Stacking AV Equipment?

[Jurassic]

After reading that I immediately went out and bought a SuperKord skipping rope. Like 'Russ' in that link says, "It was as if you?d taken a step closer to the performance". Surely that must be a joke!

Agreed. Any difference it does make would only be heard by dogs.
How have you got on anyway Jurassic? It will take a good two weeks before you get it just how you want it, or it took me that long anyway.

I have all the stuff sat in huge boxes in front of me, I got a good deal on a set of Yahmaha speakers in the Christmas sales so just need to get the whole lot set up.

I was expecting the amp to be bigger than your average DVD player but wasn't quite expecting it to be this big! I really have no idea where to put it which is what started this thread off. Maybe the misses can sit it on her lap when we watch a movie.

I've also realised I'm going to need an optical splitter if I want everything connected at once, so I'm looking for a cheap one. I presume as its digital I'm best just getting the cheapest one going as it'll either work or not, that right?

[BeyondJumpFish]

lol, yeah an AV is pretty big.
If the AV can't strip the sound from the HDMI then optical is the way to go. The price really doent matter with digital. Either all the 0's and 1's get to where they are going, or they don't, there is no inbetween.
Remember, if your buying all the cables yourself then you could put the AV where you like, just buy longer cables. I really enjoyed unboxing all mine and setting it all up. Wish i could do it again!

[Jurassic]

Right I've set this all up and it sounds superb, bt I'm a little bewildered by the number of options!

Reading the manual the amp has something called cinema dps processing or something. It has a variety of presets with names like movie dynamic, game etc. There's also a preset called Straight which if I'm correct just sends the sound through without any processing. Should I just be using the straight option to get the best sound quality?

Also I'm wondering if I've got my consoles and dvd player set up right to send the best sound. Does anyone know what settings I should be using in the PS3, X360 etc to send the best quality sound to the AV? The av doesn't accept HD audio just DTS, Dolby digital etc.

Cheers for anymore advice and thanks for everyones help in choosing these I'm well chuffed with the set up.

[BeyondJumpFish]

AV's have all kinds of different options and it really boils down to personal preference. If your AV has the option of Neutral THX then thats the setting to go for with Surround sound. Its best to just play a movie and some music and just switch through the options to see what you think sounds best. It took me a good two weeks to get it how i like it and i still find myself changing things on it.
The sound options on the PS3 are great. I tend to have the Frequency output on 48HZ because that outputs music in Surround, however, some people just like to have it play through the front 2 speakers and the sub, if so, leave it on 44HZ. With the optical options i would just tick all the options it gives you (linear pcm 2 ch etc...). The PS3 will sort out whats best for what you playing anyway, may as well give it the max number of choices.

[Baseley09]

Right I've set this all up and it sounds superb, bt I'm a little bewildered by the number of options!

Reading the manual the amp has something called cinema dps processing or something. It has a variety of presets with names like movie dynamic, game etc. There's also a preset called Straight which if I'm correct just sends the sound through without any processing. Should I just be using the straight option to get the best sound quality?

Also I'm wondering if I've got my consoles and dvd player set up right to send the best sound. Does anyone know what settings I should be using in the PS3, X360 etc to send the best quality sound to the AV? The av doesn't accept HD audio just DTS, Dolby digital etc.

Cheers for anymore advice and thanks for everyones help in choosing these I'm well chuffed with the set up.

I have a Yamaha of similar ilk, the "straight" option means that none of the DSP's are enabled such as sound feilds designed for "sci-fi" or "roxy theatre" situations. The Yamaha PURE DIRECT option is for pure audio with no video processing enabled. The DSP's depend on what your viewing, just see if you like each one.

[Jurassic]

Righto cheers for that. Been having a play around and to my uneducated ears, 'straight' seems to sound the best.

The difference surround sound makes to games and moves is immense. One of the best things about getting new stuff like this is that it I'm going back through my collection looking for games/films that have massive explosions!

Once again cheers for the help, its safe to say that without it I would be completely lost.