Hooking up my new gear

[Rookie]

I'm setting up my new system! Yamaha RX-V1400, Yamaha DVD-C740 soon to be all connected to the RM7600 Polk Audio speaker 5.1 set, the sub is the psw650 model. The TV is a Mits HD ready 55".
First off what do you think of this system?
My receiver has the feature called (YPAO) Parametric room aucustic optimizer. I was wondering if anyone has used this and how accurate is it? I have been reading about all the different settings you can do to your system to dial it in, and to say the least I'm very confused The sub hookup has me confused the worst, is there any one out there with a system close to mine and if so can you give me any pointers. If I use the
YPAO feature will this make all the proper settings I need to get the best performance out of my sub and speakers. I'm very new at this so please use layman terminololgy. I was sold $450.00 worth of monster wire and cable to hook this system up, did I really need to buy this good of cables? are there any other name brand connector that can be bought local that will give me the same results for a better cost? Any comments would be appreciated. I have thick skin so don't hold back your comments.

[sowen010599]

I have the RX-V2400 receiver. It's very similar to the one you have (just a few more features). I think YPAO, while being very accurate for the most part, needs a little help here and there. Run it first, then double check all of the settings it made. With my setup, everything was dead on except for distance, and speaker level. Pick up a sound level meter from Radio Shack (50 bucks), set your volume to 0, and calibrate your speaker levels to 75db. Use a tape measure to accurately set your speaker distance. Keep in mind too that YPAO doesn't do anything below 63hz, so your pretty much on your own with the sub.

Wire everything up, run Auto Setup, then double check the things I mentioned. Use the "subwoofer out" to drive the sub and let the Yamerhammer take care of bass management.

Use "Low Frequency test", and the db meter to set your sub's volume. Just run the sweep and watch the meter. If the db's go down when the test tone moves across the crossover frequency, turn it up a little. When your done, you should be able to go from 250hz down to 35hz without gaining, or loosing, so much as 1 db. Keep in mind that doing it this way will make the sub a little loud for movies, but music will sound excellent this way. Using your meter, check the speaker levels again. You will find that the sub is playing about 12-16db louder than the other channels after using "Low Frequency Test". However much louder it is, take that many db out of LFE in "LFE Level". Doing it this way will give you dead on bass in 2-channel music and your speaker levels will all match up when watching a movie. Also, your sub mixes seamlessly with your fronts when you set it up this way.

Go read this review at Audioholics. It is of my unit but everything about the setup and YPAO still applies to yours.
http://www.audioholics.com/productre...ceiver-p1.html

As far as Monster Cable goes, it's good stuff. Is it worth what they charge for it? That's debatable. I don't think you could do much better without paying a lot more money. Some pay thousands just for speaker cable (I know, WTF right?)! I would stick with Monster for the speaker cable. As far as the interconnects go, Best Buy has some good AR stuff for a little less $. I could never tell any difference. I have heard Radio Shack's cables are pretty good too, and use thicker wire than Monster. I used all Monster Cable in my setup, It's good stuff. I don't think I could blame the cables for any shortcomings in my setup, which is exactly what you want from cables.

[Rookie]

I posted some of these questions before but I can't find my original post . I have no idea where it is? I didn't get a chance to read the replies so that is the reason for this new post.

Thanks for all your help.

[ianski]

Somewhere in this thread someone said "Use the Yammerhammer to drive the sub" - whereas Polk recommends the "Polk method". Is your recommendation because the Yamaha RX-V1400 is superior at controlling the bass? I have a Yamaha RX-V640 (actually its an HTR5660, but its the same thing - if you look on Yamaha's site the specs are identical), and I'm wondering if I should do the same thing. I'd rather go with that than the "Polk Method" to be honest. I have the miniature RM6700 speakers and the PSW202 sub.

My unit allows you to set speaker distance and such, but its all done manually with a menu, no auto-setup.

Ianski