Surround sound?

[upnorth]

Just picked up a RCA 1000 Watt Dolby Surround sound system. How much should I expect to get in volume? I figured it should be enough to literally shake the windows, I don't get out of it what I get from the TV itself. Am I expecting too much? It sounds great but just no real volume.

And no they did have one setup to test it at the store.

[LMITOUT]

Is there a level adjustment for each speaker? Maybe tweak those to the positive side a little more.

[croixflats]

That should rock figuring at 5 channels 200 wats/.

It might be how you have the system hooked up you the tv.

Try turning the volume down on the TV then turning the Volume up on the Amp then use the remote to turn the volume up on the TV.

Essentialy you might have it hooked up where the TV is the Volume control. This is how I use my old Harmen Karmen amp as they didnt have remotes for amps that vintage.

Or do the oppisite turn the tv up high with amp low and use the amp for loundness control.

BE SURE AMP AND TV ARE ON as you can control both volumes with out getting blown away and hurting the speakers.

Hope this makes sense as I am not to familiar to the new set ups of todays tech

[croixflats]

I beleive it goes like this;

If you want the Amp as volume control the feed should hook up straight to the input of the Amp then output to the TV.

For TV volume control feed hooked up to the input of the tv then output to the amp.

[upnorth]

Is there a level adjustment for each speaker? Maybe tweak those to the positive side a little more.

I found those and maxed em out. Didn't make much of a difference. I also tweaked the DVD and TV up to the max and still pretty mediocre. I am thinking that it is going to go back and get something else. Make sure I can listen to it this time before I buy.

[Deitz Dittrich]

my guess is you have something hooked up wrong. I have a yamaha(HTR-5540) system in my basement, only has 75watts going to each channel. I get some scary sound out of it. I would not even think of turning it up all the way.

[upnorth]

I did some reading of reviews of that system and found 5 reviews from other people the have the same exact thing going on. Sounds great, just no real power.

And that was the 1st thing I thought too, that I had something hooked up wrong or a setting not right. But not one good review of that particular system. All said it didn't come close to what it should have been at 1000 watts.

[McGurk]

All watts are not created equal. You gotta pay to play. If it looks like the price is too good to be true, you're probably right.

What exactly are you looking for? An amp and speaker setup to work with your existing components, or an all-in-one amp/speaker/sub/DVD player system? I got a Panasonic all-in-one for around 350 that works great for our second system (main setup is in the basement w/ the projector). Sounds good enough but not a ton of volume, but it's not intended for that, either.

[CJH]

Still sounds like something is not hooked up properly. Are all the devices hooked up to this system having the same issues, or just your TV input?

[crothmeier]

i also like deitz have a yamha system and she pounds BIGTIME. My dad has a older yamaha and it pounds as well. You can get a nice one with hdmi passthrough speakers/sub/reciever for $600.

[Kidd]

If you haven’t already done so, check the options on your TV and see if you need to change a setting to external speakers. I had this issue a number of years back when hooking up my tuner to the TV.

Just make sure you turn the volume down when making adjustments, if you have the volume up quite a bit and hit the right settings you may damage your speakers, or your ears.

[upnorth]

I have tried the TV, the DVD and the tuner all the same results. Before I tear it all apart I may try my MP3 player and or the USB reader.

I am leaning toward you get what you paid for, and the all watts are not created equally. Only paid $160 and I am guessing I should be looking up towards about $350 and up for what I want. I have an old 40 per channel Marrantz down stairs with set of Pinnacle loud speakers that make this thing seem like a transistor radio. And even the audio systems on my 2 PCs put it to shame.

All I want this for really is to play the TV and DVD through, don't really listen to music there and if I need to I can throw a CD in the DVD or plug in a MP3 player if I want to listen to music.

[CJH]

Something still doesn't sound right. There's no way computer speakers should be louder than an off the shelf home stereo. Just double check all the connections and settings. If its still a problem, then definitely take it back.

Sidenote: I have a Marantz also, that is my home theater receiver and it rocks!!

[JollyT]

I had a cheap surround system and if I had no 5.1 output from a movie etc. it would be quiet unless I switched it to stereo mode, then I had normal volume out of the front speakers. If it was a true surround sound source it would be okay in 5.1 which is a silly way to have the system work. You should be able to leave it in surround and it should play stereo fine.

[upnorth]

I can try stereo mode. But I am getting sound from all speakers, so I am not convinced that is the issue, but not saying it isn't either. Got a few things to try before I tear it apart anyhow.

[Whoaru99]

You should be able to leave it in surround and it should play stereo fine.

It depends. If the system auto senses the input and the input signal contains a Dolby Digital or DTS flag, it should automatically change to those formats. However, if one has an artifical/matrixed surround effect mode engaged, the system may apply that default surround effect to all incoming signals including plain old stereo.

There are many variables, often depending on how things are connected, and related settings in multiple components, so without knowing the specifics what is going on is often just a guess.

[CJH]

That is correct. At that price point you are probably going to have to manually adjust and try the different settings, including the surround/stereo settings. Alot of receivers automatically switch the sound mode for you based on input signal/coding, but I doubt yours does.

[hydro]

Just plug it into a 240V outlet and you'll have 4000 watts!!! Not to mention a loud POP then some fire:)

[PierBridge]

I think RCA is the key keyword here. There's a reason the whole system was $160. This isn't upnorths first rodeo and I'm sure he has it hooked up correctly!

Take it back!

[upnorth]

After trying a few things posted here it is disassembled and ready to head back the store. I am not sure how they managed to rate that system at 1000 watts, there is no way it is putting out near that much power.

And there is only a couple options for hooking things up and it is all color coded anyway, so pretty hard to mess it up. 2 options for audio in and I tried em both, no go. It does sound good upto a point but if you have something you want to turn up, not gonna go far.

[Whoaru99]

I'd agree there is little chance the unit is putting out an honestly-rated 1,000 watts. However, it should be louder than the TV, none the less.

I'd be bringing it back too.

Dunno how much you care to spend but some of the Onkyo home theater in a box systems are OK. They are, however, likely quite a bit more $ than the RCA system.

While it's relative to prior experience and expectations, shaking the windows and having decent sound quality is, IMO, going to set you back a bare minimum of $1,000 if you have to buy a receiver, speakers, and a subwoofer. Dunno if one can even do it for that, but again, volume and sound quality are relative to expectations. If one has high expectations, sky's the limit, as I'm sure you all know.

As an example, here are the four amps that drive the speakers (not including subwoofer) in my HT system. They are, obviously, professional amps, and I have installed quiet fans so the noise from them isn't audible during low volume listening.

These have a combined output capability of 3,800 watts at 8 ohms using 7 of the 8 available channels, 4,500 watts if all 8 channels were used.

Overkill you might say? Perhaps, but it depends on where your interests lie, and I have no concerns about not having adequate power for clean reproduction.

[McGurk]

........__..__.....____*drools*____..__.____..._____

Wheres the rack, Whoaru?

What are you running for speakers? Are you happy with the 7.1, and did you try 6.1 first? I prewired for both and have a 7 channel amp, but am limping along with 5.1 for now, waiting to see if 7.1 ends up being standard. I wouldn't be suprised to see an 8th channel in the next few years bringing back the rear center.

(hijack over)

I have to agree with that approx $1000 for a decent 5 speaker, 1 sub, preamp/amp setup is a good target. Onkyo, Denon, and Yamaha all have decent amp/preamps, and the speaker systems can really run up and down from there. Try the nearest Ultimate Electronics, and see what they have for pre-packaged setups if you can stretch it. I seem to remember them having a $1000 option for their setups.

edit: Saw that you are from Chisolm, so getting to a decent AV shop isn't going to be real easy. Good Luck!

[LakeDocktor]

I haven't seen anyone mention anything about speaker wire. Are you using the cheap wire that came with the system? I would recommend buying some higher quality speaker wire and make sure that you run them at the same length for equal sound quality distribution.

[upnorth]

Wow...nice setup. Not looking for something of that level. But I have had some decent stereo equipment the past and still have an older yet very good Marrantz system, just the speakers are a bit too large and not surround sound. I am not really looking for something to shake the windows, but would like it to be powerful enough that on max volume you can't hear a normal conversation. My theory on that is more of the max volume you need to use the more THD you are going to experience. So even a cheaper system with lots of power should deliver fairly clean sound at fairly low power output.

And yes $160 for a system is too good go be true. But we listened to a few bookshelf systems with subs and 200 Watts of power and they put this to shame. I assumed the way they rated power output would be a bit more standardized. Shame on me for buying something like that without being able listen to it.

[Whoaru99]

........__..__.....____*drools*____..__.____..._____

Wheres the rack, Whoaru?

What are you running for speakers? Are you happy with the 7.1, and did you try 6.1 first? I prewired for both and have a 7 channel amp, but am limping along with 5.1 for now, waiting to see if 7.1 ends up being standard. I wouldn't be suprised to see an 8th channel in the next few years bringing back the rear center.

(hijack over)

(hijack alert on)

Rack is in a future update when I move the amps and a few other things into the basement into an equipment room of sorts.

My speakers are Paradigm Studio 100 fronts, Paradigm Servo 15 sub, Definitive Tech CLR 2000 center, and Definitive Tech surround and back speakers.

I started with 5.1, but then went to 7.1 straight away when I changed from an older Sony 5.1-only processor to an Anthem AVM 20. Some things I think sound better in 5.1, some in 7.1 (via Dolby ProLogic IIx), don't really know why that is.

I've recently upgraded to a Blu-ray player, but my older processor doesn't have HDMI. So, I have some rearranging to do so that I can use the multichannel analog outputs (currently using coaxial digital output)from the Blu-ray player and check out some of those new-fangled lossless and or uncompressed sound tracks.

(hijack alert off) My apologies upnorth.

[DTro]

Something is wrong for sure. I have a cheap RCA box set and I can't turn up to 75% without the house rumbling.