[tjs11]

I have recently purchased a dvd home cinema, being my first one i didn't go for anything to extravagant.
I am a little confused when trying to install it. Please can you help.

1. What is the JVC test tone meant to sound like? All i hear is hissing when it swaps between speakers.

2. Should the rear speakers hiss quite a lot when i am listening to films, when no sounds are comming from them ?

Any help or advise would be apreciated.

[Tony Boman]

In answer to your first question, a hiss sound is not an unusual test signal. My Toshiba TV and my Yamaha amp both do that. You have to judge the hiss sound level and then adjust the sound to each speaker until the hiss sounds roughly the same from each. That will give you an equal amount of volume per speaker. Sometimes you may not want that as some people prefer more rear, front or centre volume, but normally you would try to get them the same. Make sure you are sat in your normal listening position when you set this up.

As for your second question, there should be very little background hiss from the rear speakers when no sounds are being heard. A quiet hum is not uncommon, but if this is at a level that is annoying, then there maybe a problem with your setup. Annoying background hums and hisses can be caused by electrical interference or poor cabling and connections. Start by getting the speakers properly balanced using the hiss test signal and make sure the rear speakers are not over balanced against the rest of the speakers. Then if you still get the annoying background sound, try moving the speakers or cabling slightly, to see if the problem gets better or worse.

A friend of mine found that his KEF subwoofer was humming a lot and that was fixed by moving it to a new location and changing the power socket that fed it!