Chew

I bought a new receiver a few weeks ago with the intent of adding surround back speakers. I hooked up the speakers and set the new receiver to show "2 surround R/L back" in addition to my standard 5 set. Running the speaker test shows all 7 channels correctly and sound is pumped out of each in sequence.

I tried out a few scenes of Titanic on DTS-ES and received no sound out of the back surrounds (the player is DTS compatable). I guess it's possible there wasn't any sound to be had in the rear surrounds during the selected scenes, but one of them was the ship cracking in half. I'd think that one should?

I'm obviously missing something here and I don't know what. Any ideas?

Brian Shannon

In addition to testing to see if the test tones are correct you also need to balance the sound between all the speakers. A Radio Shack spl meter is a great help in doing this.

Chew

That I've already done.

Anybody have a clue on the rear surrounds?

Numanoid

I may be wrong about this, but I don't believe that Titanic, or any other movie at this point, is encoded in 7.1 sound. Are you getting surround effects from your normal rear right and left surrounds? If so, then your system is working as it should. If you want sound from the extraneous 2 surround speakers, I'm guessing that you'll need to set your amp to do something like "simulated 7.1", if it has that feature.

Chew

But DTS ES is 6.1 and should have that additional rear surround channel (pumping the same signal to each of the L/R rears). Right?

http://www.timefordvd.com/ref/dts-ES.shtml

Numanoid

What model receiver is it?

And what "listening mode" is your receiver on?

And does a "DTS-ES" light come on when you play the movie?

Chew

Panasonic SA-XR55K

I'm not really sure what "listening mode" means?

I'll have to check on what actually lights up, I was too busy trying to listen.

Numanoid

Listening mode on that model is referred to as SFC (Sound Field Control). They list: Music: Live, Pop/Rock, Vocal, Jazz, Dance, Party & Video/Movie: Drama, Action, Sports, Musical, Game, Mono. Having the receiver set on any of these might override the default audio setup coming from the DVD player.

The real key is to see whether the little DTS-ES indicator lights up. If it does, and your speaker test proves that the speakers work, then what you're hearing is what you should be hearing. If it doesn't illuminate, then the DTS-ES signal is not getting passed to the receiver.

Chew

I will certainly be checking all of those things when I get home tonight.

Thanks Numanoid

Spiky

Do you have SW Ep II? The opening scene where the ship blows up has a brief shot where fire billows out over the viewer's head. This is one of the most obvious (read: loud) Rear Surround usages that I know of.

Just because the ship breaking up is loud doesn't mean there should be sound in all speakers. I don't have Titanic and haven't seen it since its theater run, so I can't really comment. But the rear should only be for something behind the viewer. I imagine that scene has the ship in front and may not have much behind you.

You could also unplug all the other speakers for testing. Maybe leave the front center on to hear something.

Chew

Alright, now that I have a specific movie with a specific scene to look out for, it should be easier to make sure things are working properly. Thanks.

Hopefully, that Amazon package with SW: EPIII is actually waiting for me today.

Numanoid

Episode II or III? And rear surrounds are different from back surrounds.

Chew

^ Ah. I had EpIII on the brain since it just came out. But, now I know which scene he was talking about in II. (Of course, my Amazon shipment did not show up yesterday.** )

And yes, "DTS ES" does light up during Titanic.

I'll have to check the ship explosion on II tonight.


**Edit: I just checked the tracking. It started in KY, went to OH, and was just checked into FL. I live in WI.

Numanoid

If the DTS-ES light is lit, and the speakers work (as we know they do), then it's a pretty safe bet that no information is being sent to the speakers in question by the film. In other words, it's working fine.

Chew

That's what I figured. Thanks.

Chew

Thanks for the ship explosion suggestion from EpII, that was the kicker to figure out what's going on. Turns out this receiver doesn't auto-detect EX sound and you have to push a certain button on the remote to get the rear surrounds to engage. (which is pretty stupid)

Again, thanks for everybody's help.

Spiky

Cool! Auto-detect for DD-EX has been a horrible mess since it first started coming out around 4 years ago. Not surprised if your receiver doesn't bother trying. DTS-ES ought to work, though. If it bothers trying for DTS.