Audio Receiver Advice

[RonH]

I have a decent setup now with a 50" Kuro, DirecTV, and a PS3, however I'm lacking badly in the audio department.  I'm still using a 11 year old 2-channel Sony receiver.

I thought I was pretty knowledgable about home theatre, but apparently I am ignorant when it comes to audio systems.

Any reccomendations on recievers? What features are key to look for?  Do I need to make sure it has "Dolby True HD" or DTS-MA, or any of these new formats?  Is 7.1 worth it or is 5.1 plenty?  I already have two nice Bose speakers for listening to music up front, so perhaps I would be looking for some rear surrounds and a center channel to add to them?

If I would like to be able to watch TV without playing sound through the receiver, as well as through the receiver, how do you recommend I hook everything up?  My TV has an optical out, and I connect both the PS3 and the DirecTV box to it via HDMI.  I was thinking I could just have the TV pass through the dolby signal or the bitstream signal to the receiver via the optical out.  Does this work or make sense?

[nick3092]

If I would like to be able to watch TV without playing sound through the receiver, as well as through the receiver, how do you recommend I hook everything up?  My TV has an optical out, and I connect both the PS3 and the DirecTV box to it via HDMI.  I was thinking I could just have the TV pass through the dolby signal or the bitstream signal to the receiver via the optical out.  Does this work or make sense?

This won't work, if your trying to get the TV to pass the sound from an external device (PS3, DirecTV).  TV's only send audio out the optical port for things decoded by the ATSC tuner.  And I think the PS3 only lets you output either HDMI or optical, but not both at the same time.  You would have to change the setting in the PS3 every time you want to switch from sound via your TV and your receiver.

I don't know that there is an ideal way to achieve what your trying to do.  I personally run everything through my Denon and use it all the time.  My Denon/Paradigm setup is much higher quality than the TV speakers.

[kevbeck122]

I know some Onkyo receivers with HDMI have a menu option to send audio to the TV.  Depending on the source, though, your TV might not be able to decode the audio.  I'm not sure if other brands have the same option.

If the receiver you get has an HDMI repeater, you don't need a separate audio connection for your HDMI devices.  You don't necessarily need a receiver that decodes TrueHD, DTS-MA, etc. since the PS3 does all of that internally and just sends a 7.1 LPCM signal out.

Onkyo receivers seem to be the best bang for your buck according to what I read on various forums.  I've been looking at this receiver for my setup: http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR606-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B0015S8PGW

[markd]

You might be interested in Pioneer's 1018.  It's being closed out right now to make room for the 1019.  Hell of a receiver and BB Northridge has one left at $390!  3 HDMI in and you can pass through audio to your TV if that's what you want.  I recently picked one up to replace my 1014 (I've been wanting HDMI switching/upconvert for a while).

[nick3092]

Sending audio to the TV still requires the receiver to be on though (from my understanding - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).  I guess I was assuming RonH was looking for a setup where the receiver did not have to be on all the time.  But like I said, if you have to have the receiver on all the time, you might as well use the speakers hooked up to the receiver.  The sound quality is much better.

[gparris]

This won't work, if your trying to get the TV to pass the sound from an external device (PS3, DirecTV).  TV's only send audio out the optical port for things decoded by the ATSC tuner.  And I think the PS3 only lets you output either HDMI or optical, but not both at the same time.  You would have to change the setting in the PS3 every time you want to switch from sound via your TV and your receiver.

I don't know that there is an ideal way to achieve what your trying to do.  I personally run everything through my Denon and use it all the time.  My Denon/Paradigm setup is much higher quality than the TV speakers.

Exactly what I do, except with TWC service, as my AVR becomes my audio/video source switching device, one input on the HDTV and its very simple.

Audio from most TV speakers is worse than a clock radio, so don't short change yourself and most HD channels have 5.1 Dolby Digital audio, while a few still offer good 2-channel digital audio that sounds very good through your stereo speakers.
If you are concerned about setups, yes, a center channel for the dialogue with your front stereo speakers and 2 back surround speakers for the audio effects will do, along with a modest subwoofer.
(Look at //www.dolby.com for setup info)

Also, if you automate you remote control like I set my client's recently, all the have to do is hit the power button and the HDTV, AVR and set top box go on, a no-brainer.

[SRW1000]

If I would like to be able to watch TV without playing sound through the receiver, as well as through the receiver, how do you recommend I hook everything up?

Sorry, I don't have any specific advise on receivers, but I've heard lots of good things about the Onkyos from many different people.

I wouldn't worry too much about using the TV on it's own.  You should get much better sound through your audio system, and once you're used to it you probably won't want to listen to your crappy TV speakers anymore - they will sound either dull, shrill, or just plain lifeless.  I was actually forced to listen to mine for a few days while I swapped out a faulty pre/pro, and I'm pretty sure it caused my ears to start bleeding.

Scott