How to hook up that new Home Theater Receiver
Here is a simple checklist of how to install that new Home Theater receiver.
Attitude
You may need to run to the local Radio Shack/Best Buy
for supplies. Dont be afraid to make 2 or more trips
- it happens to the best of us.
Give yourself an hour or two of un-interupted time
in the morning. This is not a 15-minute process.
Connect-Test, Connect-Test, Connect-Test - The Pro's
hook up 1 device and make sure it works before
hooking up the next. You should too.
RACK LAYOUT
Put the receiver on the LOWEST
shelf in your rack. Make sure to leave 4-8 inches
above for venting (read the manual for exact
numbers).
Put components you touch (DVD, VCR, Game systems) on
the highest shelves. Put them in descending-order of
use.
Put CATV, DSS receivers (box's you never touch) on
shelves above the receiver.
CABLE LAYOUT
You want to hook up wires in this order:
- Power Cords
- Speaker Wires
- Interconnects
Power Cords
Look at the back of your rack. See where the power
cords come out on the Left or Right side? Pick a
side and position a surge-protection power-strip on
this side.
Labels - Make 2 white labels with "A", 2 with
"B", etc. On each power cord, put one label
on the power cord as it emerges from the box. Put
the matching label on the plug-end. Wrap with a
layer or two of scotch tape to protect the ink.
Loosly tie the power cords to one side with velcro-strips
or quick-release cable holders. Do NOT use zip-ties
or wire bread-wrapper ties. Your local hardware
store will have lots of options for this.
Hint: the power cord from the top-device can act
like a "pole" to hang the other cords from.
Speaker Wires - Concepts
An old speaker web site recommended:
16 ga - for 1-10 foot runs
14 ga - for 11-20 foot runs
12 ga - for 20+ foot runs
Most of us buy a spool of 12 ga wire and use it
everywhere. The Sound King brand from
www.partsexpress.com
is economical, but well respected.
Speaker wire often has 1 wire with lettering or a
stripe. The intent is to connect the RED jack on the
back of the receiver to the RED/Positive connection
on a speaker. We typically let the wire with the
stripe mean Positive/Red. The other wire is
Negative/Black.
Binding Posts & Spring Clips
Important: Neatness counts when connecting speaker
wire. You don't want ANY strands of copper sticking
out exposed. This can cause a short months down the
road and damage equipment.
Receivers often have red/black binding posts
sticking out. You can un-screw the cap to expose a
side-hole. Insert wire and tighten. Spring clips
have a button that exposes a hole. Insert wire and
release to clamp the wire.
Banana plugs are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you have
binding posts on your receiver and speakers. You can
get dual-banana plugs from Radio Shack (278-308) or
single-banana plugs (278-306). Note: buy 1 set of
the dual-bananas and bring them home to see if they
fit. The spacing of the binding posts is not
standardized.
If you have spring clips you can use "Pin
Connectors" like the Radio Shack (278-309). Hint:
Wrap the body with scotch tape to insulate them from
touching if your spring-clips are close together.
Length - Cut your speaker wires to length plus 1-2
feet for slack. If you don't have exact speaker
positions set, add 3-8 feet and plan to cut the
wires back later. Make loose "S" curves with the
excess. Don't coil the wires.
Label - Make 4 labels for each wire. Keep it simple
like "FL, FC, FR, RL, RC, RR" (F/R -
Front/Rear, L/C/R - Left/Center/Right). Put 1
label 4-6 inches from the end, the next 2-3 feet
from the end. Repeat on the other end.
Speaker Wires
Make sure the power is off on the receiver.
Connect only the Left and Right speakers. Connect
behind the receiver and behind the speaker.
Important: make sure there are no loose strands of
copper sticking out to cause a short.
Turn the receiver on. Check the manual/remote for a
"Test Tone" feature. This will send static sound to
each speaker in turn for a few seconds. Make sure
the Left speaker makes sound when the display says
something like "Left Front".
If you don't have a test-tone feature, go to AM and
let the speakers produce static. Use the balance
knob to make the sound go to the left or right
speaker.
Important: Turn the receiver power off!
Connect up the Center and rear speakers.
Turn the receiver power on.
If you have a test-tone feature, use it to make sure
the speakers are hooked up correctly. If not, just
be careful to pay attention to the labels.
Interconnects - Concepts
(If you already have your
video cables figured out, skip this section. If you
are struggling with all the different cable types
and the "Video thru the Receiver" issue - read this
section.)
Here is a rule: Budget no-more than 10% of the
electronics price for cables
All good interconnects are Coaxial. If you
cut one and look at the end, it will look just like
your CATV coax. If the included cables with your
DVD/VCR/etc look like 2-wire "Walkman Headphone"
wires, put them away.
Video vs. Audio cables
Video cables are 'special'. They are made with
something called 75 ohm coax. These work fine as
audio cables, but audio cables can be made with any
of the more common types of coax: 50, 75, 110, 300.
You can sometimes get away with using audio cables
for video, but it's a gamble. (No, it wont damage
anything to try).
There are 4 types of video cables/connections:
- Composite - This is a single cable with RCA plugs on either end. Baseline Quality.
- SVideo - This looks like a single cable, but is really 2 wires and has a funny 'keyboard' type connector on each end. 20% better picture than Composite
- Component - This is 3 Composite cables in a bundle. 25% better picture than Composite
- DVI - This is a new digital connection but is not really common yet.
Note: You MUST use component cables for Progressive
or HD Video signals unless you have a DVI-equipped
source. There are very few of these as of this
writing.
Video Through the Receiver
You can run video through the receiver with no
apparent signal loss. This makes the system easy to
use because 1 remote changes things. But there IS an
issue: Most receivers will NOT convert one video
type to another. (You can check out the
"Receivers" forum for models that do the video
conversion.)
You should try to get all your sources to produce
the same type of video signal. I suggest you
standardize on SVideo. Radio Shack sells a
cheap $20 "Composite to SVideo" converter for the
old VCR or Game system.
Now you simply run SVideo from all your sources to
the receiver, then 1 long SVideo cable from the
receiver to the TV.
HD Video
If you have HD sources, send them directly to the TV
with component cables. Not through the receiver. If
you don't have enough inputs on your TV, this thread
on
Inexpensive HD Video Switching
describes several video switch box's and the
pros/cons of them.
Interconnects - Monitor Out
If you run video through the receiver, start by
running a video cable from the receiver to the TV.
On the back of the receiver is usually some video
outputs called "Monitor Out". Run a video cable to
your TV.
Receivers have a On-Screen-Display (OSD). But it
usually only works on 1 of the monitor outputs at a
time. A slide-switch sometimes controls this. Other
receivers use a menu from the front panel to control
this. Read your user manual and make the OSD work on
your video connection (Composite, SVideo, Component)
Test: Turn on the TV, switch to the video feed from
the receiver and turn on the receiver. Use the
receiver remote to turn the volume up/down. You
should see some type of display on the television.
Toggle between AM/FM/CD on the remote and note how
the television pops up some information for a few
seconds.
Important: Turn the receiver off after this.
Interconnects - Analog first
Hook up from simple devices to complex. Test each
device to make sure it works before starting the
next.
Simple devices are: CATV box, SAT receiver, CD and
VCR. (things with L/R audio jacks - analog)
Complex Devices are: DVD player, HDTV CATV box or HD
SAT receiver (things with digital-audio connections)
Hook up the VCR first. The back of the receiver
actually has 4 audio jacks. Connect the VCR output
to the "IN" jacks on the receiver. Connect the video
output to the VCR-Video "IN" on the receiver.
Test: Put in a tape Press "Fast Forward" for a
minute or two, then press "Play". Turn on the
receiver and turn the volume down. Press the "VCR"
button on the receiver remote. The TV should now
show you the audio & video from the VCR (yes, turn
up the volume until you can hear it). Press "AM" to
switch away, then "VCR" to switch back. Repeat until
the amusement wears off.
Turn off the receiver (but leave the VCR and
television running).
Hook up the next analog device (CD, Game, CATV box).
Repeat the above steps for each. Check that you can
switch to each of the previous components as well as
the new one.
Interconnects - Digital Next
Now it is time to hook up that DVD player.
Here are some common issues:
- Optical vs. Coaxial Digital - Both sound identical except in a few rare instances. The coaxial-digital cable is just a Video cable (with yellow markings on the plug). I suggest going with coaxial if you have the option. Or go buy a "Toslink" optical cable.
- PCM/Bitstream vs Dolby Digital - There are 2 types of digital signals. CD players produce something called PCM or "Bitstream". This is 2-channel (or stereo) only. A DVD player can produce "DD", "Dolby Digital" or "Dolby 5.1 Surround". This is an issue because most DVD players can produce both, and modern receivers can accept both, but older receivers can only accept PCM. This is why there are options.
Connect the DVD video. This is either through the
receiver, or direct-connected to the TV.
Turn on the DVD player, turn on the TV and perhaps
the receiver. Adjust things so you see the DVD
player logo.
Use the DVD Player remote to find the setup menu.
Somewhere in the menus are settings to tell the
player to produce DIGITAL, and what type. Select DD/DolbyDigital/5.1
etc. (check your manual to find the menu item &
descriptions).
Grab the receiver manual. Find the section on
connecting a DVD player or "Configuring Digital
Sources". Using the receiver remote or front-panel,
find the options for digital. Many receivers have
selections like: PCM, Dolby or "Auto Detect". You
want to select "Auto" if your receiver offers
it. Exit the menu system.
Turn off the Receiver.
Connect up the digital connection from the DVD
player to the "DVD" digital input on the receiver.
Insert a DVD into the DVD player and let it boot up.
Turn on the receiver and adjust the volume to a
modest level, and select "DVD" with the remote. You
should be hearing some sounds now.
Note: Many DVD menu's have sounds. But they are
almost always 2-channel. My Yamaha receivers always
say "Pro Logic" on the face until the actual movie
starts.
Use the DVD remote to go into the "Audio Setup" part
of the DVD. The default sound track is almost always
"Dolby 2.0" or "Pro Logic". Select the "5.1" audio
track. Return to the main menu.
While watching the face of your receiver, hit "Play"
or select "Play Movie" on the DVD menu. Most
receivers will change the display to say "Dolby" or
"5.1" or simply "Digital" when the title screen of
the movie starts to play.
You roughly repeat the above steps for your CATV
box, Sat receiver, game system, etc.
Here are some common issues:
CATV Box - In many systems, only the
'Digital' channels above 100 will produce sound from
the digital connection. You have to hook up L/R
analog cables into some input on your receiver to
get sound for the lower channels. Yes, this means
you have to select "Aux" for channels 2-99, then
pick "Sat/DBS" for the digital audio for channels
above 100. It is a pain. My advice - switch to a sat
service where all the channels come with digital
sound.
Why put the receiver on
the bottom shelf?
It's not a hard & fast rule. But here are the
reasons for putting the receiver on the lowest
shelf:
- Speaker wires flow naturally away from other wires (Speaker wires carry power. You don't want these bundled with interconnects or power cords if you can avoid it.)
- Speaker wires don't obscure the back of the other components allowing easier hook-up
- Reduces strain on the connections.
- Rack Stability
- Better ergonomics. Why put something at chest-height that you never really touch to use?
© Copyright 2002 Home Theater Forum. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
Thanks to Hometheaterforum.com for the above article.
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