HTPC Surround Sound For Dummies (1 Viewer)

[SwissBuster]

I've recently joined the growing horde of people with much more free time but much less income.

I'm also in this club! The Z5500 cost around $350 here, and it will probably be cheaper in the US. You could of treat yourself given your new liberated status.

One point I forgot: I also chose an HDMI connection because Vista (and this is from memory so somewhat shaky) doesn't accept HDMI images (for TV) and sound from a different source.

 

[DiscoDvergen]

I was in exactly the same situation, but blew my Hifi budget when I bumped the car. Got a used z-5500 set for 200ish $. As long as you know what you're buying it's good value for money. Several hifi magazines have given them excellent feedback, scope and price taken into consideration.

Btw, Swissbuster, do you get full surround passthrough with HDMI to TV and SPDIF to Z-5500. I mean to have read somewhere that the passthrough from the TV wouldn't give you more than 2.1 or 2.0 or something like that, but can't recall where..

 

[SwissBuster]

Do you get full surround passthrough with HDMI to TV and SPDIF to Z-5500. I mean to have read somewhere that the passthrough from the TV wouldn't give you more than 2.1 or 2.0 or something like that, but can't recall where..

As far as I am aware it is full surround. To my ears it sounds like 5.1 sound (movie sound effects appear to move around the room). If there is a way to test it, I'd be willing to experiment. I do remember this was a concern early on as well.

 

[dcwp]

Well surprise of surprises, I have suddenly come to a partial solution for my sound issues. My father got a new plasma screen and a shiny new HTiB to go with it so he didn't want his old Surround receiver. So I've inherited it, cool.

It's a Sony STR-DE635, I don't know much about it yet. From what I can see by looking at it, the receiver does 5.1 and includes digital and optical inputs as well as analog. I didn't get any speakers with it, so I'll be collecting those for a while but soon I'll be experimenting with surround sound. Any tips on these older Sony receivers or budget-range speakers that go well with them would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nchopp]

Do you get full surround passthrough with HDMI to TV and SPDIF to Z-5500. I mean to have read somewhere that the passthrough from the TV wouldn't give you more than 2.1 or 2.0 or something like that, but can't recall where..

As far as I am aware it is full surround. To my ears it sounds like 5.1 sound (movie sound effects appear to move around the room). If there is a way to test it, I'd be willing to experiment. I do remember this was a concern early on as well.

S/PDIF will pass Dolby Digital and DTS, but none of the high-resolution audio formats on Blu-Ray (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution, and DTS-HD Master Audio). But, without a high-end receiver or amp and solid speaker setup, you won't hear much of a difference between them.