First time home theater girl....Sr605 and Polk 6750s..help!

[moviegirl]

I am buying a gently used Onkyo SR605 and a brand new set of Polk rm6750's to put in a nice little home theater system to go with my recently purchased Samsung blu-ray 1400....I have no idea what wires and cables I need. Help! This girl knows nothing about home theater but I'm a total movie buff and want the full Blu-Ray experience. I am a medical student so hopefully I am bright enough to figure this out....with y'alls expert help!

Links to everything I need that can be bought online would be most helpful. I can probably figure out the connections....

[mdabb]

I'm sure people will provide you with all the links required but.... Two 6ft. HDMI cables from Monoprice.com and maybe an extra in case you get a bum one. (it has happened to me and they are inexpensive) DO NOT get the ones with netting on them only because they are NOT very flexible.

If you need speaker wire I would get good quality cable that is flexible also. I do not care what people may say but it is an analog signal. The brand is up to you.


Monoprice HDMI http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...02&cp_id=10243

[Driver_King]

First off, you need speaker cables. You can choose to have the wires run around the room to your speakers or through your room via installation. Speaker wire gauge can directly affect the sound quality of your speakers, so having a thicker wire gauge is always the way to go. I'd recommend buying speaker wire gauge that is no smaller than 16 gauge as a rule of thumb. Speaker wire length is also important. You don't want to have the wire cut too short or too long. Having extra wire length is important, as long as it isn't excessive(more than 10 feet). There are also different types of speaker wire that may appeal to you. Some wires are clear-coated, some are flat (maybe for running under carpets or rugs), and some are made for in-wall installation. In most cases, clear wire is cheapest and is probably the best solution. Also, you will need two HDMI cables running from your Blu-ray player to your receiver and from your receiver to your TV. To make things easier, get these. I hope that wasn't all too confusing for you or anyone else.If you need any more help, feel free to come back and post your questions.

[aramis109]

To be more specific than mdabb, I'd get two of these:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

You may need different lengths depending on your setup, but otherwise that'll cut through all the hdmi choices.

You'll also need speaker wire. Choose either 16 or 18AWG in about a 100ft spool. That way you'll have some left over if you make mistakes. I have the exact same setup as yours and I chose some Philips 18 gauge that works great.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/se...d=speaker+wire

Optionally, you can also purchase a wire stripper and banana plugs. Makes life much easier for the speaker wire.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

http://www.monoprice.com/products/se...=wire+stripper

Obviously you can choose different speaker wire and strippers depending on your needs.

[mdabb]

I should also mention the required gauge depends on the distance at which the speakers are placed. In any case 12-16 gauge should be fine. They do make flat speaker wire with or without adhesive on the back. Flat wire may help hide your wires easier if you a concerned about appearance.

Different colored HDMI cables can help simplify connections in case you get more gear.

You may also want one Toslink cable from your TV to receiver. A 6ft. one like this is nice and/or also one Toslink cable for your cable/satellite box to your receiver. In case you want Dolby digital sound.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

other versions.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...02&cp_id=10229

Whatever cables you get allow a little extra length for moving equipment and speakers.

[PSA1]

Originally Posted by moviegirl

I am buying a gently used Onkyo SR605 and a brand new set of Polk rm6750's to put in a nice little home theater system to go with my recently purchased Samsung blu-ray 1400....I have no idea what wires and cables I need. Help! This girl knows nothing about home theater but I'm a total movie buff and want the full Blu-Ray experience. I am a medical student so hopefully I am bright enough to figure this out....with y'alls expert help!

Links to everything I need that can be bought online would be most helpful. I can probably figure out the connections....

You will need two HDMI cable, 1 go from your BR player to your receiver, 1 go from the receiver to your HDTV, if your distance is less than 5 feet, you can get as cheap of a cable you can get, it will not make any difference, as for speaker wire, atleast 16 gauge, just follow the label on the back of your receiver, example, left front goes to your left front speaker, positive to positive, negative to negative..., once you finish hooking everything up, search for calibration and calibrate your HDTV, then use the Audisey eq of your receiver and calibrate your audio system, it will do a decent job. You will need to find a blue gel filter in order to properly calibrated your TV, I have my own but I think if you buy one of those calibration disc like blu-ray essential disc they come with one, you should do all this to get a true home theater/blu-ray experience. Have fun.

[Firestreak]

You can just go to radioshack for precut speakerwire if you want. They have different lengths, for where you're placing your speakers, and the ends are already exposed so you don't have to strip it. I've cut wires and gotten precut before, and I find precut easiest to handle, because the ends don't go in all different directions and require twisting to keep into place(badly). It's a thinner wire but still great sound.

[GeneD5]

I've got the 606 and rm 6750's; my biggest tip if you buy a spool of speaker wire is to get the wire strippers!

[moviegirl]

So am I okay with getting this speakerwire and using my dad's wire strippers? And what are banana plugs?

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

[moviegirl]

Success....just successfully purchased an Onkyo SR605 receiver in black for $315 (local), brand new set of Polk RM6750 speaker set for $218 (eBay), some speaker wire and HDMI cables on Monoprice, and a Blu-Ray player (also on eBay) for around $240. I've been bargain searching it for a few days so hopefully I've gotten something of a deal on my first home theater setup. I will be coming back in the next couple of days with questions and maybe a little panic when I set this all up Thanks for everyone's help and...."ah'll be back..."

[dgator783]

Originally Posted by moviegirl

Success....just successfully purchased an Onkyo SR605 receiver in black for $315 (local), brand new set of Polk RM6750 speaker set for $218 (eBay), some speaker wire and HDMI cables on Monoprice, and a Blu-Ray player (also on eBay) for around $240. I've been bargain searching it for a few days so hopefully I've gotten something of a deal on my first home theater setup. I will be coming back in the next couple of days with questions and maybe a little panic when I set this all up Thanks for everyone's help and...."ah'll be back..."

marry me.....where are girls like this where I live...usually they dont give a damn about sound quality...

[SkullPhyre]

Originally Posted by dgator783

marry me.....where are girls like this where I live...usually they dont give a damn about sound quality...

No doubt my wife can't tell the difference. First time she watched a Blu-ray she said it was not any better. Next Blu we watched was Pirates. Then I put the dvd in then I put the dvd in without being upconverted. She all of a sudden got it. Now she loves Blu. Still doesn't give a damn about the sound can't tell the difference. Thats ok cause I can.

[SkullPhyre]

Originally Posted by moviegirl

Success....just successfully purchased an Onkyo SR605 receiver in black for $315 (local), brand new set of Polk RM6750 speaker set for $218 (eBay), some speaker wire and HDMI cables on Monoprice, and a Blu-Ray player (also on eBay) for around $240. I've been bargain searching it for a few days so hopefully I've gotten something of a deal on my first home theater setup. I will be coming back in the next couple of days with questions and maybe a little panic when I set this all up Thanks for everyone's help and...."ah'll be back..."

Good luck hope it goes well for you ask if you have any more questions.

[Driver_King]

I think we all forgot to welcome you to Blu-ray.com too. Welcome. Don't forget your speaker wire now.

[rkolinski]

Welcome to the home theater world "home theater girl" (sounds kind of redundant doesn't it)! Anyway, I like to go to the source when recommending information for newbies and also sometimes moving pictures can do more than a thousand words. Anyway, here's a link @ youtube.com where you can find lots of videos about hooking up you compenents via HDMI and if you also do a search under speakers, you might also find some help there too. Of course I also included a link for the Polk Audio site because it has some excellent training articles for you to read. And lastly, I just thought I'd include a video from youtube which might make you laugh! Enjoy, good luck and if you have any future questions, don't hesitate to ask!!!

Rich

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=HDMI&aq=f

next:

http://www.polkaudio.com/education/advice.php

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7813_102...sageID=2589447

and lastly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgNfR0YFnY8

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[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by PSA1

You will need two HDMI cable, 1 go from your BR player to your receiver, 1 go from the receiver to your HDTV, if your distance is less than 5 feet, you can get as cheap of a cable you can get, it will not make any difference.

Curious as to where the magic length of <5' came from?

I've read some articles claiming runs of >25' might see improvement with "higher quality" cables, but I've also read many threads from folks using Monoprice cables in runs of 30'+ without problems.

[PSA1]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Curious as to where the magic length of <5' came from?

I've read some articles claiming runs of >25' might see improvement with "higher quality" cables, but I've also read many threads from folks using Monoprice cables in runs of 30'+ without problems.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hdmi-cabl...t-2-268788.php

[dukenukem]

Welcome to the forum and may i suggest you looki into getting some open screw banana plugs for the speaker wire from monoprice,they work very well with making it easy to plug and unplug the wires from the receiver.

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by PSA1

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hdmi-cabl...t-2-268788.php

I don't mean to be correct, but that article says 6' cables.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by PSA1

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hdmi-cabl...t-2-268788.php

Thanks. I hadn't seen that one before.