hi everyone! i've been reading this site religiously for a few weeks, and I must say that i'm extremely impressed w/ the level of knowledge and help of the members on this board. i'm hoping some of that invaluable advice can be passed my way. i'm a tech newbie and really don't know/understand the gazillions of settings options you can use on a powerful receiver to fully optimize the audio from your speakers. in any case, i was in charge of upgrading my parents HT setup, and this is what i got for them:

New equipment:
TV: Pioneer Kuro pdp-6020fd
Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR606
Speakers: Polk SurroundBar 50
DVD: Panasonic DMP-BD35K
Remote: Logitech Harmony One

Existing equipment:
Dish network HD-DVR
Bose accoustimass speakers purchased in the mid-90's for the outgoing HT currently in place. (i.e., these are 5 pairs of those small cube speakers)

Now the questions i have regarding setup of this system are as follows:

1) Should i scrap the wires the polk surroundbar comes w/ and get 12awg instead? Will the surroundbar accept banana plugs?

2) What are the settings i should use when setting up the speaker to the receiver? i have read elsewhere to set the speakers to small because the surroundbar already had a filter (i don't know if this was specific to the 360 or to the 50). if there isn't a "small" setting, is there a recommended Hz level to use?

3) Can i poach 2 pairs of the old Bose speakers i have and use those as surround speakers? Would you recommend this?

4) The Bose system also came w/ a Subwoofer. I plan on poaching this too, unless it doesn't hit nearly as well as i'd like it to. i have the PSW-505 on standby in my amazon cart if need-be.

5) Do I run the sat-tv box through the receiver too?

6) What do i need to do to ensure i get the HD sound from this setup that i paid extra to get the onkyo 606 for?

7) Is there any way you (much more tech and audio savvy people than me) direct me to get optimum performance out of this setup?

Thank you

1) Should i scrap the wires the polk surroundbar comes w/ and get 12awg instead? Will the surroundbar accept banana plugs?- No. 12 is way overkill unless you have a reall really long run from the receiver to the speaker. For the front speakers the receiver normally isn't much more than 10 feet from the receiver. 16awg should do.

2) What are the settings i should use when setting up the speaker to the receiver? i have read elsewhere to set the speakers to small because the surroundbar already had a filter (i don't know if this was specific to the 360 or to the 50). if there isn't a "small" setting, is there a recommended Hz level to use?- Set the speakers to small to enable bass management. One way to get you around the ideal setting for the crossover point (Hz) is to check the speakers frequency response in the specifications in the manual. For example if the speakers frequency response is 20kHz to 120Hz, you should set the crossover point around 120Hz. This way the subwoofer will take over for everything 120Hz and below and as an added bonus the speakers won't be in danger of being damaged and the receiver will have more power to make the system cleaner sounding and louder since it is not having to push all that bass for nothing.

3) Can i poach 2 pairs of the old Bose speakers i have and use those as surround speakers? Would you recommend this?- You can. I recommend it if that is all you have with no better speakers. The Audessey PEQ in the Onkyo will help take care of how different the Bose sound from the Polks. Ideally you want all your speakers to be the same brand and series to make sure that they sound as close as possible to each other to ensure seamless transitions from speaker to speaker. However if you are not able to do that, the Onkyo can help make those transitions as seamless as possible again with it's parametric EQ.

4) The Bose system also came w/ a Subwoofer. I plan on poaching this too, unless it doesn't hit nearly as well as i'd like it to. i have the PSW-505 on standby in my amazon cart if need-be.- I would say just get the Polk sub. The Bose bass box will do nothing but disappoint and taint the overall sound quality. To be short, it will not give you the punch you're looking for. Try it out and hook the Bose up so you know for yourself before you buy the Polk sub. I'm sure you'll be buying the Polk.:D

5) Do I run the sat-tv box through the receiver too?- You don't have to. If you have an HD box that has component or HDMI connections you'll probably want to just for ease of connection and operation.

6) What do i need to do to ensure i get the HD sound from this setup that i paid extra to get the onkyo 606 for?- All you need is to hook your Bluray player up through your receiver with HDMI. Do not use optical or coaxial audio connections for HD audio does not pass through those outputs. Again this is an HDMI feature only.

7) Is there any way you (much more tech and audio savvy people than me) direct me to get optimum performance out of this setup?- Yes. This is the very simplified version. Since your front speakers are a all in one device, optimal placement of the three front speakers is not an option nor is it a factor. The Bose or whatever speakers you will be using for surrounds should on the side or a little to the rear of your listening position which ever you prefer.

When you say that you want optimal performance, the process to optimize can be very different depending on how anal you are about how this will all sound. The easiest and less accurate way it to just run Onkyo's automatic setup and leave it all up to the receiver. Manually adjusting all the settings takes a lot longer and is more accurate but just doing it manually does not allow you to use the Onkyo's PEQ I talked about earlier. The best way is to use both. The receiver should do a pretty accurate job on calculating speaker distances and adjusting the EQ to make your speakers blend with each other. It may not do so good of a job adjusting speaker volume levels, detecting speaker size, and setting crossover points (Hz). I recommend running the auto setup and checking your volume levels with a dB meter from Radio Shack, checking the speaker size to make sure they're all set to small, and audibly check to hear if the crossover points the Onkyo has chosen sound good. If your bass sounds thin, you may need to turn the subwoofer up. If the bass sounds empty in the middle where you hear lots of really low stuff but don't have much mid bass, you should try increasing the crossover point of your speakers.

There is really no right or wrong settings, just very very basic guidelines that should be followed. Other than that, the best sound comes from experimentation with different speaker placements and settings. Like I said you can take this optimization thing to many different levels. It all matters what you want. You either just want it to sound ok, or want it to sound amazing. Amazing takes a lot of time to achieve.

wow, Mr. Audio, thank you so much for the response. really great information.