Need help setting up surround sound speakers.

turpentyine

I got these altec lansing vs3151 speakers that i connected to my panasonic blue ray player via a/v cables. The player is connected to my plasma via hdmi cable. So for some reason the center speaker and the two rear speakers are not producing sound only the sub and the two left right ones are producing sound. Help what am I doing wrong? I hear the hissing in the speakers so i know they are functioning

Improvolone

Model of bluray player so we can look up an image of its back, please.

turpentyine

panasonic dmp-bd60p-k

Improvolone

You plugged speaker wire from your speakers into the L and R audio out, yes?
There are only two audio outs on your bluray player, how is your center and your surrounds attached?
You need to get a receiver. All your speakers get hooked up the the receiver, your components send their audio and video signals to the receiver (your bluray can do this over HDMI or component video and optical audio), and your receiver send the video to the TV along it's (the receiver's) video out.
So without a receiver, you can only get a left and right front speaker. I'm very curious how your other speakers are hooked up.

Some bluray players have surround hook ups

And just to round things out and show you the options a receiver gives you, here is a random Onkyo from GIS.

turpentyine

They are all hooked up to the sub. And there is a switch for that situation. It worked on my regular player before.

Improvolone

What is the sub model? I need to see the back of it to get an idea of what is happening.

Theory: This bluray player is sending out a stereo signal (L and R front channels only). Your previous player did the same, but matrixed the sound out to all of your other speakers. In effect giving you fake surround.

Alternate theory: Your old player actually handled surround sound and your new one, as I've pointed out, does not.


If you have any more equipment in this mix, you really need to give us some models to work with. I can't troubleshoot for you if I don't know all of the components. You also didn't mention anything about having things plugged into the sub in the OP.

turpentyine

Its set so its all altec lansing vs3151

Improvolone

Is it this?


Please walk me through the wiring
I have never seen a sub with inputs like that before. All of the speakers are connected to the sub. What is then connected to the bluray player? The sub? By what output, the analog audio/RCA/red white? This would mean then that the bluray player is outputting stereo to the sub, which sends that signal to the speakers.

It looks like the only way for your player to output surround is over optical or HDMI.

turpentyine

Ye thats what prob happened so how do i get this one to matrix it out. The old one was a cheapo magnavox so this one should deff be able to do it i think

turpentyine

ye thats it. and the blue ray a/v cables are connected to the control panel that came with the speakers

Improvolone

a/v stands for audio/visual, we are just talking about audio cables here. Hell, speaker wire is a great term too.

Again: Your bluray player is sending stereo only since it is not using it's HDMI or Optical out. As is, there seems to be nothing you can do.

turpentyine

the control panel is connected to the sub

turpentyine

but my crappy magnavox was able to do it

Improvolone

So its blue ray > control panel (which is just L and R audio?) > sub woofer > speakers?

Improvolone

turpentyine wrote: »

but my crappy magnavox was able to do it

You are correct in that one piece of equipment will do different things than another.
Not knowing any more details on your crappy Magnavox (DVD player?), I can't explain why. Hell, I'm not even sure you were getting anything above a matrixed stereo if I understand this set up correctly.

turpentyine

yes the blue ray is also sending the sound through hdmi to the built in tv speakers but i turned those off in the tv menu

turpentyine

it prob was matrixed but i wanna get that here

Improvolone

Is this the back of the control box?

Have you slid that switch to the 6?

turpentyine

ye it is, switch is on 2/4, speaker instructions said its supposed to be like that in this kind of set up

Improvolone

I would slide it to 6. That seems to mean that your control box is, right now, telling the sub woofer to only use 2 speakers. You want it to use all 6.
The subwoofer is controlling your sound, so you need to find out how to control the subwoofer.

turpentyine

just tried six same result

Improvolone

Hook up your crappy Magnavox in the same exact way.

turpentyine

thats how i had it hooked up but its not blue ray

Improvolone

So the only thing you changed out was the player. Nothing else is different? Not even wire plalcement?
Then we're back at the player being the cause.

Theory 2: Unplug the hdmi cable, maybe its having trouble sending audio over two paths.

turpentyine

ye player is the only difference. Ill try that tom. Thanks for your help. going to sleep now good night

eternalbl

The manual's troubleshooting guide says 2 things that would cause what you're describing - switch on the back of the control unit should be at 2/4 for a 2 channel setup, otherwise check the center and rear volumes.