Hi all. I'm a bit of a novice and would appreciate any advice on upgrading. I bought most of my components 10 years ago and just upgraded my TV and DVD to a Samsung 1080p HDTV and Samsung Blu-Ray BD-P1600. I'm happy with the video aspects, and only use the receiver for audio. The audio with dialogue is inconsistent and often sounds very hollow or almost echoes, especially from the cable box. I thought the problem was an old center speaker, so I just replaced it with a Polk CS-2, but the problem persists. The sounds is especially poor when I set my receiver to surround mode while watching programs via my cable box (a Motorola DCH3416, which is set to output in Dolby AC3 and is connected to my receiver via optical cable). The problem generally isn't present when I turn off the surround on my receiver. Overall, the sound seems to be better with DVDs, though a Blu-Ray I played last night that was encoded with DTS surround (which my receiver has, albeit perhaps an outdated version) gave very tinny/echoey dialogue. The non-dialogue seems to be okay under all circumstances, which is why I thought the problem was my center; however the new center had made no difference. Before I start upgrading components, I want an idea of where the problem is. My novice suspicion is that my receiver is the problem since it only has traditional Dolby ProLogic/Surround and DTS, with none of the newer formats. My concern, though, is that if the problem is with the cable box, there is no point upgrading my system. If I do upgrade the receiver, I want to spend no more than $500. I only use it for audio, so I'm less concerned about a receiver that can upconvert video. Does anyone have a recommendation?
Receiver: JVC RX-6500VBK
Center: Polk CS2
Front: Polk Monitor 30
Rear: Cerwin Vega CLS-5
Sub: Cerwin Vega
TV: Samsung LN40750 HDTV
Cable Box (HD-DVR): Motorola DCH3416 (thru RCN)
Blu-Ray: Samsung BD-P1600
(audio from cable box and Blu-Ray connected to receiver via optical)
(video to TV from cable box and Blu-Ray via HDMI)
Receiver: JVC RX-6500VBK
Center: Polk CS2
Front: Polk Monitor 30
Rear: Cerwin Vega CLS-5
Sub: Cerwin Vega
TV: Samsung LN40750 HDTV
Cable Box (HD-DVR): Motorola DCH3416 (thru RCN)
Blu-Ray: Samsung BD-P1600
(audio from cable box and Blu-Ray connected to receiver via optical)
(video to TV from cable box and Blu-Ray via HDMI)