ONKYO HTS3305 Surround Sound System

[Rhino172]

My £50 Asda surround sound has finally given up on me so it's time to step things up a bit.

This system is only £300 from richer sounds so looks pretty good to me.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/1-box-home-cinema-systems/onkyo/hts3305/onky-hts3305-blk

Currenlty though I don't have a HD Tv (xbox connect via vga at the moment untill I get a HD Tv).

The only thing going through this system will be the Xbox 360 (the new slim one so that can connect to the system via HDMI) for now, but how would that then go to the TV as it doesn't have a HDMI in . At somepoint there will be some form of TV package, Virgin or Sky etc and I'd like to somehow connect my laptop to it too (suggestions on how would be good, laptop only has the headphones out mini jack).

Looking on AV forums there is a thread already about this system but I understand fook all that they are on about. All these different abbreiviations etc mean nothing to me, DTS, DD, SP LL2 or whatever it is lol

Anyone got this system or can anyone generally help out with the abbreviationes etc so I can make more sense of it all.

/surround sound n00b

 

[OEM Battery Nonce]

All the abreviations are for the surround sound, I've had a system for years and don't understand them lol

I'm not sure how you get VGA on a 360? I'd say use the RGB on the 'HD' cable you get with the 360, then you can put the audio cable into the AV receiver (Control box in essence) there will no doubt be a lot of inputs on the back, where you can put a 3.5mm to phono lead so you can plug the laptop in. It also says it's got HDMI so it will be able to receive HDMI cables and then distribute one to the TV as an output.

Best bet is to go into store and ask them, RS staff are really useful and actually know their stuff.

 

[McBunny]

basically on the vga cable there is the 2 audio cables the red and white that you will use now just plug them in and you will get stereo (but dont do this)

buy an optical cable and plug that into the back of the 360 then plug that into the amp you get surround sound

 

[Rhino172]

basically on the vga cable there is the 2 audio cables the red and white that you will use now just plug them in and you will get stereo (but dont do this)

buy an optical cable and plug that into the back of the 360 then plug that into the amp you get surround sound

lol thats exactly as it is now so why I didn't think of that I don't know!

In my head I was thinking HDMI lead from 360 to the amp then some kind of random cable to the TV

Any help with the various "types" of surround sound, DTS, pro logic and what ever all the others are? Or is it all the same thing just different "brand names"?

 

[McBunny]

you would use hdmi if you get a better tv and stopped been a pikey

dts is all you care about really pro logic is crappy surround sound it basically can use a stereo track and make it surround dts has been recorded so the audio file is made up of the individual channels so the correct info gets sent to the correct speaker if you can dts if not dolbydigital

 

[McBunny]

actually it supports dts master and dolby true hd audio too so perfect for use with bluray

 

[Rhino172]

lol I'm holding off as long as I can on the TV front now as we all know that they are constantly updated so the good ones now will be cheaper in the next few months. Hopefully hold off till chrimbo sales on that one

thanks for the help though, it's all slowly starting to make sense. Those boys over on AV forums are speaking in another language I'm sure of it

 

[McBunny]

they do its a bit elitist over there

 

[David]

dts is what you want, i think dts-hd is supported by most devices now too, a ps3 supports all of them iirc so if you were watching hd content via that you'd be sorted. Decoding at the device end is different too, like for example if you had a device which supports dtshd it would feed it through hdmi, if your speaker system didn't support it, it would either downgrade on the fly or you'd have to change the setup.. If you could feed all your audio via hdmi you would be better off imo. I used a pass through amp which has 4 hdmi ins and 1 out, it provides the sound and sends the relevant video over the one cable.

anyway regarding your question, mcbunny has advised best setup given your lack of hdtele. optical for the win in your case.

also regarding a HD tv i might have one on the market soon. 50" panasonic G10, i'm getting a new tele (see another thread of mine) and if it's better i'll be selling that one. It's an AVforum recommended and under 1 year old...so might be up your alley. worth a thought.

 

[Alic01]

I have got that amplifier but in silver lol

The HDMI ports are throughput only so you wont be able to use HDMI from the 360 if you dont have the socket on the TV Unfortunately they cannot pull the audio from HDMI connections or transfer the output onto a component connection. When i was in this situation i used the component cable from the xbox360 and used component to the tv, run an optical cable from the xbox.

If you need help setting up the amp just pm me, the Audessy setup mic is brilliant just place it on your favourite chair and run the setup. As for audio settings it will default to Dolby Digital or DTS depending on the output selected on the game / DVD. DTS generally sounds much better than Dolby IMO.

As for laptop, i live with mini jack to phono connections plugged into the cd input, is you select full channel stereo you get out sound out of all speakers.

 

[Rhino172]

Good stuff! cheers guys, more info (in non tech speak) the better!

thanks for the offer David but 50" is a little on the excessive side for this size of the room at the moment

Alic, are you saying the unit basically works it out and changes automatically depending on the source from the input? when reading the thread on av forums they were saying stuff about makeing the changes yourself or putting it in certain "modes" or something?!?!l

 

[Alic01]

Yeah basically follow this little guide and it should all be ok.

Connect component out from Onkyo to TV (three phono connections red green adn blue in colour)
Connect xbox to DVD component input
Connect optical cable from xbox to optical 1 input
Press DVD on remote or front buttons
Press Audio Input button until it displays Optical 1
Now press surround button until it displays multi channel surround

In this mode it will automatically output the digital feed from the xbox in whatever format is selected on the xbox, most games are in Dolby, on dvds go to the options menu and select DTS for better quality sound.

Like i say before doing all of that position your speakers and do the Audessy setup which gets all your levels correct for your favourite seating positions. That is explained very simply in the manual iirc.

 

[David]

hah! whatever size you buy you'll end up thinking it's small, mark my words! i started out with a 40 - looks tiny!

 

[Rhino172]

ha you might be right there tbh but in this case the space simply doesn't allow for a bigger tv.

Alic, do you know how the output would work with the laptop? I've got a cable, mini jack to the red/white (left/right) jack leads so when playing music through the laptop would it only come out the centre and the left & right speakers (and sub) or would it play through the rears as well all at the same level

 

[C.J]

I have Onkyo amp/speakers/sub, and imo they are brilliant.

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned above, but on my Onkyo amp, whatever cable is used for the input, must be used for output too.

That's a great price for an amp & speaker set up. Not sure how good the kit is though.

Edit - and as David said, go 50", I've had a 40", 42" and 2 x 50". Would never go smaller than a 50 now..

Alic, do you know how the output would work with the laptop? I've got a cable, mini jack to the red/white (left/right) jack leads so when playing music through the laptop would it only come out the centre and the left & right speakers (and sub) or would it play through the rears as well all at the same level

You'd plug the white/red into the CD input on the back, and the amp would play through all speakers at the same level.

 

[Rhino172]

cheers c.j

I've been looking around the net and it would apear there is a problem with this particualr kit if the serial number end's in A or B. If it ends in C then it's ok.

Apparently the rear speakers swap around as in left is now right and right is now left?!? seems a bit odd to me but one to look out for I guess. Aparently this only happens when running in a mode called "PCS". No idea what that is though?!?

 

[AK]

Bump, i'm looking for a 'cheap' set of surround sound speakers for my Xbox and HD telly, would one of the sets out of ASDA suffice?

 

[C.J]

Bump, i'm looking for a 'cheap' set of surround sound speakers for my Xbox and HD telly, would one of the sets out of ASDA suffice?

If you're not fussed about crystal, punchy quality then any cheap cinema kit will do.

If all you want is surround sound, and some bass, then don't spend more than £100.

But if you plan on getting 4 foot floor speakers up front, and a standalone sub etc one day, get an amp with some cheap speakers, and upgrade later.

IMO, always get the amp.

 

[BruceTea]

Anyone with the Onkyo kit have issues with their sub going into standby?

I've just invested in the SR607 receiver and 528 speaker set. All devices working fine but the sub goes into standby when the bass on the program/film drops for a while resulting in the relay clicking in the amp which is annoying. Read about turning the level up on the sub pre-out but can't find the option. Messed around with LFE frequencies and changing speaker settings but if I'm honest I'm just guessing! Any help or advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[AK]

If you're not fussed about crystal, punchy quality then any cheap cinema kit will do.

If all you want is surround sound, and some bass, then don't spend more than £100.

But if you plan on getting 4 foot floor speakers up front, and a standalone sub etc one day, get an amp with some cheap speakers, and upgrade later.

IMO, always get the amp.

Yeah just want surround sound for playing the 'box. Will the cheap kits be proper surround sound or just the same sound played from 5 speakers?

 

[Rhino172]

If it's got an optical input then it will be proper surround. I got my old asda one about 8 years ago and that had an optical in so should be ableto pick one up.

 

[Norris_309]

Anyone with the Onkyo kit have issues with their sub going into standby?

I've just invested in the SR607 receiver and 528 speaker set. All devices working fine but the sub goes into standby when the bass on the program/film drops for a while resulting in the relay clicking in the amp which is annoying. Read about turning the level up on the sub pre-out but can't find the option. Messed around with LFE frequencies and changing speaker settings but if I'm honest I'm just guessing! Any help or advice would be appreciated, thanks.

This is probably of no use, but i had the same issue with my surround sound, i had a technics amp & sony sub & speakers. When there was no bass during a film the sub would go into standby and not actually come back on as it's supposed to, i the found a tiny switch on the sub box which made it stay on permanently.
Just a thought

 

[Adam]

Can you not just turn this feature off within the amp, or on the actual sub itself.

 

[BruceTea]

Spoke with Onkyo support (Geneserve) who state that there is a known issue with the subs which require a resistor to be changed in them to stop this. As they are only 2 weeks old, Richer Sounds are swapping them out so we'll see if the new one has the modification. Was driving me bloody mental with all the sound options!

Cheers