Best Setting for Home Theater?

Well first there is no perfect setting for every system it will depend on setup, room, sitting distances etc. First thing to do is of course setup your speakers properly. Go into the speaker menu on the receiver set the right size speakers for what you have, set volumes so all output the same volume to the main listening location.

As far as which surround mode, that will depend on source. 5 channel is not a surround mode, it only puts all speakers on and sends the same two channel stereo sound to all channels. This is to play stereo music to all channels (which I personally think is wrong to do) since music is stereo 2 channels only. So personally would never recommend 5 channel mode for anything.

For TV you have to first make sure that they are broadcasting in Surround sound, they either say it before the program or in the menu of the cable or satelite channels. Then select a surround mode that sounds good to you. Remember surround sound does not play all speakers at the same time, it only randomly sends rear channel information to give you an effect when something is panning from front to rear. This goes for all surround sound effects.

Dolby digital is one of the more popular surround effects assuming you have that mode on your Yamaha receiver.

You will also need to make sure your blu ray player is correctly set to output in surround sound, so go into the menu and select 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound in order to hear it in surround sound and then select it on your receiver.

Kevin

40 years high end audio video specialist

Your decoder should be set to "Auto" so as your input devices change from Stereo to ProLogic to DD5.1 to un-compressed 5 channel - the receiver will adjust to handle it.

"..just not sure which one is best for every day TV watching"

Most TV shows are in mono or stereo. HDTV shows use DD5.1 - but most of the shows do not really make use of the available speakers. But if you do not have a "Auto Detect" option, use DD5.1 for most TV watching.

Those other settings (music, movie, hall, jazz, etc.) are called "DSP" modes because the Yamaha receivers use Digital Signal Processing chips to 'play' with the sound to create those effects.

Audiophiles hate this manipulation but most people like when stereo gets up-converted to fill 5 speakers of sound.

Play with the settings and pick one that sounds good to you for your room & speakers. What works best in my room and gear may not sound the best in your home. Basically - set and forget.

Directv