How can I get decent sound out of this projector?

[jembo]

Hello all

I've recently bought an Optoma HD143X and I'm impressed with the picture which more than lives up to expectations.

However the sound from the built in speaker is no more than adequate at best...

I've tried hooking up my old BlueRay Cinema system (5 speaker + woofer) to it from the 3.5mm audio out on the projector but the sound only comes out of two of the speakers (Front R + L). Is there any way to get the full surround experience with this type of setup / connectivity? I've used a 3.5mm to twin RCA male cable. 3.5mm seems to be the only audio out from the projector. Perhaps from this to a different input on the BlueRay system? However, all I can see on the back of it is:

• Digital In Optical
• Video Out
• HDMI Out ARC
• LAN (100)
• Audio In (the ones I have used already)
• FM antenna

Can the HDMI ARC port be successfully used? If so what do I need for this?

thanks all

 

[John7]

What are you feeding the projector with and what connections?

 

[jembo]

What are you feeding the projector with and what connections?

At the moment I just have an Amazon Firestick through HDMI to access all my streaming sources (Netflix, Amazon, Disney etc)

 

[kbfern]

Does the bluray cinema system have an hdmi in port, (what make/model is it). What you would then do is plug the firestick into the cinema system and then an HDMI out for video into the projector.

 

[jembo]

It only has a single HDMI, so I then need to get the video signal to the projector with one of the others.

The video out is a single yellow male connection. Will this give 1080p signal from this to one of the HDMI ports on the projector?

 

[John7]

NO!

 

[AmericanAudio]

The yellow phono will only give the lowest video quality, called Composite video.

 

[kbfern]

If you don't have much to spend and the speakers of your bluray cinema speaker system are any good buy a cheap used AVR (audio video receiver) that has multiple hdmi in and out so you can connect your bluray player and firestick and then an out hdmi to your projector.

You could probably find a used avr for under £100 to do the job nicely.

 

[jembo]

Thank you for the suggestion. With this in mind, do I actually need the BlueRay in that case? I don't have any discs to play in it, but was just using it (I think???) as an amp and speakers? So with the AV receiver idea you've suggested, could I just use that and the speakers and ditch the BR player?

Also any suggestions for the AV receiver - I'm clueless there...

Cheers

 

[kbfern]

If you don't have any blurays you can ditch the bluray player for sure. Just plug the firestick into the hdmi in port of the avr then take another hdmi and plug into hdmi out on the avr and the other end of the hdmi lead into the projector.

You can now play all what you can get on the stick through the projector.

For sound connect the speakers to the speaker inputs, what speakers are they? what subwoofer do you have?

As to what to get assuming you want to spend up to £100 that will be a 4-5 year old model from names like Onkyo/Sony/Denon/Pioneer/ etc

Something like the one below but that is sold now would do, this was a few years older but a high end avr you will find something newer that is more lower end but more than good enough for your needs. Try putting a wanted add in the classifieds and see what you get offered, just make sure it has HDMI and that should be ok.

https://www.avforums.com/threads/denon-avr3808-£80.2398368/#post-30074676


If your subwoofer is not a powered one (with it's own amplifier) you would probably need to get an active sub and those can be had for around £75 and up.

 

[kbfern]

https://www.avforums.com/threads/denon-avr3808-£80.2398368/

For some reason the link to that Denon amp for sale is not working.

 

[jembo]

Thanks again - copied and pasted and I get what I need now.

The speakers are the ones that came with the BlueRay Cinema set up (Sony for what it's worth). Having plugged it all in as is with the sound from just the front speakers, they're more than good enough for me.
I don't think the subwoofer is powered (i.e. it only has the same speaker cables going into it as the other 5 speakers), so I guess I'd need one of these too. Will the existing sub not work at all with the AVR?

 

[kbfern]

It would not work via the dedicated subwoofer channel within the avr. The subwoofer channel on an avr handles the lower bass frequencies and bass management and really needs a powered sub to do that.

You could just connect the other five speakers and work without a sub but depending on your current speakers would depend just how low a frequency they will cope with.

I would suspect that the current speakers will probably go no lower than around 80-100hz where bass frequencies are in the 20-120hz range.

 

[John7]

I doubt the speakers would be any use with a standard AVR. They are part of an all-in-one system (guessing Sony) and will have a very limited frequency range and definitely require a dedicated powered sub for the low end if removed from the AIO.

I think the only option available to the OP other than buying a new AVR, speakers and sub, would be an HDMI switch with dual output, for the existing AVR and one video to the projector. It would need to be able to bypass the HDCP in order to pass through the signal though.

Scratch that, the AIO doesn't have HDMI in.......

 

[John7]

@jembo
Short of buying an AVR, speakers and subwoofer, I have found an alternative solution (I think!) This will only work for your Firestick though. You would need another solution for your existing all-in-one Blu Ray player.

Blu ray is is simple - just run an HDMI cable from the output of your AVR to one of the HDMI inputs on the projector (I recall it has two). Then you get audio through the AVR and video from the projector - sorted!!

For your firestick, you need to purchase an HDMI audio extractor with HDMI passthrough. The Firestick will be inserted into the extractor's IN port, the OUT port direct to the free HDMI port of the projector via another HDMI cable.. The OPTICAL OUTPUT of the Extractor will be connected to the optical input of the AVR, giving you 5.1 audio from the AVR and video via the projector - sorted!!

This should work for the firestick.......

Amazon product

Instead of running 2 x HDMI cables to the projector, an HDMI switch might work

The Firestick and AVR would be connected to both inputs, the output connected to the projector...

Amazon product

Can't guarantee any of this would work though, HDMI is very fussy, it's a case of "suck it and see" unfortunately!