Polk Audio speaker setup

[psytrance]

Hi friends,

i am a newbie in this.
my bro had bought in late 2007 an Onkyo 605 reciever and a 5.1 polk audio system.
Then immediately he went and joined the Indian army and was not able to set the system up.
Can you please help me set this up ,so i can surprise my bro when he comes back from his Kashmir 2 year tour of duty.I have a good basic idea for video and audio.

So i did all the audio and video connections.And all the video and speakers work.But the audio doesn't sound right ,like how they sound in the audio store demo rooms.Sound coming from all directions.Below are the details of my bro's room and the equipment he has.

The room size is 3 mt wide x 5 mt depth x 3 mt high

1.LCD:Samsung 32"
2.Blu Ray Player:PS3 ,hdmi conection
3.DVD player :Sony HDMI connection
4.A/V reciever :Onkyo 605
5.Speakers:
Front Tower speakers :Monitor 60 @ 2(placed at angle and 2 mts from each other)
Surround Bookshelf speakers:Monitor 40 @ 2(paced above ear level,one mt from ground)
Center speaker:CS2(placed below the Lcd)
Subwoofer:PSW12

I have set the A/V receiver speaker impedance at 6 ohms ,is this correct (reciever also can do 4 ohms).Speaker specs say 8 ohms impedance.

I did the Onkyo Audyessey microphone test.And Onkyo set all my speakers to full range except for subwoofer to 80 Hz.

I read on the net ,that for better sound quality we have set the speakers and frequency ranges manually.

Also if i were to upgrade to 7.1 ,what polk audio speakers(Surround Rear) would you recommend for the Onkyo 605.Tower or bookshelf?

should i keep the bookshelf speakers horizonally or vertically ?

Any audio adjustments to be made on Onkyo 605.

I m sorry for this long post ,Hope somebody can help me.

Thanks and best regards.

[apphd]

Sounds like everything is right. Make sure that the AVR is set to a surround decoder (Dolby Digital/DTS etc), some AVRs will auto switch to the signal it is seeing. Make sure your sources are outputting the audio correctly (go to the audio set up menu) in the DVD/PS3. Also go to the set up on the DVD menu, some default output is stereo but you should still hear Pro Logic evan if the DVD does this.

[danz1906]

Everything seems to be ok,Welcome to the Polk family:D

[bevo]

One thing I noticed is that alot of people like to set the speakers to small instead of large. Then set the crossover for your fronts and surrounds to 80 hz, and your sub to 80 hz. That way your sub handles most of the base, and it takes some strain off of the speakers.

I don't know why your AVR would be set to 6 ohm when your speakers are 8, but then again I am also pretty new to all of this. I'm sure someone else will explain this.

[williamgauci]

You should be able to set the Onkyo speaker settings to 8 ohms. The specs sheet for the receiver shows it does 8 ohms. I'd set the speaker size to small with the crossover on the receiver around 80hz. You can play around with it to see what sounds better though. However, set the crossover on the back of the sub as high as it will go, you want the receiver to control crossover not the sub. As for manually setting the speaker levels,

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=38765

This post gives a good overview if that's the way you want to go.

[Mike21]

Hi psy.

The M40s need to be vertical. I have mine on top of bookshelves.

For 7.1, I would add another pair of M40s, but M30s will do.

Mike

[ben62670]

Don't set the mains to small. They can handle 80hz no problem. If you can manually set them to 80 that would be best. One mistake a lot of newbs make is to run the sub too high. Glad to see you didn't.
Welcome to Club Polk
Enjoy

[bevo]

Don't set the mains to small. They can handle 80hz no problem. If you can manually set them to 80 that would be best. One mistake a lot of newbs make is to run the sub too high. Glad to see you didn't.
Welcome to Club Polk
Enjoy

I don't know about his receiver, but on mine the only way I can set my mains to 80hz is by setting them to small. If I set them to large, the receiver runs them as full range speakers, and I can't adjust the crossovers.
Maybe you know something I don't though, which is very possible.

[psytrance]

thanks everyone for your advice,
i think i will go and buy a radioshack spl meter to get the best sound out of the speakers.

I never knew about the crossover frequency.

This is a great forum,i never expected to get so many responses.

hope one day i can impart audio advice just like you guys.

[Rocco1]

trance,

i own the same reciever. you have many possibilities. My reciever is 6.1 your should be as well. Make sure you are using digital cables to hook up all you equipment. That will ensure that you are getting the dolby digital source. Your set up seems pretty basic, so i would jsut go with ps3 hdmi to your tv(same for your dvd and cable/sat box) then from you tv's digital audio out into your recievers digital input. You will have to go thru your recievers menu to select what digital input goes to which input ie. video 1 or dvd input.