Home theater setup help
 

It has been about 3 or 4 years since I had to ditch my 7.1 speakers setup due to moving a couple of times and not wanting to run speaker cables all over the place. I kept a pair of speakers and I would like to integrate them into my current setup(directtv, ps3 with 50 inch plasma). I have a receiver also but my question is would I need a center channel as well to go along with the 2 fronts? or would I somehow use the tv speaker as the center? Obviously this wont be full surround but I was thinking it would be decent enough for now. Maybe I should just get a soundbar instead?

Re: Home theater setup help
 

Just use the speakers in stereo mode. They probably will sound better than a soundbar. Plus, you already have them. Using TV as center may not be possible, and never worked well for me when I tried it. The speakers are too different from your real speakers, and it will just sound off.

Re: Home theater setup help
 

thanks man. Ill give it a try. I am a little out of the loop.

Re: Home theater setup help
 

Is your receiver stereo or 5.1/6.1/7.1?

What brand speakers do you have?

Its doubtful you can use the speaker in your TV as a CC. Most TV's don't have the connection for it (which I think a shame). However, like Spiky said, it will also not be the sound as your other speakers so probably not something you would want to do even if you could.

Re: Home theater setup help
 

The receiver is a Pioneer 7.1 from a few years back and the speakers two Mirage OmniSat Omnipolar speakers also from a few years back. come to think of it I guess I wouldnt want to use my tv as a center speaker. I am not looking for full surround obviously. I am just loking for something fairly better for video games and movies mostly.

Re: Home theater setup help
 

It's a logical idea, and many CRT RPTVs offered it as a feature. My dad's Sony actually had speaker-level inputs to be amped directly from a receiver. But it didn't work well. As I said, it sounded off since the speakers were totally different, plus they were not able to handle the output from a normal receiver. I almost destroyed them, even with a nice Yamaha receiver. Line-level inputs would be safer, but I doubt any current TVs will have such an option.

Re: Home theater setup help
 

Why "obviously" not looking for a full surround set up? Sounds like you have the making of a decent 5.1 system. The Mirage are nice overall, readily available and depending on the exact model good value and not terribly expensive. You could likely get 3 more (to give you 5) for less than a sound bar and would sound better. Throw in a sub and your in good shape.

I'm "letting" wife watch a movie in theater room and watching the 2nd game in living room. I do have a surround set up and like it even for "normal" TV. The CC is 10X better than a TV speaker and since I have Dish HD, the broadcast is in 5.1.