Onkyo 605 VT-12 setup

[Mike Freas]

I just realized that the VT-12 package comes with the 6th center channel speaker. I reviewed the instructions and understand how it would be hooked to a 6.1 receiver but how about a 7.1 like the 605? One would think you could go about hooking it up to the rear surround by either one connection or two but I'm not sure.

My major problem is that I really don't have any place to put it. At the back of my living room is a large opening that should be the dining room but is used by the kids. The distance from the center channel placement to the far back wall is roughly 15' and would be a major pain to get wire to(but possible). Would it be possible to ceeling mount it or should I strive to mount it as close to(hight wise) as the rear channel speakers?

Thansk for any help and I'm really looking forward to getting my speakers this week.....hopefully.

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi Mike,

You can simply add another VT-254 speaker to get a 7.1 channel Ventriloquist system:

http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vt-254.html

I suppose if you really needed to, you could mount on the ceiling and angle downward. The owners manual here gives some recommendations on placement:

http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vt-12.pdf

Sincerely,

[Mike Freas]

I wasn't actually planning on setting up the 7.1 system but that may be an option.

I unpacked my speakers last night and reread the manual. It's very vague as to placement and doesn't give any real recommendations as to the rear center. How far away can I place them and still be worth it? Like I said I have an odd room. My wife doesn't have a problem with them being mounted close to the ceeling but shouldn't they be behind the surrounds for best effect? Would it be possible to just use one speaker using only one of the rear fill outputs on the receiver? I plan on running wire and setting this up this weekend but I will not have my Onkyo until Monday. Thanks for the help.

[Mike Freas]

Peter,

I went ahead and ordered the extra speaker. Do you have recommendations for rear speaker placement or should I set them up like a traditional 7.1 system?

[Pete_Hsu]

Mike, do you mind providing a rough sketch of your theater room and posting here on the forum?

Thank you very much!

[Mike Freas]

Peter,

Thanks for the offer to analize my room but the speakers are already placed. I went with what I know (not much) about 7.1 systems and the restrictions of my room. I think my rear fill speakers are a bit close to the surrounds but, like I said, I don't have any other option without changing the room configuration.

That being said I couldn't wait to hear what they sounded like to I used my old dying Yamaha to listen to some music. Now I'm sure there are better sounding speakers but these things BLEW ME OUT OF THE ROOM!!! I'm not talking about the DB level but the quality of the sound from those tiny book shelf speakers!! The sub is also much more accurate then my old 12" MTX and is also smaller.

An equaly important fact is my wife really likes how small the speakers and didn't even mind the two additional surrounds for the 7.1 system.

I really can't tell you how happy I am with my purchase, your service and the info I got from AVS forums. Thanks again. HSU will be the first place I look for my future upgrades!

[thurst0509]

I'd like to chime in here as well since I'm in the same boat.

I have the exact same reciever (Onkyo 605) and have just about decided to go with a VT-12/SPF-2 speaker setup. My TV is a Samsung 56" DLP (model HL-T5687S).

I've attached a rough sketch of my room and where I think I'll be putting the speaker components. The TV actually is more or less centered in the room, but I think I screwed up the scale of the drawing somehow.

As you can see, the hallways and the room shape make it a bit challenging to position the front satellites. I'm pretty sure I will be hanging them high on the walls, near the ceiling (you can't tell from the drawing but the living room is taller than the adjoining hallways and the rectangular space near the back door, so there is an overhang where the speakers can be nicely mounted).

So I have two questions:

1) Assuming the front satellites will be positioned high on the wall (about 8 feet in the air), would there be any benefit to positioning the center channel in the same horizontal space? I've been planning for it to be directly above the TV, but I wouldn't be opposed to mounting it in-line with the satellites if that might improve the soundstage. I'll be using OmniMount direction-adjustable mounts so that all the speakers can be pointed directly towards the viewing area, if that makes any difference.

2) Same original question as Mike's: Would there be any benefit to matrixing the 6th & 7th channels of my receiver to power the rear center? As you can see I have no space behind the viewing area, so it probably wouldn't make sense for me to do a full 7.1 - but I thought this might be a cool way to get some of the 7.1 effect.

Thanks in advance!!

[Pete_Hsu]

Peter,

Thanks for the offer to analize my room but the speakers are already placed. I went with what I know (not much) about 7.1 systems and the restrictions of my room. I think my rear fill speakers are a bit close to the surrounds but, like I said, I don't have any other option without changing the room configuration.

That being said I couldn't wait to hear what they sounded like to I used my old dying Yamaha to listen to some music. Now I'm sure there are better sounding speakers but these things BLEW ME OUT OF THE ROOM!!! I'm not talking about the DB level but the quality of the sound from those tiny book shelf speakers!! The sub is also much more accurate then my old 12" MTX and is also smaller.

An equaly important fact is my wife really likes how small the speakers and didn't even mind the two additional surrounds for the 7.1 system.

I really can't tell you how happy I am with my purchase, your service and the info I got from AVS forums. Thanks again. HSU will be the first place I look for my future upgrades!

I'm so glad to hear that things worked out well, Mike! Cheers to good times and good listening, and a real pleasure to have you on board!

[Pete_Hsu]

Welcome to the forum thurst!

I think your proposed setup should work out nicely. I don't think you need to keep the center channel high up with the front satellites, but rather keep it slightly above your TV and angle it towards ear level. With your layout, probably best to just stick with 6.1 channel for now, although I suppose you could experiment later in the future if need be. Your subwoofer positioning looks good too.

Thanks, and take care!

[thurst0509]

Thanks for the reply Peter. My order is on the way and should arrive Monday - I can't wait! :)

Perhaps I wasn't quite clear what I was asking in my second question. I don't plan to order another channel for a 7.1 setup. But since my receiver supports 7.1 in addition to 5.1, here's the rear center wiring options I was considering:

1) Use the receiver in 5.1 mode and matrix the rear center between the left and right rear channels (as recommended in the user guide).
2) Use the receiver in 7.1 mode and matrix the rear center using channels 6 and 7 on the receiver.

Does that make sense? I'm wondering if option 2 above would have any pro's over option 1.

[Mike Freas]

That's exactly what I asked but decided just to get the other speaker. I actually pulled the rear center speaker out of the cabnet to take a look and see how it's wired before I ordered the other one. Note that the rear speaker has two inputs on it, that's because it's a dual voice coil speaker. Now the question is during 7.1 operation with both the rear fill channels hooked up (two wires per channel) if there are different signals coming from the RX I would think it would damage one or both of the coils. I guess if that is true you could hook up just one of the rear fill channels.

[Pete_Hsu]

thurst, I would try option 1 to start, as recommended in the manual. Have a good one...

[thurst0509]

FYI - I ended up connecting the rear center using the 6.1 wiring method. I hooked it to 6th channel (left rear) on the receiver. When I ran the Onkyo Audissey setup, it detected that there was only one connected and switched from 7.1 into 6.1 mode. :)

And the setup sounds great! Thanks to Hsu for a great product!