New to AVS - 1st HT Setup :)

Hello everyone!

I've been lurking around AVSForums for a while now, reading up people's opinion regarding speakers and receivers. I finally bought my first receiver and speakers on Boxing Day! Didn't get a chance to I purchased:

Speakers: 2x Energy RC-70 @ $500x2

-$1500 in total on boxing day but now regular price is $500 each...

Receiver: Pioneer VSX-1326-K (VSX-53) for $750 (50% off)

I'm going to use this for gaming & music and I'm going to hook my HTPC/Home-Server onto the receiver via hdmi or just stream it via DLNA.

So far I have 2 problems with my current setup:

• PS3 Audio via HDMI is very quiet relative to other sources. I can't seem to find a way to correct this. Is it an issue with the PS3's and receivers or am I missing something in the settings? I've scoured the manual and the internet but no luck.

• Audio from RC-70's sounds flat. Maybe cause I'm missing a subwoofer? Cause all the reviews on these two are glowing. I have a BOSE Acoustimass 7 (I think it's passive, total newbie XD). The salesman told me I can't connect a passive subwoofer to my receiver... any suggestions?

I'd love to hear your comments on my setup and suggestions to alleviate my current problems.

Just looked back into the manual. Apparently it's not a sub-woofer but a base module to connect all the speakers, lol. Well, at least that means I can turn my 2.0 setup into a 5.0

Boxing Day is somewhat of a Canadian equivalent of Black Friday.

Thanks for the comments Joe. That's very reassuring!

The rave reviews on the speakers reassured me somewhat when I got home. I didn't find any reviews on the VSX-1326-K (didn't realize it was the VSX-53 in the states) so I was worried. The 50% of was the main reason I bought it, and because my father had bought a Pioneer VSX-D1S twenty years ago and I read online that it was one of the best receivers made and is still well sought after even today.

Regarding the flat sound of the speakers, I disabled my centre PC speaker and they sound went dead flat. The fullness that I experienced apparently came from the centre speaker. I was worried that I had damaged my new Energy speakers by using MCACC before Energy's recommended 100hr break-in period.

I'm gonna get get the Energy RC-LCR once I have money

How high-end is the RC-70? I've read all the various AVS threads and reviews but I just assumed it was just good value. There doesn't seem to be a tier system posted anywhere in the Speakers forum so I don't know where entry-level, mid-level, high-end, etc. fall within what price ranges.

Almost 20 years ago my dad spent 5x more on HT than I did just now (the VSX-D1S he gave me has more continuous wattage than my VSX-53), so I assumed spending 2k dollars on a speaker and receiver that were 50% off wasn't a big deal, XD.

To answer your question: Yes, I used MCACC to configure everything and I properly followed the receiver manual with regards to configuration. I used MCACC before the 100 hour recommend break-in period. Could I have potentially damaged the speakers? That's what the speaker manual suggests.

It could could also be that my room has too many hard surfaces, I'm gonna bring in a large fluffy rug to test that theory. So far, I think the main culprit is a lack of a centre speaker due to the little experiment I just did with my PC speakers.

Thank you for the advice. I think I'm gonna work on convincing my mom to buy me the RC-LCR soon. The rear speakers don't matter much to me but a matching centre speaker is pretty important, imo.

I'm gonna order it from Overstock.com
http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...4/product.html
It's around 60-80 dollars more than Vann's (after exchange rate conversion) but it's worth it for the convenience of direct delivery and not having to to drive all the way to the states or border.