5.1 Surround Sound System Help

[qtipextra 5,000+ posts]

If a 5.1 channel reciever was purchased, would it have the 6 RCA inputs for the 6 channels, or is the 5.1 audio trasfered to the reciever differently.

Background info:

My uncle has a DVD player that came with 5.1 surround sound. The DVD player has the 6 outputs via RCA: Front right, front left, Center, Sub, rear right, rear left. They (of course) go to the inputs of the surround sound amp, which then goes out to the speakers. The surround sound amp only has the one source input.

My uncle wants to have everything listed hooked into the surround sound.

DVD Player

VCR

PS2

Satellite receiver

The TV only has coax in, but an RF modulater is already purchased.

I'm also up for some suggestions of what would make this installation possible without spending more then 100 dollars total.

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[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Weird. Not too often you see DVD players do their own internal processing and outputting the separate channels. Does it have optical out ?

Most receivers I see have singular inputs. Optical or coax digital for 5.1. They also have a bunch of 2ch inputs. What type of inputs you need will heavily weigh on the decision of what receiver to buy

 

[qtipextra 5,000+ posts]

Thank you. Thats the most useful information yet.

And the DVD player came with the surround sound, so the internal processing is specifically ment to go to the surround sound amp. I'm guessing the company doesn't want people tapping into it.

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Thank you. Thats the most useful information yet.
And the DVD player came with the surround sound, so the internal processing is specifically ment to go to the surround sound amp. I'm guessing the company doesn't want people tapping into it.

Ahh that explains it. It'll be hard to get that DVD player to work with anything other than that surround system.

Optical is the way to go these days. Easiest to setup up and best sound quality. If you only have one optical input you can get a signal switcher (they work pretty well, we've got one for our HT setup)

 

[qtipextra 5,000+ posts]

If I remember correctly, the DVD player does have a coaxial output. So that is the 5.1 digital out, correct? And if so, 5.1 recievers have that as an input?

 

[qtipextra 5,000+ posts]

Okay, so what is a good reciever that has about 5 A/V inputs (one of which is 5.1 digital coax) and the other 4 inputs will go out to the speakers. It has to be able to be found less then $100 total (on ebay, or wherever)

When I have all speakers hooked up, and a 2 channel source, will the 2 channels be player through all speakers?

 

[rubicon 10+ year member]

Do a search on ebay for 5.1 or surround sound receivers and look for a used one. Denon, Onkyo and Yamaha all make nice receivers that can be had for less than $100 used. Pretty much all of the modern receivers will have enough A/V inputs along with the coaxial input.