wizop

I owned several generations of ONKYO receivers but eventually I had issues with all of them. HDMI audio in stopped working on one. Rear speakers stopped working on another. I switched to Yamaha Aventage and had no further problems. Salesmen in my local BestBuy Magnolia room confirm similar ONKYO stories. i don't have an opinion on Yamaha versus Marantz and can only suggest you look at the specs carefully to make sure that the particular unit has all the channels you'll need as what is included at a particular price point can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

That's fine, but it's not going to add in the extra amp channels needed etc. I'm sure it'll be another hardware upgrade you would have to purchase after the fact. Somewhere in the fine print I remember reading that one hardware upgrade and several software upgrades were included in the price. I'm not sure if I read it online or in one of the booklets that were packed in with the units.

You need to factor in that you don't need a receiver.

I'm very happy with my set even though there is a minor problem with the output of my Sony TV. I chose the floor standing speakers for the fronts and bookshelves for the rears. I did find that I needed to turn down the fronts and turn up the rears but that wasn't difficult to do.

Does your new remote have the Klipsch Wireless HD Controller in its device database? I'm going to be purchasing a new remote this week and Logitech says they support my setup but if the URC is better, I'll look at it.

It is a Sony XBR-55X810C. I have chatted with Sony tech support. There is a setting for TV Speakers that can be changed to Audio System but if the TV can't communicate with the audio system it sets itself back to TV Speakers and no sound is output. The Sony manual clearly states that if ARC doesn't work you'll need to use an optical cable. I tried everything Sony tech suggested and the only thing that worked was an optical cable. If I add an HDMI cable too a message appears on the screen saying it has lost connectivity with the audio system and it turning TV Speakers back on. The only downside of this setup is that I can not see the Klipsch on screen menu. At this point I have a working solution with an optical cable so I'm okay but I'm quite willing to try to help Klipsch debug the problem so that they can figure out what they need to change to make their new controller work with Sony products using HDMI.,

The TV is clearly marked that HDMI_4 is the arc connection. with the Klipsch controller connected there, the TV reverts to its own speakers saying it can not find an audio system. so far the only way I've found to get the TV to output sound is to have the only connection between it and the HD Control be an optical cable.

I’m back to the setup with the cable box connected directly to the TV and only an optical cable connected to the Controller. Whenever I connect an HDMI cable from the Controller to the TV, the TV turns on it’s own speakers and says it can’t find an audio system.

Progress continues. I was able to wire the cable box to the HD controller now that the TV recognizes that there is an Audio System connected with the optical cable. Had a problem with speaker balance. I don't think the controller software recognizes that bookshelf surrounds are not as loud as the front speakers. I had to adjust the fronts quieter and turn up the sides to hear more than 2.1 from the cable box. I'm still not sure whether I'm getting more than 2.1 from the optical cable but that's today's experiment.

I have found something that works after a lot of experimentation. The Sony TV will not let you change the setting from TV Speakers to Audio System unless it can sense the speakers and I never was able to do that with HDMI. Perhaps ARC only works on a port I hadn't tried. ARC is turned on under advanced settings but it doesn't tell you which port to use. I had tried optical but I hadn’t realized that I also needed to change the TV setting. Here is what worked. I connected the Cable Box directly to the TV instead of to the controller and connected an optical cable from the TV to the controller and then told the TV to use an Audio System and it found it. I have the Klipsch controller set to optical. The downside of this is that I can’t bring up the Klipsch menu on the TV but I can try connecting a cable from the controller to the TV’s HDMI2 and change to that input when I need to change the settings. I haven’t tried connecting the cable box to the controller now that I know that the optical works. I suspect that might not work as currently I have the controller set to optical and I think it would need to be set to hdmi1 to pass the cable signal through and I suspect it would also send the hdmi signal instead of the optical signal to the speakers. I see two issues Klipsch needs to work on. 1) figuring out why the ARC port on the TV doesn’t see the controller. 2) allowing video to pass though to the hdmi out while playing the audio from a different input. Perhaps you can do this now. I haven’t tried.

No, unplugging the cable box doesn't help. Settings on the TV give a choice between TV Speakers and Audio System but so far no matter how I cable things it won't let me change to Audio System because it says it can't find one. I'm not passing the cable back out because I can test with the cable box off. when the cable box is feeding the TV everything is good because the Klipsch controller is ahead of the TV. the problem is when the TV is streaming something from the internet like Amazon or Pandora. I've tried everything I can think of. there is no HDMI marked as out just HDMI4 marked as ARC. there is an optical out but no go.

I believe Optical can only support 5.1. Can you share pics of your new setup? 5.1 is all I have so far so that isn't a problem. right now the TV is giving me 0.0 though whether I use hdmi or optical or both. will try to get some pictures soon.

I have the new wireless Reference Premier setup. I assume that makes me a very early adopter. The speakers weren't cheap even purchased online, but when you consider that the system doesn't need a receiver and I didn't need to tear up drywall to wire the surrounds, the total cost was quite reasonable for what I got. I chose to use bookshelf speakers for the surrounds for budget and aesthetic reasons. The fronts are floor standing and the center is quite sizeable. I have the Control unit installed between my DirecTV box and the TV and the sound on programming from that source is excellent. Okay, it might not satisfy some of the purists here, but it meets my needs quite well. I do have one issue though. So far I have not been able to get sound back from the TV. Obviously when the programming is on the cable-box this isn't necessary, but I have a SONY smart TV and it has a ton of apps like Netflix, Pandora, SiriusXM, etc. and so far everything I've tried has failed to output the sound back to the Klipsch controller. Sony suggested an optical cable but that hasn't helped. They also say HDMI should work if ARC is enabled and I found you had to turn that on in advanced settings, but that didn't help either. I have a ticket open with support, but if anyone has been down this path and found a solution, I'd like to hear it. At this point, I wish I'd bought a dumb TV and got the internet applications from a Bluy-Ray player but the Smart TV's were on sale Superbowl week.

A Logitech Harmony remote will work. You use computer software to tell it what you have. Get the cheapest model that will control the number of devices he has.

I'm no expert but I'd decide on 250's, 260's, or 280's and then use the same all the way around. If there were any way to get speakers in the ceiling, I'd do that for Atmos.. I'm shopping for an Atmos system too and while I really like the Marantz 6010, there are things that are only in the 7010 that I think I'd want while with Yamaha the 2050 seems to have them and it is priced like the 6010. Yamaha is worth a look. You can also get some deals on last year's models. With Marantz that means model numbers that end with 9 rather than 10 and with Yamaha it means models ending with 40 rather than 50.

would a receiver with a zone 2 hdmi out do the job? I'd couldrun one hdmi to the TV for the video and the zone 2 hdmi to the hub.

I typoed. I meant to say I'd like to wire the front which is easy and the ceiling which is already wired but use wireless on the sides and back.

Just got an email from Klipsch saying they have a new line of Wireless Reference Premier speakers. I may have to email support to get an official answer but I'm wondering if this system can be used with an ATMOS receiver. I am buying a new house and the family room already has four speakers in the ceiling. I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to wire surround and rear speakers without tearing up dry wall. Could I use wired speakers in the front and in the ceiling in conjunction with wired speakers in the rear to create a 5.4.1 system?

Based on your current set up— you will have no need to add additional speakers (although as always, "need" is a relative term with any setup in regards to upgrading & adding more speakers). Atmos is not a (traditional) channel based system, Atmos is object based audio (via software, authoring & decoding). Traditional channel based authoring; 5.1, 7.1, 9.1 etc., are all dedicated or fixed channels, by contrast Atmos is more free flowing & its not restricted to fixed channels— thereby allowing audio to be moved around to any speaker as determing by the sound designer during the authoring process. Atmos supports as many speakers as your AVR or separates allow (front heights, front wide, side, side heights, rear heights, rear wide, etc). In fact word is there are some new AVR's coming to market that support up to 32 speakers/channels (22 floor standing & 10 overhead or height speakers). Your existing ceiling speaker configuration (pair of Front Height & pair of Rear Heights) is perfectly capable of producing overhead sound via Atmos. Any ceiling speaker will reproduce an Atmos track (there is no such thing as an Atmos ceiling speaker). Of course your AVR has to be capable of decoding Atmos, your set up has to be configured with Front & Rear Heights & you need an Atmos authored Blu-ray. Currently neither of your Yamaha's can decode or provide Atmos playback, so you will need to upgrade/replace your existing AVR's in order to have Atmos at home. For Atmos, the speakers are connected to Front Heights, Front Wide, Rear Heights— set up will automatically calibrate no matter where the speaker is located (ceiling or otherwise). It will also automatically register your set up 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 based on your configuration. - - - - - - - - - - - - - I understand I will need to upgrade my receiver. I'm just trying to decide when to do that and how much receiver I'll need. I may decide to wait until I upgrade the TV. For now lets talk about the upstairs system (number one in my sig) as I'll certainly upgrade that receiver long before I upgrade the other. Currently there are four ceiling speakers two of which are connected to the surround terminals and two are connected to the rear terminals. Are you saying that when I get an Atmos system I should instead connect the two rear speakers to the Rear High jacks and might that mean I'd want to add two new wall mounted speakers at the back and connect them to the rear jacks? That's really my basic question. I think without adding speakers I'd get best results leaving the back speakers connected as rears rather than rear highs as a very small percentage of what I'll be listening to will be Atmos and the receiver setup should figure out that all four speakers are firing down and route the sound accordingly. I suppose my real question has to do with receiver shopping. If I add speakers, I'll need to pay up for a system that will drive them all. On second thought maybe I need to pay up anyway. I'm not sure if the receiver will see my setup as 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 (will the front highs be in the first number or the last number) but a receiver that will only do 5.1.2 might not be enough. Even a 9.2 receiver might not have enough channels if I add additional rears.

You should be able to see my two systems in my signature. I'm more than a little confused as to whether I need to add speakers to get a full Atmos experience. As you should see, both of my systems have five front speakers and a front sub and my current receivers treat my front highs as presence speakers. My upstairs system has four ceiling speakers while downstairs I have two ceiling speakers and two back wall speakers. In both cases the receivers see two ceiling speakers as surrounds and the two speakers further back as rears. Looking at the online pictures on the new Yamaha Aventage receivers, there are no separate jacks designated as ceiling speakers.I take it then that the setup microphone detects whether speakers are in the ceiling or not. I have 9 speakers plus a sub. Does it matter if the receiver sees the setup as 5.1.4 or 7.1.2? I'd like to think I have no need for more speakers and the Atmos objects will just figure out which speakers to use for what. Is this right?

I used Onkyo for years upgrading two or three times and eventually had trouble of some kind with all of them and moved to Yamaha.

Good point although my wife doesn't seem to notice the differences the way I do. I really like 1080 with good surround and since my surround speakers are in the ceiling, I'm looking forward to ATMOS. I'd pay a premium price for a high quality streaming service even if it had to stream to hard disk to get around the bandwidth issue. I don't need instant gratification. Perhaps that's part of the problem though; unless the hard disk comes from the streaming service like my DirecTV DVR, they'd need to figure out a way to make the downloaded content expire.

I read articles saying that cable is on the way out and will be replaced by the streaming services and I can see the logic, but I don't see the equipment. Currently I run DirecTV through a receiver to get surround sound. I have a Roku to access the streaming services. I see ads for smart tv's and the new receivers are starting to show a new version of Dolby surround sound, but I don't see devices that do everything you'd want in a world of streaming media without cable. TV's tend not to have audio out with the full surround sound signal. Receivers build in streaming audio services but I haven't seen any incorporating the receiving video services. Will we see TVs that build in a proper amplifier and inputs for a full set of speakers or receivers that handle streaming video and include a hard disk or will computers replace receivers. Am I missing something that's out there now or coming soon that will turn a signal on the internet into a full home theater experience?

you can always tell the pioneers .... they're the ones with the arrows in their backs. if you are still shopping, put me in the camp to buy a cheap plasma while they are still out there. they won't be available next year and by the time you really need something better the prices of the next gen stuff will have come way down.

I have a 1000 in my rec room system. The 1020 is two years newer but otherwise basically the same receiver. You can often find 1000's and 1010's on eBay for quite a bit less than the 1020 so read the specs carefully to make sure you need the newer model. To avoid over-thinking, you need to focus on what it is you regret about what you have now. Do you need more HDMI inputs? Do you need to power more speakers? Do you need to connect to the internet (note that a Roku will get you about everything you'd want from the web at far less cost than a new receiver if you have unused inputs to connect it)? Do you need to be able to up-convert to newer formats? If the answer to all these questions is no, there is probably no rush. In two years, you'll be able to get a 1020 for what you could get a 1000 for today. If your current receiver has all the features you need but you think a better one might have a hugely better sound, by guess is that your speakers and not your receiver is the choke point. Klipsch speakers are efficient and while a few more watts might be detectable sitting in a store and switching back and forth, you probably won't be able to tell the difference once you get home.