The living room needs work

[rooster60]

As I previously spoke about my home theatre room which is in the basement, I want to do something about my upstairs living room.

Currently I have a 46" Sony Bravia X series LCD using a Bell 6141 HD receiver and a Sony BDP S350 Blu ray DVD player.
I do notice however when I put a Blu ray disc the volume seems low for some reason.

Right now there is no AV receiver or surround sound of any kind in the living room.
I want to add something to get that real surround sound without going too much over the top and no tower speakers, etc.
Guess I got two questions to ask:
First, what kind of surround sound system can I get that is not too expensive and of course not overbearing and clash with the decor of the living room.
Second, the low volume coming from the speakers of the TV when I play a blu ray being low, if I get an AV and connect via optical cable, will it fix this problem?

[satchick]

On the low volume issue: Did you check to see if there's a menu setting for output level in the player? I'm pretty sure that connecting the BD player with an optical cable would fix this, the optical output simply passes along the digital bit stream from the disc without decoding or manipulating it at all.

The most unobtrusive way to add surround sound would to to use in-wall speakers IF your room layout allows for proper speaker placement. At the very least, you should be able to get away with in-wall for the front and center channels. Just make sure that if you choose to go in-wall that the speakers you choose are fully enclosed or you're going to have acoustic problems. Free-air speakers can be made to work well by building an enclosure within the stud cavity as well.

There are quite a few inexpensive receivers out there now, something like the Yamaha RXV371 or Pioneer VSX-821 would probably work well for you, they're both priced under $300...

You can also look at home theater in a box systems with a receiver, speakers, and a sub... Decent packages can be had around the $300 mark, don't waste your money on a cheap system, you won't be happy with it. The sony HTSS380 is one such system, however, these receivers are pretty basic and usually lack inputs, that Sony only has three HDMI inputs. That may or may not be a problem for you if you're only connecting a satellite receiver and BD player... If you've also got stereo equipment, I would look into buying the receiver and speakers separately...

How big is the room, and is it very open? The small speakers included in Home Theater In a Box systems work just fine in small/medium rooms, but they'll have a hard time filling a large or open room.

[Terryl]

I like the Yamaha brand of audio/video receiver's, some of the higher end units have a room sensing function, you setup a small microphone (comes with the unit) in the center of the room, go to the setup menu and enable it, leave the room and it adjusts the speaker outputs for each individual speaker, you can have miss-matched pairs, it will adjust for the best preformance on everthing attached.

Once done you can play with the setup to suit your needs.

Some of the higher end units will also up-convert the HDMI input to 1080P for the best picture to the HDTV.

[rooster60]

thanks for the responses.
to answer, yes there is an output setting for the BD player so I need to see where its set at.
But I figured as much that the optical cable would solve this volume issue and give off crisper sound.
I have been looking at some HT in a box packages and they have come a long way but you are right, not too expensive but also I need to keep an eye on how HDMI inputs, etc. I would need 3, satellite, BD and PS# game console as well.
I guess I can go with a system that has small speakers which are not giving an overwhelming presence in the room.
In the wall installation is not possible. The living room is finished, painted, etc.

[ron3033]

Polk audio has some nice speakers that are not too obtrusive. I have speakers sitting on the lower shelf of the end tables and fronts beside the Mrs.'s china cabinet. Polk audio Tsi 2OD $319
RTi A1 $324
RTi A3 $399
or Definitive Technology Pro Monitor 1000 $219.........
lots of places sell at differing prices this is from Crutchfie#d.c0m

Albeit, you will need a receiver.
ron3033:yes: