Hi, I'm new. And I am about to upgrade from my old school TV to an HDTV, along with a blu-ray player and AV Receiver. However, I do not think I will be able to afford to purchase new speakers at the same time, so I had a temporary plan.

My current home theatre-in-a-box is a Philips HTS 3450. It has a Coaxial audio-in. The AV receiver I am goign to be buying (Yamaha HTR6260) does not have Coax-out. So I was wondering if there is a device or adapter that will split the HDMI signal so that the audio can be spit out of a Coax audio cable into my HTIAB while the image still goes to the TV.

Another thought I had was stripping the ends off the speakers for the Philips unit and using them with the Yamaha. However, I am not sure if this will work since the speakers plug into the subwoofer (which acts as the receiver in the Philips unit), and the subwoofer takes its own power cord and plugs into the DVD plyer by some sort of serialtype connection.

In the case that I have enough money to get proper speakers, even cheap ones, who do I go about getting what I need? The Yamaha is rated as 90 watts per channel. The big box stores only sells 5.1 surround speaker sets, and not 7.1. Will 5.1 work with adding two addtional speakers? Can the front and surround speakers all be the same?

This is my first time setting up a surround sound system that didn't come as an all-in-one box.

Thanks for any help :)

My current home theatre-in-a-box is a Philips HTS 3450. It has a Coaxial audio-in. The AV receiver I am goign to be buying (Yamaha HTR6260) does not have Coax-out. So I was wondering if there is a device or adapter that will split the HDMI signal so that the audio can be spit out of a Coax audio cable into my HTIAB while the image still goes to the TV.

Wait, explain your setup. I take it the Philips has a DVD player built in? So why is the Yamaha going before it?



Another thought I had was stripping the ends off the speakers for the Philips unit and using them with the Yamaha. However, I am not sure if this will work since the speakers plug into the subwoofer (which acts as the receiver in the Philips unit), and the subwoofer takes its own power cord and plugs into the DVD plyer by some sort of serialtype connection.

I wouldn't try it.



In the case that I have enough money to get proper speakers, even cheap ones, who do I go about getting what I need? The Yamaha is rated as 90 watts per channel. The big box stores only sells 5.1 surround speaker sets, and not 7.1. Will 5.1 work with adding two addtional speakers? Can the front and surround speakers all be the same?



You can set up the Yamaha as 5.1 if you don't want to buy additional speakers. You just turn off the surround back units. If you do want 7.1, though, you can buy pretty much any speaker pair for the extra surrounds, although matching the other surrounds would sound best (but it's not critical unless you're really picky about sound.)

You can also buy all the speakers separately. Look online as well as the big box stores.

Erm, , depending on what bluray player you get, most will have a coax SPDIF output, just run that to the HTIB system for sound. But you wouldn't be using the AV receiver at all for sound, so not sure why you're even purchasing that?

I have the Philips HTS 3450: 5 speakers, DVD player, and subwoofer (no HDMI input or output). Right now all my accessories plug into the Philips (in the back of the DVD player). It has an unused Coax audio input that I wanted to temporarily use to get surround sound from the Yamaha to the 5.1 speakers since I probably won't be able to buy new speakers right away. That is why the Yamaha would plug into the Philips. Everything would plug into the Yamaha (game consoles, blu-ray player), and the Yamaha would plug into the Philips by Coax audio soley for surround sound until I got proper speakers. But I cannot do it that way since the Yamaha has no Coax output.

So I must find another way if I cannot buy speakers too. That is why I asked about something that would split the HDMI signal so that the audio can be spit out of a Coax audio cable that would go into my Philips home theatre (which has no HDMI), while the image still went to the TV. I saw one such device online - from Hong Kong mind you - so I am not sure of the quality of the item or its functionality (no specs, price, or any real details). Has anyone used such a contraption?

Eventually I want to get 7.1 going, and would use the Philips home theatre as a band-aid solution until then. For entry- to mid-level speakers (6 plus a cneter plus a sub), what is the price range for that? This is the first time I am putting a home theatre together from scratch, so I do not know what to look for in speakers, or where to look. The big box stores here have a tiny selection.

Well, what is your overall budget and what have you purchased so far? Speakers vary in price, so it's hard to recommend something without knowing what you have to work with.

I think you should reallocate some funds and not try to jerry-rig something.

I have about $3500. I have not yet purchased anything. After purchasing everything I plan on getting, I should have about $500-$600 left over.

What are you planning on getting? Model numbers and prices?

I just think trying to use the Yamaha receiver in conjunction with the Philips HTIB is a poor idea. If your heart is set on the TV and the Blu-Ray player, then get those now and hold off on the Yamaha receiver until you can get it and the speakers you want.

Purchasing the speakers are actually something that shouldn't be "Well, I bought my TV and player and receiver, so what do I have left over?" They make a huge difference. If you can swap some funds around, get a lesser TV and better speakers, you might be happier than trying the Frankenstein method, even if that is temporary.

Another option is to get a Yamaha system that includes speakers, but those speakers aren't quite as good as what you could buy separately.

At any rate, the Philips unit isn't designed to work with anything but itself, so I'd junk the sucker, but if you insist on using it, you could try the adapter. I just want to emphasize, it is *not* the path I'd take.

edit: I'd DEFINITELY not strip the wires on the Philips speakers and use it with the Yamaha. It sounds like it works like those Bose systems where the crossovers are in the sub unit. Putting them direct to the receiver would sound terrible, and may damage something.

Using the Philips isn't something I would do long term; it would be a short term solution. Here is what I plan on buying. Please note that my budget is in Canadian dollars, as are the prices listed below (in case anyone is wondering why things are costing more than you are used to):

Panasonic 50" Plasma: TC-P50S1: $1700
Yamaha HTR6260 Receiver: $520
Entertainment Center: $170
Blu-ray Player: Unsure yet
TV Wall Mount: About $100
Power Filter Center Power Bar: $150
Universal Remote: Unsure yet.

Everything is going in the living room, which isn't it's own separate room as a lot of people's home theatres are.

I should also note that for the room it is in, the Philips system sounds sounds good to me. I know it will sound like junk if I would hear a high end system, but for me it sounds good, so it would suit me for the short term until I got better, proper speakers.

Im confused by "Entertainment Center". Is that for your speakers? If so then I would allocate a lot more money to your speaker catagory. Cant get anything even close to decent on that little ammount. Well, maybe a decent 2.1 system.

Also, the "power bar". Why not just get a much cheaper and still very adequate Surge Protector? You can get one with 8 outputs that filters some RFI and EFI noise as well, and would protect the equipment for like $50cad.

Adding it all up (and allocating $300 to bluray) it comes out to just under $3000 now. Personally I would spend $50 on a surge protector, freeing up $100 there, allocate that $100 to speakers. Spend maybe $100 on a really nice universal remote (Harmony 520 or similar). And add in another $200 to speakers. That would still be under budget, but would get you a WAY better sounding system.

Entertainment Center is the unit that houses all the components: the receiver, blu-ray player, media streamer, game consoles.

In the end I ended up buying some Onkyo SKS-HT750 7.1-Channel speakers for $500 with taxes and shipping in, a Toshiba Regza 52" LCD, LG BD360 Blu-ray player, and Logitech Harmony 890 remote. I am pleased with everything except the Monster Power Center power bar, which will just shut off randomly from time to time.

You are probably overloading it. You may be on a 20A circuit which has enough power, but maybe the Monster power only has 15A?

You are probably overloading it. You may be on a 20A circuit which has enough power, but maybe the Monster power only has 15A?

Actually, I contacted Monter Cable about it. They said that the power center has some T2 circuitry, and when the voltage going in is higher than 130 volts, it will shut off. It has done this when everything was off, so I am not overloading it. It's the wiring in the house. I only have the TV, blu-ray, AV receiver, and sub plugged into it. The game consoles are plugged into a separate one.