What TV Audio Output for AV Surround?

Spleen

Well-known member
Jul 19, 2020
3
1
10,520
I'm a luddite when it comes to TV surround systems, I have a tendency to buy stuff, hook it up and hope it works out of the box. That all said, I am an audio nerd and have some decent hifi gear that I enjoy very much.

I recently moved and got fed up with a multitude of speakers, wires and trying to get them to work in my place so I decided to bite the bullet and get some new gear, specifically the Sony Quad system. I then realised that Focal/Naim just released the Hekla which aims to replace multiple speakers, wires etc so I bought one.

Unfortunately, it's not working as well as I'd hoped due to the unavoidable corner position so it's going back. I also didn't get any noticeable surround when playing DVDs or Netflix. The Hekla works by firing off walls and ceilings to get the surround effect but because of the poor positioning it's not working as well as it should. I did expect some compromise but also expected to at least some surround as Focal/Naim have a good reputation for quality gear.

Anyway, I thought this evening that one of the problems might be my TV and its sound output as it's nearly ten years old. It's a Sony Bravia 49XE9005 and the only output it has is PCM. This is where my knowledge stops, I have no idea if this is a good enough signal to feed the Hekla which is Dolby Atmos enabled with 15 odd speakers firing off in all directions.

Is PCM good enough or should I have a newer TV with better/different outputs?
 
Have a look in the TV Audio Menu and see what outputs it has and what formats it can output, (I suspect it will only be PCM stereo).
If it supports more than stereo, then there should be a bitstream option (As well as PCM), so just choose this and you should at least get surround sound (Assuming the channel/App supports it).

Bill
 
Thanks both. It’s already ARC to ARC and the only output I have is PCM. Is PCM the right output signal for AV Surround?
 
I'm a luddite when it comes to TV surround systems, I have a tendency to buy stuff, hook it up and hope it works out of the box. That all said, I am an audio nerd and have some decent hifi gear that I enjoy very much.

I recently moved and got fed up with a multitude of speakers, wires and trying to get them to work in my place so I decided to bite the bullet and get some new gear, specifically the Sony Quad system. I then realised that Focal/Naim just released the Hekla which aims to replace multiple speakers, wires etc so I bought one.

Unfortunately, it's not working as well as I'd hoped due to the unavoidable corner position so it's going back. I also didn't get any noticeable surround when playing DVDs or Netflix. The Hekla works by firing off walls and ceilings to get the surround effect but because of the poor positioning it's not working as well as it should. I did expect some compromise but also expected to at least some surround as Focal/Naim have a good reputation for quality gear.

Anyway, I thought this evening that one of the problems might be my TV and its sound output as it's nearly ten years old. It's a Sony Bravia 49XE9005 and the only output it has is PCM. This is where my knowledge stops, I have no idea if this is a good enough signal to feed the Hekla which is Dolby Atmos enabled with 15 odd speakers firing off in all directions.

Is PCM good enough or should I have a newer TV with better/different outputs?
Is this what you want to buy?


This might help too:

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundbars/comments/17cuu0e/can_dolby_atmos_work_with_hdmi_arc/
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts