[kphammond9]

I'm planning to upgrade the sound system for my TV, but before I buy a bunch of expensive hardware, I want to make sure I'm doing it right. I'm pretty happy with my RasPi setup, but it has been a lot of trial and error and I'm kind of an A/V noob.

Right now I have my RasPi plugged into my HDTV via HDMI. I'm looking at getting something like the Vizio 5.1 soundbar systems with wireless subwoofer/satellite speakers. (http://www.vizio.com/s4251wb4.html)

I'm pretty sure I can keep my current setup and just run the audio out from the TV to the soundbar via toslink or something, but will this give me a 5.1 signal from the RasPi? And how does that work with DTS passthrough? Since I only have been using the stereo speakers on my TV so far, I haven't played around with that at all.

The hitch is that I don't want to have to juggle separate remotes or change audio input channels when switching from my smart TV apps like Amazon and Netflix and my RasPi. I currently control everything with the TV remote via CEC/HDMI and I would like to keep it like that. If I run the RasPi directly into the soundbar, I would undoubtedly have to switch audio inputs when going from one source to the other.

Another wrinkle (and this is what has really been hurting my head as I research it), I'd like to link a separate pair of wireless speakers in a different room to the system, so I can play music from the RasPi in that room as well. I would probably need an A/V receiver to manage that. If I add that to the mix, how does it fit in the wiring scheme between the TV, RasPi, and soundbar while preserving the 5.1/DTS passthrough for the Pi?

Thanks!

[popcornmix]

Many TV's only pass stereo PCM through toslink.
Some additionally will pass AC3 through toslink.
Some additionally will pass DTS through toslink.

But you shouldn't rely on AC3/DTS passthrough being supported by TV. Post make and model of TV and we may be able to find users reporting if it works or not.
If it doesn't then an A/V HDMI/toslink splitter can be used (like this).

Personally I'd recommend a proper A/V receiver that has multiple HDMI inputs and one HDMI output to TV.
You then always run the TV on the same input, and switch devices through the A/V receiver.

For me, I need to use A/V remote to switch inputs (but 99% of the time I'm on kodi so that is quite rare), otherwise I just use TV remote.
It forwards button presses to Kodi and volume changes to A/V receiver.

[kphammond9]

Thanks for the reply. My two TVs are the following:
Sony Bravia KDL-40EX700
LG 55LN5700-UH

I also found this article:
http://www.cnet.com/news/20-tvs-tested-w...sound-bar/

First glance, looks like the Sony may do OK, but the LG won't. The Sony is at least 4 years old though, so no guarantees. But if anyone else has any additional info, I'd really appreciate it.

I do quite a bit of switching back and forth from the TV smart apps to Kodi, and the separate remote thing may be a deal-breaker for the wife. Maybe the splitter would be the way to go, as long as I can control the soundbar volume with the TV remote.

[popcornmix]

I also found this article:
http://www.cnet.com/news/20-tvs-tested-w...sound-bar/

Useful article. Interesting that no tested TVs supported 5.1 DTS passthrough (although some would produce 2.0 PCM from a 5.1 DTS input).

[kphammond9]

I think I may bail on the idea of getting 5.1 passthrough and just go with a 2.1 soundbar. It will still be a huge upgrade over my internal TV speakers and I won't have to worry about functionality issues.

[wrxtasy]

Thats all I use is a 2.1.
The big improvement for me with Openelec 5.0 and Kodi sound was this setting:

System > Settings > System > Audio Output > Boost centre channel when downmixing > I set mine to 3dB

Dialogue now is much clearer. In fact this is the most appreciated improvement for me in Kodi with a 2.1 Sound setup

[kphammond9]

@wrxtasy
Do you have your soundbar connected to your tv or do you use a receiver? My one lingering doubt is that the downmixed signal from the tv won't pass a true .1 signal to the subwoofer. But, since the soundbar has its own amp and signal processing, maybe this isn't a problem?

[wrxtasy]

No soundbar - Harmon Kardon Soundsticks II. A 2.1 desktop with its own subwoofer volume control. Signal processing must separate the bass frequencies on these.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1556151,00.asp

From my Sony TV audio out via the headphone socket, volume control is setup to for the TV to control output. I have also setup audio to output from the TV speakers at the same time.
Works well and sound is plenty loud and crisp for my Apartment. Thumping subwoofer vibrations for those all important action movies.

[kphammond9]

Awesome, thanks! :-)