Help with an AV processor

good advise from noble and the others

Caphill,
Using the Oppo for a processor is the way to go for me as I want to keep things as simple as I can. I don't anticipate growing from 3.0 except maybe a sub. I do appreciate all of the info you gave me. THX

Tim, I've read and reread your post and now I have finally got it going but with a few issues. It seems I can run the two main speakers or the center channel but, so far, not at the same time. Under, audio processing- DTS NEO:6 mode, off engages the two main speakers as does the music option. The cinema option turns the two mains off and engages the center channel. How do I engage all 3 speakers at once? I went to Speaker Configuration and turned on the 3 speakers I have and turned off the others and selected 5.1 mode.

Hello wemfan,

Did you do Step#5 on my procedures?


Under the Setup Menu, go into Audio Processing and then into Speaker Configuration- You’ll then see a diagram on your tv of a 5.1 system with 5 speakers, a sub and a guy sitting on a couch. Then follow this procedure:


1. Use the left or right arrow key on your remote until the "Test Tone" area is highlighted (located in back of the couch) and hit enter to turn the test tone on (there’s a speaker symbol at the bottom left of the screen that will indicate if the test tone is on or off).

2. Once the tone is on, use the left or right arrow key to scroll to the FR/Front Right speaker and press enter. You’ll hear some pink noise being played through your FR speaker and you then need to set the following for this speaker:

Size: Set this to "Large" if you want this speaker to run full-range and "Small" if you’re using a sub and want to limit the low frequency output of this speaker. You don’t have a sub yet so set this to "Large".


Distance: Set this to the number of feet away from the speaker your listening position is located.

Trim: Set this to "0dB" initially. Later, you can go back into this section and adjust the relative volume/trim of all 3 of your speakers so they're level matched or set to your preference.

3. Repeat Step#2 for your C/center channel and FL/Front Left speakers.

4. Sit at your listening position and scroll through all 3 speakers and, using the test tone, adjust the Trim on them by ear until all 3 sound the best to you.

     It sounds to me like your center speaker may have been set to "Off" by default. It may help you to read the Oppo manual on this subject starting on page 63. Please let me know if this fixes your issue.

Thanks,
Tim

Thanks, Tim. Its all up and running now and sounds good. I don't know if adding a sub would improve the sound or not? Anyway, everything seems to be correct so I am very pleased and very appreciative of your help. I was able to get it all going by reading and rereading your posts. Thanks Again!

On 3 channel systems where you actually only have left/right/center, I have actually found that sound is worse when you remove the surround speakers from the configuration.  What happens is that the surround channels are output to the front left/right speakers and cause an increase in perceived ambient sound.  It also messes with imaging and the clarity of the center channel (ambient sounds become too much and too amplified and it becomes very difficult to hear/understand dialog).  Enabling the surround speakers in the Oppo configuration will increase the general sound quality of your front stage, even though you don't have the surround speakers in your system.