Hooking Up Ht help!!

[Brewer]

Id First like to say Hello to all.
I just got a Kenwood HTB-504 its not as nice as some of the system iv seen here.but its what i can aford at the moment.The wires that came with the system are junk includinging the sub wire,if i could get some feedback on some good ones that the price is not thru the roof.Now im hooking a Toshiba SD-1600 ,Sanyo Hi Fi VCR VWM-689,and a 27" picture in picture Stereo TV .The TV dose not have a S-Link connection....what is the best way to hook it all up with the best picture and sound ,and the picture in picture will work.The other factor is .I live on a Army Bace and there is 2 block wall that seperate apartment on both sides of me now should i face my HT faceing the block walls or away ...Please Help.




Kevin A Brewer

[Lex]

Kevin, generally a good rule of thumb for interconnect spending is 10% of your system cost. Also, welcome to HTGuide!

First, you have to establish your biggest priority, video, or audio, so you might be able to spend a bit more on cabling in one area, but minimize expense in the other area.

Now, of course, in any cabling recommendation, I tend to be a bit biased, since I own CAT Cables. The banner you see at the bottom of this page. But I realize, that my cables may be a bit to expensive for some people. But they do represent a very good value for the dollar spent, when compared to alternative sources.

You could always go with something like Radio Shack, Accoustic Reasearch, and save money. But if you want say a very good quality component video cable, you might look at the Tigress from CAT. As well, we offer digital cables that won't break the bank.

As to the block wall question, well any bass is going to carry, regardless of barriers, unless it's very well soundproofed, which in general, masonry products are not. I would say positioning so the sound is directed at the front wall, where your entranc is, would not be bad. If your room sets up that way. Of course, you could try to keep your sub located away from exterior walls, might help a little. But remember, bass carries.

If your TV and DVD player both have component video, that will be your highest quality connection. S-video offers a nice "in the middle" compromise though, as you don't loose much.

I hope that helped a little bit.

Lex

[George Bellefontaine]

I can't add to what Lex advises, I just wanted to take time to welcome you to HT Guide.




My Homepage!

[Brewer]

Thank lex the infomation help alot ..my DVD has a Bitmap input on it what is this use for ..if you know




Kevin A Brewer

[P-Dub]

Welcome Kevin.

I helped pick out the exact Kenwood system for my sister-inlaw. Yes the wire is junk. For speaker cable, I used some radio shack 16 ga wire for the surrounds and center, and the store threw in some 14 ga wire for the mains, I think they were Monster. You probably have found out that the main and center speaker binding posts are the screwin type and can easily accept the thicker 12 ga wire. The surrounds are the clip type so I don't think the 12 ga wire might be a very tight fit. A cheap supply of 12 ga wire is from Home Depot, I've heard it's something lik $.50 a foot. That's pretty cheap, but decent cable.

For connecting your DVD player to your receiver, it sounds like you only have the one option, digital bitstream via a wire, as oppossed to an optical connection, via a toslink cable.

For the digital connection, a Radio Shack or Accousti Research is pretty decent, for a bit more you could also look at CAT. I don't know what the pricing for RS or AR, but if that one cable is close to $20, then looking at CAT would be a pretty good option as the Bearcats start at $30.

For the sub cable, well just win the CAT contest, then it's free. You could still use the included cable, it's not that bad. I would concentrate on getting a good cable for video.

Now for video, you mentioned that the TV doesn't have S-Link, did you mean S-Video? If that is the case, chances are you won't even have component inputs. So all that is left is the standard composite connection. So go directy from your DVD player to the TV composite input, that will give you the best picture, you could connect it to your receiver, and let it do the switching as you've got the VCR as well. But keep in mind that you're passing the signal through another component. The kind of cable you could use is again from RS or AR, but check the cable price before jumping in, as those cable could easily be $20. You could get by with a cheaper video cable, those are the ones with the yellow colour tips and could probably be about $5.

For PIP to work, I don't have that feature myself, I think you'll need to get a cable splitter. So one cable would go from the outlet, through the splitter, through the VCR then to the TV. The other connection would be from the splitter directly to the TV.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[Brewer]

Yes it dose not have S-video, but has inputs& outputs for audio and one for video and a coax input as well.




Kevin A Brewer

[Lex]

Brewer, how old is this TV? make and model? could help to determining what inputs it has...

did I address pip before? I can't recall. Sometimes, newer and slightly more expensive TVs have dual tuners built in. If so, then it's just a matter of splitting yoru cable signal. If DirecTV, then it becomes more complex, that would require two receivers and a dual LNB dish.

Then other TVs, have PIP, but is designed to use an external tuning source, such as your VCR. I have hooked these up before, but it's no picnic to figure out as I recall. Let me know which option you have, and we will try to walk you through that.

Lex

[Brewer]

HEY LEX
the Tv is a older one so it dose not have two tuners so i have to use the vcr ....




Kevin A Brewer

[Lex]

Kevin, understood. In which case, you need a cable splitter and two somewhat shart pieces of coax to go to TV and VCR. Then outputs of VCR to inputs of TV for PIP.

You know, I forgot about my set even having PIP. With Satellite, it gets to be a moot point, unless you want to buy 2 receivers.

Lex

[Brewer]

I use the PiP all the time for watching 2 dif football and now basketball. It would not bother me if i did not use it ....




Kevin A Brewer

[Brewer]

Hey Lex

Check out this URL http://www.kineticsnoise.com/pressurez.html

let me know if this will help the Block Wall thing :?:




Kevin A Brewer