Time to sort out some surround sound (on a budget)

[Gad-Westy]

Bit of a mess this one but hear me out!

As a rather unexpected Christmas gift, I have just been given a Sony STR-DH810 7.1 Channel AV receiver. This is great obviously.

Tonight I have connected up all my 'inputs' so it is now channeling all m various different audio/visual sources through to the TV.

All that side is fine but I need to sort out a speaker set up for it.

I currently have two floor-standing Gale speakers. These are configured bi-wire if that means much to anyone. I also have a load 7x Creative Speakers that came with a PC. I also have a Creative sub woofer but this is the type that is also an amp so maybe not much use here.

Anyway, I want to get surround sound sorted (ideally 7.1) but I'm on a tight budget (right now £100 is a stretch).

So a few questions:

1) Do I need a sub woofer? If so, what should I be looking for?

2) If I butcher the Creative Sub and take out the amp gubbins what cable will I need to connect back to amp?

3) Should I connect up the 'bi-wire' Gale speakers at the front to effectively have a 5.1 system running from 7.1 channels (the amp has this option) or should I ditch those and use the full set of 7.1 Creative speakers?

4) Will the Creative Speakers sound awful?

5) Should I buy a new speaker set all together and sell some of this stuff on? Any cheapo options?

[WhoseGeneration]

Gad-Westy said:

Bit of a mess this one but hear me out!

As a rather unexpected Christmas gift, I have just been given a Sony STR-DH810 7.1 Channel AV receiver. This is great obviously.

Tonight I have connected up all my 'inputs' so it is now channeling all m various different audio/visual sources through to the TV.

All that side is fine but I need to sort out a speaker set up for it.

I currently have two floor-standing Gale speakers. These are configured bi-wire if that means much to anyone. I also have a load 7x Creative Speakers that came with a PC. I also have a Creative sub woofer but this is the type that is also an amp so maybe not much use here.

Anyway, I want to get surround sound sorted (ideally 7.1) but I'm on a tight budget (right now £100 is a stretch).

So a few questions:

1) Do I need a sub woofer? If so, what should I be looking for?

2) If I butcher the Creative Sub and take out the amp gubbins what cable will I need to connect back to amp?

3) Should I connect up the 'bi-wire' Gale speakers at the front to effectively have a 5.1 system running from 7.1 channels (the amp has this option) or should I ditch those and use the full set of 7.1 Creative speakers?

4) Will the Creative Speakers sound awful?

5) Should I buy a new speaker set all together and sell some of this stuff on? Any cheapo options?

I'm not greatly into home cinema, being a stereo type, so others may correct me if I'm wrong.
First thing is, carefully read the manual for your receiver.
Sounds to me as though you have enough speakers to run a 7.1 system, apart from not having a true centre speaker.
Yes, use your Gales as front L&R, biwired, your sub is the .1 component, no need to mess with it.
It might not be that good but it will get you started.
4 of your Creatives are then the rear effects speakers.
To get started I'd try 2 more of the Creatives, series connected as the centre.
Then, as Gales are a Richer Sounds product, a visit to one of their stores should provide a matching centre within your budget.
Just try it and see what you think.

[Gad-Westy]

Cheers. should have said, if I use the Gale bi-wired, they'll use up 4 of the 7.1 channels (the amp has a setting for this configuration). So I'd only need to connect up two rears, a centre and a sub. I don't know if this is a good option though or whether I should be reconfiguring the Gale speakers as single wire so they just use two of the front channels. I presume one just bridges the connectors on the back of the speaker to achieve single-wire.

[Junior Bianno]

Don't know the amp but sure you'll be able to set it up to run 5.1 which really should be more than enough to begin with. Stick with the Gales for the fronts and then possibly add these for £110:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/centre-speaker...

http://www.richersounds.com/product/bookshelf-spea...

You should be able to set the amp to "no subwoofer" for now. You will get a pretty reasonable surround sound with that set-up - and you can add a sub when funds allow. I've got a similar Gale arrangement, (now with a subwoofer), and it works very well. Blows away the Home cinema in a box type things.

[WhoseGeneration]

Gad-Westy said:

Cheers. should have said, if I use the Gale bi-wired, they'll use up 4 of the 7.1 channels (the amp has a setting for this configuration). So I'd only need to connect up two rears, a centre and a sub. I don't know if this is a good option though or whether I should be reconfiguring the Gale speakers as single wire so they just use two of the front channels. I presume one just bridges the connectors on the back of the speaker to achieve single-wire.

Careful, what you have described with the Gales is bi-amping, meaning one amplifier for the bass and one for the treble on each speaker.
Bi-wiring is merely using, in effect, two cables from one amp to each speaker, one cable to the bass, the other to the treble, with the terminal bridges on the speakers disconnected. Using a single cable from amp to speaker means connecting the bridges.
I'd start with the Gales bi-wired, if you can get your biwire cables safely into the terminals on your receiver, if not, use single wire.
Then you'll be able to have 7.1.
You could then try the other option with the Gales bi-amped and decide which suits you and your room.

[Fatman2]

Personally I'd give the subwoofer a miss for now as the internal amp is not particulary suitable and you'll need a crossover if you use it passively (which may be tricky if you start chopping it up).

At the moment I only have 4 speakers in my AV setup as I also have floorstanders and have adequate bass for most movies. I would like a centre speaker but the matching unit would cost me nigh on £1000 so haven't bothered with it. Fortunately my blu-ray player has a dialogue enhancer and my processor has an additional setting if you haven't got a centre channel so works out fine. It may be worth going through your settings as you may be able to get by on 4 speakers for the time being.

[Gad-Westy]

Thanks all. I've put a lot of thought into this since I posted the original question and I'm inclined to agree that a 5.1 set up with the Gales Bi-wired is my best option. Partly this is because our room doesn't really have any ideal positions for the extra 2 'side' speakers. My inclination is to wire everything up using the Gales as the fronts, and 3x Creatives as the centre and two rears. I think I'll need to buy a sub as the Creative one appears to be kapput anyway. If the Creative speakers are drowned out I can always upgrade them after. This way, I'll only need to buy a sub and some speaker wire for the time being.

Any reason not to go for this ELtax one from Richer sounds? Any other recommendations welcome.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/subwoofers/elt...

[Gad-Westy]

Just seen this as well. Could use centre, two rears and sub.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/speaker-packag...

Any thoughts?