



It’s possible that your receiver is configured in its setup menu for a 7.1-channel speaker system instead of a 5.1 setup, and that your surround speakers are connected to the receiver’s Surround Back outputs instead of its regular Surround outputs. When connecting a 5.1-channel speaker system to a 7.1-channel AV receiver, you need to pay close attention to menu options and speaker connections. If you’re screening The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and don’t hear the clang of swords swirling as the Orcs attack, there’s likely a problem with your setup. But plenty of recent action movies have an aggressive surround mix that makes ample use of ambient and directional effects. You can’t expect all Blu-ray soundtracks to have vivid surround sound-a Woody Allen movie, for example. What’s going on? - Chuck Schumm / via e-mail I have even boosted the output of the surround channels relative to the fronts, and it doesn’t make a difference. Very seldom do I hear sound coming out of my surround speakers when watching movies on Blu-ray, though I do occasionally hear sounds like thunder. Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at I have a Yamaha 7.1-channel AV receiver in my system that’s set up to power a 5.1 speaker system.
