[jgerbi]

I cannot get any surround from my otherwise great RCA F38310. I have checked OTA stereo sources and DirectTV stereo sources. The manual only mentions the ability to connect surround speakers, it is otherwise silent on this. I have tried the different modes in the Audio menu (Stereo, Stereo SRS, Stereo SRS - Focus) and digital out modes. I have verified the speakers work properly (using the EXT/INT switch to put the main front sound on them temporarily).


Previous RCA/Thompson chassis had a built-in decoder and amp for surround. Do I have a defective unit, or am I missing something in the setup or options, or doesn't this chassis (despite the manual) have a built-in decoder?


Thanks for any ideas!


John Gerbi

 

[Bill Wood]

In spite of what you read in the manual, the F38310 has NO surround sound decoder. So you have to use an external decoder and amplifier.


Bill

 

[DrJoe]

I don't think it says anything in the manual about "surround".


The external speakers are used to give greater seperation to the STEREO sound.


If you read page 46/47 about the audio controls it says nothing about surround -- the SRS Stereo mode gives "greater depth and seperation to stereo audio signals"


Generally, if you use external speakers, you want to disable the internal ones on the set -- otherwise you lose seperation.


If you want surround sound, you need to connect the audio outputs (fixed is preferable; digital is better than analog) to a dolby prologic receiver system.




Joe

 

[jgerbi]

Try page 11: "Right and Left Speaker Terminals: use to connect external speakers for right and left surround sound".


In other RCA/Thompson chassis, putting the speaker switch in INT put stereo to the internal speakers and surround to the external terminals, but I guess that has been dropped. Some remnants are in the manual.

 

[DrJoe]

I guess...


It says there (on page 11) that Int sends audio only to the internal and Ext says it only sends sound to the external speakers, so I guess the comment above was a typo.



Joe

 

[hob]

I have never used the speakers and I never will. I am buying a new recoton Dolby Dig. 5.1 Surround headphones with 900 MHz technology for digital HTRF.I also use the Sennheiser DSP-PRO pro-logic surround.

 

[LarsYouPutz]

You spent between $2k-$2.5k on a TV and you want to use internal surround sound? Disable the speakers and get the system, treat this great picture to the sound it deserves.