Have your say & ask the experts

I'm new to this home cinema stuff but after an audition I recently took the plunge and bought a Dennon 1910 Reciever and a Kef 2005.3 speaker package to go with the following components:

Pioneer Kuro 42" Plasma

Sky HD

Nintendo Wii

Sonos ZP90 Zone Player

I also plan to buy a Pioneer 320 Bluray player this week.

I set up the reciever using the Audyssey feature but have noticed What Hifi recommend peforming a manual set up or turning the EQ off once this has been completed.  As a novice I don't know how to do this and they don't give any direction in the magazine so was wondering what I should do to get the best from my system?

What sound settings on my reciever should I be using when using Sky?  Will this differ for Bluray or Wii?  Do I only use Direct Audio for Bluray?

I currently have my Sky HD connected using an HDMI cable (Van Den Hul Flat) and it's the same from my reciever to my TV.  Is this giving me the best picture and sound?  Do I need to change any settings on the Pioneer or Sky Box to improve these?

I am using Cambridge phono cables to connect my Sonos player to the CD imput on the reciever.

The Wii is connected to the Vid/Aux input on the front (yellow/white/red) of the reciever.

Will HDMI be the best connection for the Bluray?

Is there anything else I need to look at to get the best from my system? 

Thanks in advance.

Ming x

All connections fine, except you also need an optical (or electrical depending on which Sky HD box you have) digital connection from the Sky HD to the Denon. Sky only sends stereo over HDMI, so you need an additional link for surround.

You need to make sure the Sky HD is set to send Dolby Digital over optical - you do this in the Sky HD sound settings menu - and that the Denon will use the digital input for sound rather than the HDMI. Page 34 of the manual explains how to do this.

Regarding overriding the Audyssey settings, you can go into the manual set-up and tweak the speaker distances, levels and size settings – the manual explains how to do this starting on page 25.

EDIT: Those page numbers from the US manual, which is the only one I could find online, so may be different in UK manual. We'll try to dig out the manual and I will amend; in the meantime you need the sections headed
Changing the Input Source's Input Mode and Decoding mode (Input Mode)
and
Making detailed settings (Manual Setup)
respectively.

To set the speaker levels manually you ideally need a sound pressure meter – this one from Maplin will cost you about £20 and should be good enough – but you can do it by ear if you want.

Ideally you want the same level from all speakers, but I have found the Audyssey system tends to set the rear speaker levels a bit high for my taste, and so I tend to turn them down a bit.

Also worth checking the distances, and changing them if they are way out - I had an experience with one amp deciding my subwoofer was 8m away, when in fact it was only about 5m.

Other common errors include setting speakers to large when they're in fact small, or vice versa, and this can be corrected in the manual set-up, too.

Really, it's a matter of getting a sound with which you're comfortable in your room - and of course if you mess it all up you can always run the Audyssey set-up routine again and use that as a basis on which to start playing refining the set-up again.

Thanks Andrew for such a swift, detailed and comprehensive response!!!

The audio connections I currently have available on the back of the Pace Sky HD box are Coaxial and Optical however my box has been affected by the recall and they will be replacing it on Friday with either a Samsung, Amstrad or other (???) box.  I thought I could specify my replacement but apparently I am at the mercy of the Sky engineer and it will not be a Pace one this time!!!

Sorry if I appear a bit dim but when I get my Bluray player will the same rules apply or will I just need a single HDMI cable to carry the picture and sound from the player to the amp or would i need/benefit from an optical sound cable as well?

Thanks again.

As Captain Confiture has just said above, the HDMI will carry both HD sound and vision from Blu-ray Disc player to the receiver.

Doesn't matter which digital connection format you end up with from Sky HD to receiver – optical or coaxial –, so best to wait until the box has been replaced, even though AFAIK all the Sky HD boxes have optical out, but only some have electrical.

Just wanted to say thaks for the help.....

I have now set up my system, put an Optical cable in for Sky HD and sorted the settings out on the box and reciever.  I am also a (very) proud owner of a Pioneer 320 Bluray player and couldn't be happier with the results.