Audio FAQ I purchased the Surround Sound Speaker Package with my house, how do I hook the speakers up? In the Media Niche of the family room you will see a plate with spring connectors on it. The connectors are marked “Left Front”, “Right Front”, “Left Rear”, “Right Rear”, “Center” and “Subwoofer”. Using 16-gauge speaker wire or better, connect the front, rear and center speaker from the plate to the rear of your Surround Sound Receiver/Amplifier. Next, connect the subwoofer using a single RCA patch cord. The subwoofer is normally located towards the rear corner of the room (look for a single plate with an RCA connector). Use a single RCA patch cord to connect the Subwoofer to the wall plate. I’ve hooked up all my wiring, why doesn’t my subwoofer work? Many Subwoofers have an on/off switch, an auto-sensing switch, frequency response settings and a volume control. All switches and settings need to be set properly. Additionally, many Receivers require the subwoofer output to be turned on in the menu. I purchased the Background Speaker Package, how do I hook the speakers up? In the Media Niche of the family room you will see a 2-gang wall plate. Behind the plate is the speaker wiring. The wiring for each room should be labeled. We wire the room volume controls with a 16-4/Cat5 bundled cable. This allows you to upgrade to a distributed audio keypad system or to add an infrared repeater system at a later date. If you have standard volume controls, you will use the 16-4 wiring. The color code is as follows Red = Right + Black = Right – Green = Left + White = Left – I have several rooms of music; can I safely hook all of them up to an amplifier? C&R Systems installs “ohms-matching” volume controls. What that means is that the volume controls can be adjusted to provide an 8-ohm resistance at the amplifier connection regardless if there is one pair or 8 pairs of speakers. This eliminates volume fluctuation system wide while adjusting one room. My music system has a very low volume; it used to be normal, what happened? Several factors can contribute to low volume: A common occurrence is the “mute” button on the remote was inadvertently pressed. With the amplifier in mute, all audio output is drastically reduced. Simply press “mute” to test, make sure you turn the volume down before you start. A second item to check is the A/B speaker selector on your Surround Sound Amplifier. The front speakers are on the “A” output. Make sure the “A” output is turned on (Normally there are two buttons on the face of the tuner/amplifier marked “A” and “B”). On a surround sound system the rear speakers and subwoofer can be turned off. Ensure they are on and playing correctly. Most surround sound amplifiers have multiple surround sound modes. Selecting a different mode can alter the sound of your room. Why doesn’t my Surround Sound System sound a good as it did when it was installed? Many times, an unsatisfactory sound is the result of the incorrect mode of Surround Sound used for a particular Audio/Video source. Sports, Movies, CD’s, TV shows, etc. all have different sound qualities and may sound better if a different Surround Sound mode is selected. Another cause of poor sound quality may be speaker selection. The Front, Rear, Center and Subwoofer speakers can be turned off in the menu of the amplifier using the remote control. Refer to your users manual for instructions for your particular brand/model of equipment. Why can’t I hear the rear speakers all the time? The mode of surround sound you choose can affect rear speaker volume. A popular choice for movies is Dolby Pro Logic. With this choice the rear speakers are not utilized for every scene. The speakers are used for dramatic impact. For a fuller sound field, many people choose Six Channel Stereo, which rearranges the sound field to utilize all speakers. What is the right surround sound mode to use? There is not a “correct” surround sound mode as it is a subjective choice. What sounds good to one person may not sound good to another. Some of the modes create more of an echo effect than others. Many people use the Dolby surround when viewing a movie, as this is the mode most modern movies were recorded in. If you were watching an older movie, this mode would not be the best choice. Experimenting with the surround sound modes will result in learning what sounds best to you. I’ve set up the Surround Sound mode for DVD’s, now I want to listen to CD’s, will I need to change the mode? Many people use their DVD player to play CD’s. If so, the Surround Sound mode would typically be changed to an Audio mode (this is a subjective choice). If you have a separate CD player, the mode setting for CD can be determined and the Yamaha Surround Sound Receiver will remember it. What is the difference between an Audio Surround Sound mode and a Video Surround Sound mode? A Video Surround Sound mode utilizes the Center Channel while the Audio Surround Sound mode does not. With the exception of the Six Channel Stereo mode, it utilizes all 5 speakers (plus the subwoofer), and can be used with both Audio and Video sources. Will using the “wrong” Surround Sound mode damage anything? No damage will occur from selecting an Audio mode while watching a Video source or vice versa. The only affect will be a different sound quality to your room. I cannot see a DVD on my TV, but the sound is working on my surround sound system, what do I do? There is not a single answer as every system may be connected differently depending on your equipments capabilities and the additional equipment you’ve chosen. In this instance, the first device to check is your TV. Most TV’s have multiple inputs. This allows multiple sources to be connected such as, High Definition tuner, DVD player, analog cable, camcorder, etc. On the face of the TV (and on your remote) there is a button labeled “input” or “source” (your TV may have a different label, please refer to your TV users guide). Press this button to sequence through the separate sources until your DVD picture is displayed. After the movie, return your TV to the normal TV source by pressing the button again. Some DVD players are connected as a CD player also. If so, if you select CD on your Receiver, you would be able to hear the DVD but not view it. Ensure that the Surround Sound Receiver has been set to DVD as its source. If the DVD picture is still not viewable, check all connection from your DVD player, Surround Sound amplifier, to the TV. Why do my speakers distort/crackle? The first thing you need to determine is, do they distort on all sources? If only one source distorts, it may be the connection between the amp/tuner and the device. Check all wiring connections. Do they distort on only one CD? Check the CD on another system, a friends system or in the car. The CD may be defective. Is the CD a copy? Many copied CD’s have a distortion that is not apparent on lower wattage systems. On a good Surround Sound System, a distorted CD is more pronounced as the system will more faithfully reproduce what is on the CD. Do the speakers crackle only while you are adjusting the volume? The volume control may be defective. Do the speakers distort only at high volume when playing a lot of bass? You might be exceeding the suggested wattage of the speaker. Do you have a multi-room system? A common occurrence is when all of the room volume controls are turned to a low setting and the amplifier is turned up to compensate. The room volume controls should be set to a louder setting and the amplifier to a lower one to achieve the correct balance. Regardless of the diagnosis, speaker distortion or crackling damages the speaker. Can I use the “B” output on my Surround Sound receiver for additional rooms of music? On most Surround Sound Amplifiers, the “B” channel volume is 80% of the “A” channel. Couple this with the fact that the Surround Sound room has five speakers and a subwoofer, and it becomes evident that the “B” channel is a poor choice for use as the background amp. The family room is loud and all background rooms are barely discernible. We recommend a separate amplifier for background music, as this will allow flexibility in volume and source selection. Watch a movie in the Family room while listening to CD’s elsewhere. Can I hook my CD player up to both amplifiers? Yes, higher end CD players have Digital outputs and Analog outputs. Hook the Digital output to the Surround Sound amplifier and the Analog (RCA) output to the background amp. If your CD player has only Analog outputs, you can purchase an RCA splitter at an electronics store to allow the CD player to be hooked up to both amps.