the cheapest av receiver has both DTS-HD / TrueHD and 4k passthrough HDCP2.2
whereas mine does not....hrmm...
 
jeezz i long for the day when sound quality conformity is a standard as display.

Netflix wouldnt play in 5.1 on IE11 or an netflix app but thank $$$$ i got it to work on an app on my bluray player. Proper 5.1 dd+ as well none of this 5 channel stereo bs :(

Coz yeah BBC iplayer in HD does HD picture but does it do bucking 5.1 DD ? ...... does it hell... tested some of their flagship music programs (last night of proms etc) and could only get stereo (this is iplayer app through the bluray player as well) It was odd because i changed it to bitsream bts but it still only showed PCM on the display. (it would show DTS up until i put on iplayer)

Also im not even sure Interstellar was in 5.1 when i watched it yesterday...should all the voices and sound effects (doors opening etc) always come from the damn centre speaker????

But its strange because in scenes where there is music or big sound effects i can clearly hear them from the 2 rear speakers....but how do i know its proper 5.1 ? and not just flannelling me with 5.1 stereo?

btw PCM is only ever 2 channel yeah?
 
hrmm interesting

played these 2 blurays via pc bluray player and powerdvd

I have changed settings in pc and powerdvd so the receiver decodes etc. If i dont i just get LPCM stereo. Also receiver is set to straight settings.


Interstellar

Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 2838kbps
Output: Compressed data

Blade Runner

Audio: AC3 5.1 640kbps
Output: Compressed data

Now from the above you would think Interstellar would have the best audio but what the actual...nope Blade Runner smashes it out of the park with its positional sound audio. Interstellar has good audio but HARDLY any which utilizes full 5.1 effects imho. The first opening scene in Bladerunner...you can tell within seconds that it is superior. Did they just **** it up on sound production on Interstellar or what???

I was almost crying the Blade Runner audio was that good....effects whizzing all around me.

edit: Above makes it sound like i dont like Interstellar's ost and music...quite the contrary...its fantabulous i just have an issue with the overrall positional audio...only a few scenes where positional audio is utilized fully (dust storms, water planet) Its kinda weird the sound balance in this film.
 
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