Help Installing VCR, stereo receiver, and DVD

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@spd2demun wrote:

Yay, SJ!  How you can do all that in your head with no equipment in front of you, just amazes me!!!

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User manuals downloadable in PDF format.  Greatest thing since sliced bread.  

Still...you make it sound easier than it is.

The Bose 901s (like any speakers) have a non-linear frequency and phase response.  The equalizer that they come with is designed to compensate for the non-linearities so that the speakers end up producing a nice flat frequency response.  The equalizer also adds some punch to the low end.

In your setup, the Onkyo's Audyssey 2EQ will perform the same function by compensating for the speaker non-linearities and will compensate for the room acoustics as well.  After that if you want to add some low end, you can do that with the audio adjustments on the Onkyo or through one of the listening modes.

These newer receivers that have this calibrated microphone automatic equalization are incredible.  My Pioneer VSX-1018 has this same feature (they call it something different but it does the same thing).  The equalization is so good that it has literally devalued speakers as an item category.  With the computer-perfect equalization, you don't need $3000 speakers any more for audiophile quality, you can make a $400 set sound identical.

Audio guru?  I dunno.  Audio snob?  Probably.   I've spoiled myself by having a finely-tuned 5.1 system in my house for years as well as an ISF-calibrated HD TV, etc.  So I'm probably also a video snob, computer snob, coffee snob, ... the list goes on.  Just kinda snobby all the way around.

Well, he was able to get everything connected.  VCR does not display anything on the screen, but we get sound.  Same with the DVD player.  Also, the DVD player doesn't have a progressive/normal slide switch on it.  He had to put it on the other tv and go to the menu in order to change it to Progressive.  We only get sound, no picture.  He's messing with the connections now.

He's a little disappointed in this receiver because it seems to only work well with "newer" components like the CD player.  The tape deck works, but you have to crank the volume higher than normal in order to hear the tape.  I guess when you get an HDTV and want to connect everything to the receiver, you also have to buy all new components too!

My phonograph won't connect unless we purchase some kind of additional module to plug into it.  I'm sure they don't make HDMI tape decks or phonographs, do they? 

Here's another problem.  We setup the TV according to the instructions from SomeJoe and the picture isn't being displayed full screen.  We have to go to Zoom and put it on Stretch.  But, then the words at the bottom (i.e. show description, time) are getting cut off.  What do we need to change?  Thank you!

He reset the entire receiver and is going to start again from the beginning.  We ordered a Blu Ray DVD player and HDMI cable for it. 

Right now we have another problem and he's dealing with that.  Then, he will go back to the TV and go through your steps again.  Thanks again!

We received the Blu Ray DVD player yesterday.  Boyfriend has everything hooked up, but cannot get the Blu Ray player to work.  SomeJoe, I'm not sure if there are other settings on the receiver that he has to do?  He's not getting a picture in order to do the setup screen that the Blu Ray player says should automatically come up when you turn on the tv. 

Also, it seems like the volume has to be turned up so high in order to hear the tv program.  Are there adjustments we can do on the A/V receiver to fix this issue?  It wasn't like this before when he inititially hooked everything up.

Here's another issue I have.  You said to turn off the speakers to the TV.  Is there any way that we can still have the TV speakers on?  During the setup and following your instructions, he turned off the tv speakers.  But, if you try to turn them on now, you can't.  I'd like to have the option of watching TV without the receiver on and also having the TV speakers on with the stereo speakers.

Thanks for all of your help!  I'm sorry that my boyfriend is so audio/video challenged.  Sometimes I wonder if I should have just did all of the work on hooking this stuff up!  I'm more technologically inclined, I'm discovering, than he is.

To add to what SJ said, try a high end stereo store for help. 

No need for the professional installers. 

He was able to get it all working using Some Joe's instructions.  Since we purchased a new Blu Ray DVD player, he had to modify the instructions from Joe.  Now he's going to reconfigure the speakers because the sound is strange with the one center speaker that we have (however, we have no subwoofer or surround sound system).  The voices are coming out of that center speaker while the background noise/music, etc. is coming out of the two Bose speakers.  He's going to disconnect the center speaker and reconfigure the Bose speakers. 

Thanks to everyone here for all of your help.  Some Joe, if there was a way to get you out here to help set everything up, you can bet your hat that I would pay you to do it!

Sweet!   Glad that you did finally get everything working!

The dialogue coming out of the center speaker is normal -- this is the way that 5.1 audio is supposed to work.  It centralizes the dialogue right near the screen so that background sound effects, music, etc. take advantage of the stereo effects of the front left/front right speaker placement.

I would advise not removing the center speaker since it is designed to work that way, especially since you now have a Blu-Ray player which will have extremely good audio on most discs.

Also, don't test the audio using a U-Verse SD channel, since those are only 2-channel audio.  Test with a 5.1 Blu-Ray disc or at minimum, a U-Verse HD channel that has 5.1 audio.  Those will illustrate how the system is processing sound.

He's already in the process of changing it and removing the center speaker.  I guess we shall see how it sounds.  Yeah, I know that's how it's supposed to work with the center speaker as my boyfriend said the same thing as you.  But, it bothers me and hurts my right ear.  I also cannot understand what the people are saying that well when it's coming out of the center speaker. 

Maybe my ears are strange or {Inappropriate content removed}, but I also have problems with surround sound and I cannot stand how the sound is in a movie theatre when it's coming at all different directions.  I can't stand surround sound!!!  I know, I'm weird.  LOL

He's going to kill me if I tell him to change it back with the center speaker.  He's doing the setup with the microphone thing that you put on a tripod in the center of the room right now. 

Update.  We bought a 7.1 surround sound system by Onyko and my boyfriend will be hooking the speakers up today or tomorrow.  He and I agreed that it would be better to have this receiver work at what it was intended to do and that is to provide a home theater experience.  I can't wait to see how it sounds!

I have an Onkyo receiver with 7.1 feeding 7 Bose double cubes.  I pieced this together so it has 3 Bose Accoustimas modules and a Klipse subwoofer.  I used HDMI from the DVR to the tv and optical from the DVR to the receiver.  I have HDMI from the receiver to tv.  I also have a blu-ray DVD with HDMI to the receiver.  I have a Roku with HDMI to the receiver.  This way, I can watch tv without the sound system and use the sound system for movies and sports.  I always use the sound system with the DVD and Roku.