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How to Hook Up your Receiver Properly

144K views 80 replies 28 participants last post by  tonyvdb 
#1 · (Edited)
With all the activity lately on the Shack from new members who are having difficulties hooking up the receivers properly I thought it would be a good idea to have a dedicated post on how to hook your speakers and other equipment up to get the best results.

As with all home theater setups there is a plethora of wires and connections that if not connected properly you wont be able to get the full potential out of your gear.

Receivers seem to always be the biggest part of the confusion and alot of questions seem to come up about "how to get something working" or "why dont I hear this properly" so Below is a step by step guide as to how to go about this:


Although there are many manufacturers of receivers, DVD players and other components they all have alot of similarities with regards to connections on the back.

We will start with the what I call the heart of the system the Receiver.

The first thing you need to decide is what speaker connections you need to use and this seems to cause alot of confusion. Do you have a two speaker setup or a full 7.1 setup meaning 7 speakers and one subwoofer.?



1) Above I have highlighted the speaker terminals that are most commonly used,
In light Blue I have marked the Front or main speaker connections. These are to be connected to your front Left and Right speakers the red terminal is the positive and the black is the negative (do not reverse these or you can cause problems but it wont damage anything).
Now you need to know what Ohms your speaker is (this is important) look at the back of the speakers where you connect the wires and there should be a label saying what wattage and Ohms they are the Ohms symbol looks like an upside down horseshoe and will usually be 8 or 4 ohms. write this down for use later.

Now here is where the confusion starts so just follow these instructions and you will be fine:

2) With most home theater receivers that are newer they have either either 5.1 or 7.1 channels and you need to know what you intend to use, in small theater rooms (less than 180sq ft) a 5.1 speaker system will do just fine. If you have a larger space then it may be necessary to use all 7 speakers This also depends on if you have one or two rows of seating.
Here is a link to a diagram of what a 5.1 speaker layout should look like. You can also place the side speakers on the back wall as well but keep the at least 4ft apart.
Here is what a 7.1 speaker layout should look like. Again the back speakers should be spread apart at least 4ft not what the diagram shows (I will explain later why).

Ok, now that we have decided what we have for a speaker layout if you receiver is 7.1 channel and your going to use all 7 speakers skip to point number 4, if you want to only use a 5.1 speaker setup continue on to next point.

3) On receivers with 7 speaker connections you will not be using the 6th and 7th speaker terminals usually labeled "Rear speakers" or "Surround back" seen in light green in the picture. On a 5.1 channel only receiver you will use them.
The confusion always seems to be because most people have there speakers placed on the rear wall and the label on the receiver is not worded this way.
The surround channels need to be hooked up to the terminals labeled Surround side seen in Yellow. If you leave these blank and hook the speakers up to the rear surround terminals the receiver will not (in most cases) send any sound to them when listening to movies. Continu to hook up the centre channel speaker as well labeled red and finaly connect the subwoofer to the line output labled sub out shown in dark green.

4) For a full 7.1 surround experience you hook up all the speakers to the appropriate terminals shown in these colors:
Front speakers
Center channel
Surround side
Surround back
Subwoofer (connect to line out rca jack)

5) Ok, now you have the speakers hoked up. Now what. Well if your receiver has on screen menu capabilities the next step is to hook up the display.
You will need to know what your display has for a connection but for most people it will ba a flat screen with a HDMI (High Definition Media Interface) input.
If you have an older display it may only have component (Red Green and Blue connectors) or even a S-Video or composite input (Yellow).
Lets assume you have HDMI run a HDMI cable between the receivers HDMI out seen in Dark blue on the far left of the picture above and your displays HDMI input.
Select that input on the display and turn on the receiver (you will need to check the receivers manual for more detailed instructions)
Go into the receivers setup menu (at first you will have to use the display on the receiver) and select HDMI out "On" so that it will output your receivers menu through HDMI.
Now this is where you need to remember the Ohms rating on your front speakers that I had you write down earlier. Go into the Speaker settings section of the receiver and find the setting that adjusts the Ohms to match what you have. Select the closest one available in the menu sometimes it only gives you two choices 6 or 8ohms (for 4ohm speakers select the 6ohm setting if there is no 4 listed).
Note: this setting may also just be a switch on the back of the receiver.

Most newer receivers have many different surround modes (to many to list) and we will leave this for another post. what you need to understand is that some modes are more useful than others and may or may not work well for music and movies. just because you have 5 or 7 speakers set up does not mean that music will sound right if using a mode that sends it to all the speakers. It takes time to find what you will like and dont get frustrated if you dont like what you hear right away.
earlier I stated that the rear speakers should not be placed together like in the diagram THX recommends This is because the rear channels are in stereo and work better spread apart particularly now with the newest movies using them much more than ever before.
 
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#33 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

I have an older receiver without HTMI and purchasing a front projector Epson 8350 and need to hook up the following components:

Denon AVR 5800 (about 10 years old, no HTMI, several optical, several S video, several component)
Epson 8350 front projector (one HTMI, one component, one S-video, one Video & one PC)
Direct TV (one HTMI, one optical, one S video connection , three component out, one coxial, 1 USB,
1 ethernet & 1 digital audio)
Toshiba SD 6200n (one optical, one S video, component without HTMI)
PS2 (1 HTMI,1 Lans & 1 optical output)

blue ray hook up
My receiver does not have the HTMI cables, do I go HTMI from the Epson 8350,projector to the PS2 for blu ray and then go component from the PS2 to the receiver?

Direct TV hook up
component cables to projector and receiver? the Epson 8350 only has one component connection that I already used on the blu ray unit above.

DVD
component to receiver?

Thanks in advance for your reply, I appreciate it very much. :help:
 
#34 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

Always use the highest quality video and audio connection you can so without HDMI component video is your next best option and using either optical or coaxial for audio is fine.
For the PS3 if it has component then just use that to the receiver and use the receiver as the switch for all video inputs. You can also run HDMI directly to the projector from the PS3 but then you may run into audio sync issues but try it and see. You would then need to switch inputs on the projector depending on what your using.
 
#35 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

Always use the highest quality video and audio connection you can so without HDMI component video is your next best option and using either optical or coaxial for audio is fine.
For the PS3 if it has component then just use that to the receiver and use the receiver as the switch for all video inputs. You can also run HDMI directly to the projector from the PS3 but then you may run into audio sync issues but try it and see. You would then need to switch inputs on the projector depending on what your using.
Hi Tony, thanks very much for your reply. there is two htmi inputs on the Epson 8350.
 
#36 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

Then as long as you dont mind switching inputs on the projector going HDMI directly to the projector would be a good choice and use component to the projector from the receiver for the other video sources would be the best option. If you dont already have the cables Monoprice is a great place to get them do not buy the expensive Monster or other cables.
 
#39 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

remember the above mentioned hookup is only the best option if your receiver does not have HDMI inputs. If it does HDMI to the receiver is the only way to receive the uncompressed audio formats unless you have analog multi channel inputs on the receiver as well (most receivers under $600 do not).
 
#42 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

Ok, I have a question for you experts. I have the following components either now or on the way and wanted to do some pre-work on setting everything up correctly the first time.

TV: Panasonic TH-50PZ700U
AVR: Pioneer VSX-1020-K
Blu-Ray: PS3 game console
STB: Directv w/ HDMI and component outs
Speakers: Aperion Audio Verus Grand Bookshelves (front), Verus Center Channel, 4B (rear), Klipsch Subwoofer

I want the best connection setup possible for home theater, but also want to be able to just listen to the sound from the tv for casual tv watching (from STB) and not have the receiver turned on.

Should I connect AVR->TV via HDMI, PS3->AVR via HDMI, STB->AVR via HDMI? Would that require the AVR to be on to watch TV with sound? Any other connection options that I should consider?

Thanks in advance
 
#43 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

The best way to do it would be to connect all components to your AVR then have one cable going to your TV, being that you want to just watch TV at times without the AVR you would connect your cable box to your TV then an out from the TV to an in on the AVR for when you want to use the AVR for TV watching.
 
#45 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

I think I'm in the same boat as some of the guys above.

I have a "older" Aragon Stage One Preamp / Surround Processor (purchased in 2004) that does not have HDMI. I have a Samsung 55" LED TV, a DVD player, and a SAT Box that DO have HDMI. I hooked them to the TV via HDMI and ran digital audio (optical) cables to the Aragon. All I get is 2-channel stereo and NEO6 (no DTS or Dolby digital). Do I have to run 5.1 ch analog audio cables from the DVD to my Aragon instead? I don't have that option on the back of my DirecTV HD Box, so I'm guessing I would have to change from HDMI to Component and then run a separate audio signal as well? I believe on my old TV I ran everything via component to the TV and then ran 1 audio signal from the TV to the Aragon and it worked fine.
This is pretty upsetting because I'd hate to have to replace my Aragon. It wasn't a cheap Preamp/Processor and I LOVE how clear the 2-ch audio is on the Pre when I'm listening to 2-ch music via Turntable or SACD. Most Pre-Processors that I've listened to are generally garbage when you use it as a 2-ch preamp.
-Thank you in advance for any suggestions.
 
#46 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

Are you sending the digital signal to the receiver from the display or direct from the source? If from the TV you will only get 2.1 sound, its a limitation put on manufacturers by the movie industry. You must go directly from the source to the receiver with optical or coax and make sure that you have the output set to bitstream.
 
#47 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

I have the optical cable running from the DVD to the Aragon Processor, and a coax digital audio running from the SAT box to the Aragon. I also have a optical running from the TV (audio out) to the Aragon TV input. I'm wondering if the audio signal from the HDMI cable is competing with the audio signal from the optical.
My Aragon manual states that the Toslink input takes precedence over the Coaxial input (but both can be connected simultaneously).
 
#48 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

Try removing the TV to Aragon connection and see if that corrects the problem.
 
#50 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

How does the Acoustic Research PR171 Digital RCA Cable (6 feet) cable compare to the AudioQuest RCA cables ( AudioQuest G-Snake audio cable - RCA plugs 1m (3.28') stereo pair )? Does it really make any difference like the 20 - 200 dollar price difference? Thanks!!
 
#51 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

How does the Acoustic Research PR171 Digital RCA Cable (6 feet) cable compare to the AudioQuest RCA cables ( AudioQuest G-Snake audio cable - RCA plugs 1m (3.28') stereo pair )? Does it really make any difference like the 20 - 200 dollar price difference? Thanks!!
IMO, no.

For short distance cable runs, just buy from Monoprice and be done with it. Unless you're trying to squeak out every last dribble of performance from a $50k system, the money would be better spent elsewhere.
 
#53 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

I have never installed a home theater system before and I am coming across 1 issue. I have a VSX-921-k receiver and I am installing the front left, front right and center channels. Once all those were installed I tested it out on the tuner and all 3 worked fine. As soon as I turn it to tv/sat, only the left channel works. The right sounds very muffled and can't be understood. I also ran the white balance test and it came back as all 3 were fine. Is there something I am missing?

Thanks,

Chris
 
#55 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

I have never installed a home theater system before and I am coming across 1 issue. I have a VSX-921-k receiver and I am installing the front left, front right and center channels. Once all those were installed I tested it out on the tuner and all 3 worked fine. As soon as I turn it to tv/sat, only the left channel works. The right sounds very muffled and can't be understood. I also ran the white balance test and it came back as all 3 were fine. Is there something I am missing?

Thanks,

Chris
Hello Chris, Welcome to the Shack.

It sounds like you have an issue with your sat box, have you ensured that the cables used for it are working correctly?

Hi, Name is Gary from Virginia. Couldn't find the intro page.

So, I have taken a DVD/VHS combo-unit Sony SLV D100 and hooked it up coaxially. I hooked up some Red White Yellow cables up (not really knowing what I was doing).
I got the DVD player to work with the TV but not with the Teak system.

I don't have and can not find on-line any owners manuals.

I sure would appreciate any help I could get.
Thank you,
Gary
Hi Gary, also welcome to the Shack.

Thats the biggest issue with using old equipment with new. On the DVD player you will need to probably check the user menu to make sure that it is only outputting 480i not 480p for video.
As far as it not working with your Teck receiver I have not heard of that model so its really tough to say what could be the issue.
 
#54 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

Hi, Name is Gary from Virginia. Couldn't find the intro page.

I decided to hook up my Teak/Bose surround system again.
I know I have all the speakers run properly.
This receiver is a Teak AG V3020. And I'm pretty sure my Pioneer PD M450 is hooked up properly with the red and white cables connected to the CD port on amp.

Now, I decided to buy a new DVD player. I got a Sony DVP SR200P, that has no provisions for coaxial connections.

After fooling with it the last couple days, I have come to the conclusion that; the TV doesn't have the provisions to work with this new equiptment. The TV is a 1991 RCA model F26051EM, which has a "Cable box" (Provided by the cable company) coaxially in line. Even tho I hooked the new DVD player straight into the TV via red yellow white cables, much less that in line where it needs to be, It still couldn't cooperate with the TV. (So the tech help from Sony told me, via phone)

In the process of all this, I accidently turned the VHS player on by accident. It took over the TV just fine.

So, I have taken a DVD/VHS combo-unit Sony SLV D100 and hooked it up coaxially. I hooked up some Red White Yellow cables up (not really knowing what I was doing).
I got the DVD player to work with the TV but not with the Teak system.

I don't have and can not find on-line any owners manuals.

I sure would appreciate any help I could get.
Thank you,
Gary
 
#57 ·
Re: How to hook up your receiver properly

Does the receiver have any component video inputs (red, green, blue) and digital audio inputs?
 
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