Can my fronts (L & R) recieve audio for the rear speakers as well, eaving the center as is?

I have an ONKYO TX-SR304 receiver with a Left, Right and Center speaker. I would like to keep the Center channel as is using the dolby 5.1 but since I do not have rear speakers I miss out on some of the audio. Can I have the rear and front channels both on just the front speakers?

 

In the receiver's setup menus, disable the rear speakers, or say "No" to having rears (depending on the wording). The receiver will re-route everything through the speakers that are connected.

If I were you, I'd just pick up a pair of cheap speakers from Craig's List or a pawn shop, and use those. In fact, I do use cheap Pioneer speakers for my rear surrounds.

 

I'll look around the menu's a little better to see if I can turn the rears off. I'm going for a 3.1 setup as I have found out.

My setup is caddy cornered in the living room and i've got two couches running against two different walls in that room. so surround speakers would probably just sound odd.

thanks

 

It doesn't matter how the rear speakers are sitting, as long as they're calibrated right.
To me, 3.1 will sound much stranger than 5.1 any day. But that's just me.......

It'll be somewhere around the speaker distances, or the speaker levels area of the menus.

Since the TX-SR304 doesn't have the Audyssey auto calibration and room correction built in, you'd need an SPL (sound pressure level) meter to calibrate the speakers. They're about $45 at Radio Shack.

 

yea, i mean i would get the surround speakers even though i've got a strange setup...but i'd have to find a way to run wires with no attic access and stapling the wires on the baseboard or something is just too tacky for me.