5.1 channel speaker connections to 990

Hi,

I have a 5.1 speaker system for my 990. Which outputs from the 990 do you connect the surround speakers to -- the "SL" & "SR" connections or the "SRL" & "SRR" connections? I would assume the "SL" & "SR" connections.

Thanks.

Oy

SL and SR. The others are for 7 channel, with rear surrounds in addition to the sides.

Thanks.

Oy

Sounds like there's some good setup going...

Yes!

Pre-planning really helped. As I was plugging in the spider web of cables, those were the only two that I actually were unsure about. Everything was connected by 5pm last night. I haven't actually tried out all of the components yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Yeah if my room would handle it I would love to have the other two speakers for 7.1


OH well...

missing a side wall. LOL!

OK, possible dumb question here but my back ground is 2 channel. What happens to the signal data (for lack of a better term) when you are only using 5.1? This is the thing that confuses me most about multichannel formats. Does it somehow get "blended in"?

If you mean using a 5.1 source and playing through just two speakers, then the process involved is called "downmixing" - basically, the left surround would be mixed into the left channel, the right surround would be mixed into the right channel, and the center would be split between both left and right. There are some signal level issues rolled in there, but that's the basic concept.

Gonk,
THanks for the reply. I was actually referring to a 7.1 source (there is such a thing, correct?) but I assume your explanation applies to the scenario as well.
Thanks again...BTW, I don't have any HT equipment but I did highly recommend to my brother that he look into Outlaw equipment and he ended up getting an Outlaw HT reciever. He absolutely loves it so far and had not heard of them till I mentioned it.

There are very few true 7.1 sources (some of the Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs include DTS-HD Master Audio or multichannel PCM tracks that are 7.1) - most sources are just 5.1, with a small number of 6.1 DTS tracks. For those few instances of more than 5.1 channels in a source, the same downmixing concept holds true, with the rear surrounds shifted into the side surrounds.

Im using a Toshiba A35...is it allowable to split the SL and SR signal to the two rear channels on my 990 so all 7 channels in my system are used?

Yes, it is - it's been done a fair bit by early adopters of HD-DVD and Blu-ray, actually. You'll want to run a calibration disc of some sort and adjust the surround channel trims in the player, to make sure levels are balanced downstream of the splitter.

Great...thanks for the quick response.