would the Denon DHT-1356XP fit my requirements

jej_knowles · 9 Nov 2014 at 19:17

Hi I bought a Panasonic 50inch dt65 TV back in January but the sound is terrible for watching films. I have been offered a Denon DHT-1356XP system cheap but wonder if it's any good for my use? All my films are played from my pc so I don't have a blue ray player. The TV has an optical audio out I could connect the audio to the denon but do I need to connect something else for on screen menu for the avr?

lucid · 9 Nov 2014 at 20:51

The Denon system is quite old I think. The receiver is the AVR1306 (c. 2007?). It predates HDMI on budget receivers by a few years. That's not a problem so long as all your sources have either digital optical or digital coax or analogue outputs.

Don't run (or attempt to run) any picture via the AV receiver. It's not up to the job. Send picture from the PC direct to the TV. Sound connections should go direct to the AVR1306. A digital connection is best. That will give you bitstream data so that the amp can decode Dolby Digital and DTS directly.

The connection of sound from the TV will be optical as you correctly said. This gives you either PCM stereo from the non-HD Freeview channels and Dolby Digital (DD) from the Freeview HD ones. The amp will decode DD and play it in surround automatically*. Any channels broadcasting in stereo or with dolby surround can be decoded using the receiver's ProLogic circuits. Once again, that will give you surround sound. Dialogue will be directed to the centre channel speaker in all the above scenarios. This will sound a lot better than the TVs own speakers.

* presuming it's DD 5.0/5.1

jej_knowles · 9 Nov 2014 at 21:02

Thanks lucid a good few pointers to read up on there. Regarding the functions of the amp will I be able to operate it without the on screen menu?

lucid · 9 Nov 2014 at 21:09

You can always hook up a composite lead (yellow phono) so you've got a way of seeing the OSD during set-up. After that though, there's really no need to view it. The amp has a front panel display so you've got volume and decoding mode displayed. That's pretty much all you really need on a daily basis.

wigster · 23 Feb 2018 at 18:11

Does anyone still have this system? I have this and was wondering what the sub is like for watching films, no idea if i would have to tweak the sub gain at the moment its in the 12 O'clock position.

hornetstinger · 23 Feb 2018 at 21:01

It's going to be better than the TV sound, but will it offer what higher end systems, larger speakers can? No. The subwoofer is only 6".
This'll be fine for a box bedroom but for a lounge? Not really.

Sub gain will be different to other people but typically you want the sub to blend in, if it draws attention to itself then it's too loud, and/crossover is too high.

wigster · 23 Feb 2018 at 23:30

I'm in a smallish room so it shouldn't sound so bad, i know its not going to sound outstanding as its old now and like you say its a small sub so its not going to produce those low rumbles.

The back of the sub has "normal" written on it, thats where the gain is at the moment so its not going to harm the sub if i go past the 12 o'clock position say having it at the 2 o'clock position. Or would it be better to adjust the sub level on the avr?