5.1/surround/stereo switch

[vinke34]

Hi,
I've too many speakers in my living room too serve all of the above. I'm putting together dvd/mp3 player setup and want to include a self setting switch that will match the equipment to the speakers required on power up. ie. the stereo powers up and is allowed to switch to fr/fl/rr/rl speakers.
I'm not sure what switching circuit to use and what to use to activate the switch.

BTW some of what is discussed here is a little over my head but I'm willing to learn!

Kevin

[johninCR]

To use the 5.1 on DVD, you need a receiver that will decode that signal, which will include all the switching you need to change between the 5.1 or stereo format.

The alternative would be to just use the stereo signal and use extra speakers and wiring combinations to create a center channel and surrounds which will only approximate the sound of 5.1 . In that case you would put switches at the speakers to turn the extra speakers off for stereo only listening.

[vinke34]

Hi johnincr,

sorry I have reread this and haven't made myself very clear.
I have tree set ups:

a dvd player feeding out to a 5.1 dedicated amp (no further inputs) and out to a subwoofer and 5x speakers.

a tv with dolby digital surround 5x speakers

a hi-fi stereo 2x plus 2x rear speakers,

as you can see that's a lot of speakers. The idea is to create a switchcircuit so that all I have is 6x speakers with the circuit switching to whatever speakers are required.

I would envisiage a set of six relays, a set of five relays and a set of four relays all normally closed

ex: the hi fi powers up and acivates the 5.1 set and the surround set leaving the hi-fi speakers 2x front 2x back connected.

the questions to be answered still would then be:

what signal to use to activate the relays (pick up a voltage off each appliances board and feed it up seperately or can the speaker output be used?)

what sort of switch/relay to use (I would be unsure of ratings etc) I could make up the circuit as above using lots of 12v coil relays at 10amp 240v (I can recover loads of those) but that would be ungainly.

thanks

Kevin

[leadbelly]

Are you really sure you want to do that? My recommendation would be to first investigate/exhaust the possibility of having your 5.1 receiver do all switching.

Something along the lines of your stereo amp permanently driving the fronts using only those outputs of the 5.1 preamp, wiring your TV audio out into the 5.1 receiver to have the latter handle the decoding. Doing this, if your equipment supports it, will allow the built in surround mode switching of the 5.1 receiver to do all the work.

I know this doesn't answer your question, but it is always good to discuss

[vinke34]

take your points.. trouble is the dvd 5.1 outputs are straight (ie the dvd player gives the outputs via phono's to an amp straight in out ir volume control v. basic to feed the ) I would have to identify and break into the dvd players circuits probably at the dvd drive feed in order to feed in a surround signal. It's not really designed for this.
Of course the thing to do would be to get a av amp with all the inputs... but... the hi-fi is a b & O 5000 which has it's own sound (there are better but it is nice for the price) so I don't really want to feed that through another amp. Also they cost money and it would be the easy answer

thanks though

ps. I know I'm trying to cobble things together...... but there's a madness in all of us