Console Setup - Home Theater - ASTRO A40 MixAmp Instruction Manual

Connecting the A40 MixAmp™ to a Gaming
Console - Using a Home Theater Receiver as
your A/V Hub
Step 1 - Connect the Main Audio
The A40 MixAmp™ will give any connected audio source the benefits of
Dolby® Surround and high-quality amplification. There are many different
ways to connect the A40 - in this section we'll tell you how to connect it
using your home theater as the hub of your A/V system. In other words,
you only use your television as a "monitor" - if you don't, then skip back to
the previous section. We'll also list the connections you should use, in the
preferred order of quality.
1) Coaxial Digital - (cable not included) Connecting to the A40's rear COAX
input: this type of connector is very durable and long runs are reasonably
inexpensive. However, most gaming consoles use optical (Toslink) connec-
tion ports. If you wish to use a coaxial digital cable with your A40 MixAmp™,
you'll first need to connect your console to a home theater receiver that has
an optical cable. From there, you can use a coaxial cable from the RECORD
OUTPUT of the receiver. Be sure to enable the record function of your re-
ceiver (read your receiver's instruction manual to learn how to do this).
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CONSOLE setup - Home Theater

2) Toslink Optical Digital - (cable not included) Connecting to the A40's
rear OPTICAL input: the Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3, and Playstation 2
come with optical Toslink outputs for Dolby® Digital audio. The original
Xbox requires an add-on box like the Microsoft Xbox High Definition A/V
Pack. The Nintendo Wii and GameCube output only via analog signals, but
both support Dolby® Pro Logic II through the included analog cables.
The best method is to connect the A40 to your home receiver's RECORD
OUTPUT with an optical cable. This is the way to go if you have multiple
consoles connected to your system - your receiver will automatically send
audio from the selected source out to the A40 MixAmp™.
Important: make sure to select 'Dolby® Digital 5.1' in your audio preferences
inside your console setup/options section. If you have PCM 2.0 selected, for
example, you will NOT get the benefit of Dolby® Digital 5.1 surround sound.
3) RCA Analog - Connecting to the A40's rear LEFT/RIGHT inputs: use this
connection if you don't yet have a digital cable. The A40 MixAmp™ supports
Dolby® Pro Logic II, giving you full surround sound even with an analog
connection.Use the supplied 4m RCA-to-RCA Piggyback Cable to connect
directly to the RCA output on your home theater receiver. Alternatively, you
may also use the 'Piggyback' feature to intercept audio from between your
console and your receiver if you don't have an open output.
As described in the digital sections above, it is best to connect to your home
theater receiver's RECORD OUT - this way the A40 MixAmp™ will receive an
audio signal from whatever source you have selected.
Important: If you don't have a RECORD OUT on your home theater receiver,
simply connect the RCA-to-RCA Piggyback cable in-between your console
and where it is plugged in to the receiver. This is a "line-level" signal (full
volume) and you will only need to adjust the volume of the A40 MixAmp™ to
achieve full volume control.
4) 3.5mm Headphone Jack - If you are unable to connect your A40 Mix-
Amp™ using one of the methods described above, you may also use the
headphone output jack on your receiver by connecting the supplied 3.5mm-
to-RCA cable. The volume of your receiver's headphone jack is tied to the
volume of the receiver itself, so be sure to increase the volume to a suitable
level (usually about halfway to 3/4 of full volume) before adjusting the A40
MixAmp™. You may get an unacceptable amount of hum and background
noise if the receiver is at or near full volume, depending on the quality of
your receiver's audio, so try different settings to find the best quality.
console setup - Home theater P15