What should the Surround and Back Speakers play out??

[manlystanley]

I have a different setup for my listening / movie room then most people. I have a 2 channel setup; and when I want surround sound, I power on a cheaper receiver to power my four back/surround speakers. My Denon DVD player then sends analog to my preamp and then fiber to my receiver.

My problem is that now the back/surround speakers are playing the same thing as the front. I've checked and rechecked the receiver/DVD's configuration, and it's setup properly. I swear that this worked great (e.g. only special effects) for the back/surround speakers previously.

So, just to make sure that I have not forgotten, what do you guys get on your back/surround speakers? Is it just surround sound stuff or is it dialog and music as well?

Thanks,
Stan

[luvtolisten]

Usually just background stuff. It could be music, but music in the background. For example, the scene could be 2 people talking in a restaurant. Dialogue would be your center speaker. The what is closest to the 2 people talking (A waiter coming and going would be your front speakers, maybe some music) would be your front speakers. The surrounds are background, chatter far away, or noise or music that is far enough away you hear it but can't make it out word for word.

I'm not familiar with your set up, but I would start at the source.
1) Try a known DVD that has worked before (could be the DVD itself) first.
2) Check the settings on the DVD player,
3) Check surround outputs, connect them to the main amp to be sure they are working.

[Nasir]

Some questions just to figure out what you have there:
Are the DVD player outputs 7.1? By this I mean L and R going to the better amp and the others being fed to the pre amp? How about you remove the pre amp from the configuration?
OR, connect everything to the cheaper amp then remove the main L and R outputs from the DVD?

[pixelthis]

I have a different setup for my listening / movie room then most people. I have a 2 channel setup; and when I want surround sound, I power on a cheaper receiver to power my four back/surround speakers. My Denon DVD player then sends analog to my preamp and then fiber to my receiver.

My problem is that now the back/surround speakers are playing the same thing as the front. I've checked and rechecked the receiver/DVD's configuration, and it's setup properly. I swear that this worked great (e.g. only special effects) for the back/surround speakers previously.

So, just to make sure that I have not forgotten, what do you guys get on your back/surround speakers? Is it just surround sound stuff or is it dialog and music as well?

Thanks,
Stan

Sometimes you get voices, anything really. I have had a door open behind me and someone come thru talking, and the phone is a tad unnerving.
Your setup should work, if I UNDERSTAND correctly whats going on, but its not optimum
by a long shot, levels should be a pain.
I wouldn't worry much, your system is not going to be precise anyway, so just enjoy until you can afford a more conventional setup.

[Mr Peabody]

For what you are doing you don't want any speakers hooked up to the "main" speaker terminals of the receiver. From what you wrote I think you knew this but just checking.

It sounds like the receiver is in the wrong mode. You want DD or DTS, but it may have gone to 7 channel stereo or "party" mode. Have you switched your DVD player since that set up last worked? I don't know of too many that will output analog and digital at the same time. So even though the receiver is receiving a bitstream it could still be a stereo feed if the DVD player is not able to output both at the same time. Just brainstorming.

[manlystanley]

Mr. Peabody, Pixelthis, Nasir, and luvtolisten: Thanks for your help. I was thinking last night and when this problem started is during my speaker search. At one time I had no main speakers. So, I played the surround speakers in 'party mode'. Now, I switched back the configuration, but it still does not work right. So, I'm going to start from scratch and get the surround sound setup again. I've got to have something messed up.

Best Regards,
Stan

[Hyfi]

It sounds like you have a similar setup as mine. The way I get around the issue is by using the Pre-OUTs for the Fronts on HT receiver going to an input of my 2CH setup pre-amp. Then I set the volume control to 12 o'clock (or whatever volume matches with the HT) and then all volume is controlled by the HT.

The rest of the speakers, center-rears-sub are driven from the HT receiver directly.