Wiring help (I'm in WAY over my head)

[Ramza]

So I bought this pretty absurd, large, and oldschool sound system. It consists of a 5.1 surround sound system (big-ass speakers, using standard +/- speaker wire) and subwoofer, all from Klipsch. Then, there's a Marantz Pre-Tuner. And then there's also the Marantz Amp.

THEN, there's my PlayStation 3.

THEEEEEEN, there's a stupid cable box that I need to convert the "normal cable" to "HD cable" according to Comcast. (I'm not too pleased about that one).

And of course, there's my TV.

My initial thought is that virtually everything, particularly audio-side, should run through the Marantz pre-tuner, and the TV itself never deals with audio. For video input, I suppose I can go direct to the TV with the cable box (component cables) and PS3 (HDMI).

I have like ... 3 or 4 optical cables, an HDMI cable, an absurd amount of component cables, tons of speaker wire, banana plugs, and other various cords at my disposal. And I have NO IDEA what I'm doing.

I'll take any advice. kthx.

Ramza

[Akanbe-]

I THINK you can run everything to your TV then a wire from your TV to your sound system.  That way your TV acts as a medium and everything should work on your surround system.

Let me know how it works if you try that.

[Ramza]

Apparently it doesn't work because the HDMI port on my TV is 1.2, and 5.1 audio support only started at 1.3. Or something.

And there isn't enough optical audio ports on my TV to run it all through that way.

What I ended up doing was running all my AUDIO (optical) into the pre-tuner, and all my VIDEO (HDMI and component) direct to the TV.

I'm going to take a picture of all the wires sitting behind my media cabinet. It's worth seeing. :P

[Geop]

I'm sure it is.  I couldn't even imagine what the initial situation looked like.  I still have this big analog television in my room with all my stuff hooked up with those yellow red white RCA cables.  :D

[jphussey]

Pat, PM me off the boards.

I'm a tech/audiophile and can walk you through it step by step.

JP