Surround Sound Electronics

Hey i’ve got an Xbox and I’m really interested in buying a surround system for it, would anyone be able to reccomend me one I can buy? Thanks.

(price doesn’t matter too much but I don’t want to pay loads of money just for sound)

Here’s a must have as a gamer in my opinion (25+ years as an audiophile)…

Pioneer powered sub with a MTX surround system.

This system is respectively quite inexpensive given its competent performance. Tons of deep bass and incredible dynamics. Of course, there are better systems out there, but you’re going to pay a lot more money to get it.

If that is too much, then the cheapest good system I can recommend would be the following 5.1 surround system…

Dayton surround sound system with (10" or 12") powered subwoofer.

This system performs good, and will easily outperform any of those HTIB (home theater in a box) speaker systems.

Oh, and don’t forget the surround receiver. I like Pioneer myself for best bang for the buck. The VSX-520-K model is a very good entry-level choice.

You can find these systems on eBay, Amazon, or Parts Express.

Happy listening!

Can i hook a home surround sound system into my car, and just use a power inverter for the house plug? I mean all the system is is an amp isnt it?

Short Answer…YES.

Long Answer…
I did this before with and old 18" speaker and it worked. I ran it through a 300w max sub amp and it slapped hard. Did it sound good? Sorta…would I chose it over a regular car system? NO. If you want to try to convert a home surround sound system to fit in a car, go ahead. Will it be worth it? NO. Leave the home surround sound system in the home and put car audio in the car. ^_^

I have watched a few movies in my car, with the subs hooked up…and its better than my home theatre system inside. But I have all car audio stuff…I think it sounds better that way.

Unless you mean plugging a home surround sound RECIEVER into your car…then YES that is possible, but NO I do not suggest it at all. lol. However, I have considered this before and opted not to.
Hope this helps!

OK I can get the sound to come out of my surround system using its dvd and the picture to come out my tv. I am doing this with red whit and yellow wires but I can not seem to get my cable tv sound to come out of the surround sound please tell me why

I think the cable box has a setting to output sound via rca. But you can connect the cable box to the tv, then run the rca from tv to the dvd receiver. if the dvd system doesnt have rca input connections than you can’t use it.

What cord/cords do I need to play Pandora Radio from my laptop through my surround sound system? I have a surround sound system for my tv. What do I need to play Pandora Radio on my surround sound system? Thanks.
Basically…do I need a cord like a mic cord that connects from my laptop to my surround sound system?

You need to get an RCA to male 3.5mm jack. Ask for one at Radio Shack. They cost about 5 bucks.

I am looking into adding surround sound to my television. I understand computers, TV’s, blurays, etc. but audio equipment is foreign to me. I have some simple questions:

What does it take to get a system set up? Wires in the walls? What if house wiring is out of date?

Also, what are some good brands of equipment? Preferably for under $600. So Klipsch is not an option.

Well, a good surround sound system will cost considerably more than $600. I myself have $8K in it.
You’ll need a receiver that decodes Hi-def sources from Blu-ray
5 speakers (left, right, center, rear right, & rear left)
1 capable sub woofer for the low frequencies
a TV with 1080p resolution
a Blu-ray player
wiring for all components this includes patch cables, speaker wire, & HDMI cables
a half decent stand for it all that won’t flex or bow under the weight. So particle board is a no no.
Good brands depend on budget. I won’t recommend any right now b/c I would be here a long time writing them. Klipsch is good, but they can get expensive real fast. But, I will suggest this set for you b/c imo it’s a decent starter set & you can build on it. Cheers!
Link: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_700HTG2/Yamaha-and-Energy-Home-Theater-Bundle.html?tp=6419

I have a Samsung LED B8000 40" tv (which i LOVE!) and connected through hd leads and optical cable to a Samsung surround sound system (HTz225r) which all works fine. My only question is, how do i get them to all come on together without having to manually switch on the surround sound (with the control).

When i switch the TV off, it auto switches the surround sound off so surely the reverse can happen when you switch on?!

You need to hook everything up using HDMI cables…Your receiver may not have the feature you are asking for..try turning on the dvd player first and see if that turns everything else on…also just because you see smoke does not mean there is fire…(the Charvak)

I’m trying connect my surround sound system… I have a Direct TV HD receiver connected to my TV with a HDMI cable. My surround sound receiver is a little older so it does not have a HDMI connection. It does have component and RCA connections. My Direct TV receiver also has component and RCA connections. Can I just connect the surround sound to the Direct TV receiver without connecting to the TV?

Component connections are video only. RCA connections can be video, analog audio, or digital audio. If you post the make/model of your TV and receiver, you’ll get much better advice.

But in general, you want to connect the digital audio output from your TV (if it has one) to the digital input on the surround receiver. Digital audio can be either optical (square TOSlink connector) or coaxial (RCA connector, usually orange).

Using digital audio will give you discrete 5.1 channel audio from DirecTV and any other sources connected to the TV.

I have a LG dvd surround sound system model LHT734. I am trying to hook up my HD Direct tv receiver, Wii, and a Blu Ray player to it. It only has the red/white audio in and optical in. Is there any way to hook all of them up?

The optical in will give you surround. Get a 3 way optical splitter, like the one at the link and run the HD box, Wii and blu ray’s optical outs directly into the optical splitter. Then run the splitter into your system’s available optical input. Choose bitstream as the audio output on the blu ray and Wii, the cable box will just work. Turn off the tv’s sound. Plug all video cables directly into the tv, with HDMI if available. Then just choose the optical and HDMI inputs as necessary for the item you are using.

I’m thinking of getting a PS3 sometime in the future, mainly for Blu-ray. And I want to know how I will get surround sound out of it before I buy it.

I already have my 360 in the optical input of my sound system and my pc in the 6 ch direct input.

The only other input I have is digital coax, and I have no idea what that is used for…

So is there a switcher or something I could use to connect two optical inputs?

This question has already been resolved. check: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080219024909AA5WzFD
as far as the Digital Coaxial is concerned, it is used to send sound(just like the optical line) to a receiver.

I ordered a Samsung surround sound system, and in the set up manual my brand of tv, Polaroid, isn’t listed. Does this mean the system won’t work?

The brand of your TV is irrelevant. There are two deciding factors on wether your surround system will work with your tv. Chances are it will, unless your TV is very old.

Outputs (from your TV) and Inputs (to your surround sound system).

outputs: What audio outputs does your TV have? Digital out (an output which uses light to transmit sound. You’ll know if you have this output – it’s usually covered by a little dust protector cap, while underneath is a glowing red light). Digital out would be your first choice. Next up would be left and right audio channels. Usually red + white plugs.

Inputs: Your samsung surround sound system most likely have optical in. If your TV also has it, make sure you buy an optical sound cable (as they’re not usually supplied with sound systems).