Linking ONKYO TXSR605E to HTPC

MAJJ

Hi,

I am about to purchase a ONKYO TXSR605E and KEF KHT3005 5.1 speakers. I would appreciate some advice on the best way to link the AV amp to my HTPC, TV etc. This will be the main source at the moment. The TV is a SAMSUNG LCD LE23M86BD with 3 HDMI inputs and many other inputs. I also have a Humax HDCI-2000T from the DTT trials. Although the CAM works with the TV so the box may not be used in this setup at the moment.

The HTPC is a Medion 8818 and has graphics via Nvidia 7650 card and sound via onboard 7.1 sound. I am currently running XP MCE 2005 but can dual boot into Vista Home Premium. Will continue with XP MCE for the forseeable future.

Graphics card has a number of outputs including HDMI.
Sound and Graphics features include :
VGA, DVI-I, S-Video-In/Out, Composite-Video-In/Out, HDMI, Scart, Microphone, Line-Out, S/P-DIF.

I will in time upgrade to a better soundcard probably Audigy.

I have cable installed for the rears.

So to wrap up after all that background info, my questions are:

Can anyone advise a high quality (so subjective I know) way to hook up the HTPC, AMP and TV?
Can anyone advise a quality cable to use for the fronts and centre?
Can anyone advise the connectors required?

Basically I want to order the entire lot including cables.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,
majj

PS - Mods - this post kind of falls into the HTPC arena but the questions are more related to the amp and connectivity.

subway

pc to amp :
if the medion has spdif output then you should connect it via optical cable to your amp.
it is my understanding that a digital optical cable of less than a few feet can pretty
much be guranteed to perform perfectly well regardless of manufacturer.
as the amp will be doing the prcessing the quality of soundacrd should have no impact on the sound

pc to tv:
use hdmi, above notes regarding short runs of digital cable should still apply

cant comment on the type of speaker cable you should use as im not of the opinion that this will make much difference in any setup

MAJJ

Hi Subway,

As always, thanks for your suggestions.

Sound to AMP - PC does have S/P-DIF output so I will send PC sound to Amp via optical.
Picture and Sound - forgot to mention the amp has is AV amp and has HDMI so I guess I could route from the PC to the amp or route direct to the TV. Either way I'll get the cable.

I get your point about digital cabling and short lengths, thanks.

I was hoping I'd get a suggestion like yours as it what I was going to go for , all digital and less cables too.

There are a myriad of options to connect the PC and Amp I just needed someone to confirm my thoughts but didn't want to lead the post.

So my open question is on the cabling for the front speakers.

Thanks,
majj

subway

2 things to note -
spdif can be optical or coaxial - make sure you get the one your system supports, i wasted a few quid on an optical cable for my pc and it turned out it was coa-ax based :rolleyes:

also, check what is reoslution supported over HDMI on your pc, i think there may be issues with some graphics cards but have never had a HDMi system.

other than that it looks good, and good luck with it

MAJJ

Hi Subway,

I would have made the same mistake too. Of course of the two cable types I would have got the wrong one. So you have saved me some hassle.

Thanks again,
majj