The TV itelf is connected to an ethernet switch, an HDMI cable and by coax to TV aerial distribution amplifier.
I have a computer (configured as a home theater PC (HTPC), currently mothballed, that I intend to restore as a MythTV server. It will also be connected to the TV distribution amplifier, the ethernet switch and the other end of the HDMI cable.
The HTPC and the TV/Soundbar are on opposie sides of the room.
When set up in my previous home, the sound came through a PC sound system connected from the HTPC.
I am hoping to drive the sound from the HTPC through to the sound bar.
Is there any reason that this might not be possible? :(
It should be possible... it will depend on what connections the sound bar supports and if the TV can do ARC (audio return channel) on one of its HDMI inputs?
If it can do ARC then you can connect the sound bar to the ARC capable HDMI on the TV, and the HTPC to the TV via another HDMI. The TV will then feed the audio for whatever it is showing at the moment to the sound bar. So you should be able to hear audio from broadcast programming decoded by the TV, from content sent from the PC and from stuff streamed directly by the TV.
Works for me. My TV passes over incoming HDMI PC audio to its optical output, and the attached Dolby Digital receiver then decodes the correct multichannel outputs, if the source file or application has output already encoded as such. Otherwise, normal PCM stereo.
Around 1975, when was designing sound equipment, we solved that one by earthing the kit to the chassis via a small resistor. That was enough to keep the frame as a screen, but not enough to allow large earth currents to pass, For 0.5p it solves hum loops entirely
People make things so complicated these days. A simple audio cable is sufficient. Even a headphone output will do. Some sound bars use Bluetooth even though the bar is inches from the TV, and introduce delays in the sound leading to loss of lip-sync.
The connection method affects the channel configuration you can do.
A TOSLink is stereo or AC3 5.1, or can be quad (at reduced quality). And I've never run into someone with a working quad option (as proof there really is a quad option). There may not be enough bandwidth in the bitstream for a more-fancy format.
The TOSLink in stereo mode, should be every bit as good as analog stereo, and with the optical path, there's no ground loop.
"TOSLINK cables are usually limited to 5 meters in length, with a technical maximum of 10 meters"
And that's because the transmitter and receiver, have low material cost. They do the link, the way a hobbyist would create a link. One benefit of the choice of visible red light, is it's easier to check "it's working".
If you run an analog line level signal (~1VRMS) over a long enough distance, you will be able to hear some hum in the background. There will eventually be a quality issue.
I don't usually see reports of TOSLink issues. In the sense of optical failures. I don't know if anyone makes custom receiver chips for TOSLink purposes or not. It's just a LED and a photodiode or phototransistor running at 6MHz or so.
The advantage of TOSLink, is no electrical grounds are involved. It's as bulletproof as Ethernet.
Does the product line include a sub to go with it ?
Here is a short discussion about the sub option.
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This is an example of a bottom-firing sub. 150W. You can set the cutoff frequency, so the bottom end of the Kubic meshes with the top end of the sub.
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It's a box the cat can sleep on top of.
The problem with subs, where the amp is integral to the speaker cabinet, is the amp runs hot because there's no cooling for it. This one could be Class-D though, so it won't be as inefficient as older amps. The capacitors inside units like this, are glued to one another, so the vibration from the sub, doesn't snap the legs off the caps. One of the failure modes, is the glue is actually conductive, and if it comes in contact with conductors inside the design, it can short stuff. (The glue ages when it is heated.)
But because these things are a "furniture design", I don't expect anyone to turn back the clock and package the bits separately.
Creative had some nice 7.1 systems, where the electronics inside would fail because of the poor glue selection. That, and the heat. The design in that case, used 10 Class-D amps, three of the Class-D amps fed the sub, the sub had three voice coils on it, and the voice coils would add the signals together. And that's how the sub in that case, got a 150W rating, as 3x50W input.
If you're into rap, some compositions have lots of bass, for the specific purpose of giving your sub a reason for existing :-)
A friend at work, had stereo subs. Because he refused to believe you could not "locate" the sound in the sound field. I can tell you the walls in the townhouse had foil backed board in them, because of the noise the foil made when the subs were active. The subs had 36" cones. They're the biggest speakers I've ever seen in someones house. You put bags of sand inside the cabinets, to keep the sub "on the floor" :-) Too funny. The townhouse is in a row of townhouses, and I can't imagine what the neighbours think during a "stereo test run". The wife of course, is very happy with these "things" in her living room. A whole family of cats could sleep on the top of them. These were front-firing subs, because to do a bottom firing sub would take up too much floor space. That's how the speaker cabinets had room for the bags of sand in the bottom of them.
So that's a taste of the "mystique" of subwoofers. It completely slipped my mind, to buy one of those.
My amplifier doesn't have an optical output. I don't have a problem with wired connections up to 3m or so, apart from the magnetic PU of the turntable which needs to be as short as possible (it came with its own lead and doesn't like extensions).
Do turntables have optical outputs? And why is the whole caboodle called a turntable so you have to say "platter" for the bit that goes round?
And why aren't the preamps of both the turntable and amplifier switchable so you can plug anything into anything?
I think there's something funny about airports, especially the foreign language terms for entry and exit. Does exit mean the exit to the plane, or to the countryside?
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