Mac Mini into Onkyo 505 -- no sound to subwoofer

I have no idea how you have this set up. Your description is very vague and only makes mention of HDMI, though a VCR would never be using HDMI.

Generally, though, it's the receiver's responsibility to take a stereo signal and split it across additional outputs. Check the manual for how to turn on (for example) Dolby Surround Sound.

Ok, let me see if I've got this straight.

You have your cable tv (via component) and your mac mini (via hdmi) plugged into your receiver. Your receiver outputs to three speakers and a subwoofer (a total of four speakers including the subwoofer). So far, so good.

You run a single RCA style cable (red/white) from the Subwoofer Out on your receiver to the back of your subwoofer. This is where I'm a little confused about the configuration of your subwoofer. You shouldn't have to run more than a single cable from the receiver to the sub. But where to plug it into, I'm not certain. I've owned a couple of different subwoofers. If I recall correctly, one had an input specifically labeled for "line in from receiver" and also had red/white stereo input and output for audio passthrough from a stereo source. The other just had the stereo input/output plugs, and the indication was to plug the single-channel output from the receiver into either the left or right input on the subwoofer (it shouldn't matter which).

My guess is that if your subwoofer is working correctly when watching cable tv that the problem is with your receiver's configuration. I couldn't tell you how to find this out exactly, but it sounds as though your receiver has been set up to not use the subwoofer when using the HDMI input from your Mac mini. Consult your receiver's manual to see how this might be configured.

It might also be the case that your Mac is set to output 2.0 stereo instead of 5.1 surround (with a low frequency channel for the sub woofer), although I don't know how this might be configured or how to change it. So it could be that the receiver is not receiving any low frequency audio to send to the subwoofer.

enokama said:

warvanov has it right, and thanks for the response.

that did clear things up for me. since it works on one, it's probably not the subwoofer to receiver setup, I agree. it's strange to me that there are 'filtered' and 'unfiltered' inputs into the woofer, but whatever.

I'll focus on the other two.

Anyone else: have you heard of Mac output being 2.0 stereo vs 5.1 surround? And where I might change that?

I'll try with Onkyo about the HDMI not having 5.1 input.

thanks again!!

Click to expand...

2.0 vs 5.1 is sent by the app your playing the media file on, also the media file must have 5.1 sound encoded. For example, I can play an mkv file with 5.1 sound in Plex, but that same file only plays 2.0 when played by VLC. I maybe missing a setting in VLC, but you get what I'm saying.

That could very well be the problem. Even if it's just a 2.0 signal though the receiver should be able to pull the LFE (Low Frequency Effects) from a 2.0 signal to send to the subwoofer.

You won't get surround sound the way you have it hooked up. If that's important to you then pick up one of these for connection to the receiver.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882203092

I think 2 HDMI's will work "only" for moveis and music coming from mac mini's

if you have 2 hdmi's

setup will be like this:

mini --hdmi-- receiver (onkyo) -- hdmi -- TV (lcd/plasma)

im guessing here in this kind of setup you have a 2nd monitor connected as well to browse which files (video/audio) you gonna want to play.

Now the sound it all depends on the setting on your mac mini..will you use HDMI for both audio/video..(this how i do it in my windows laptop).

For the tv setup, to get a sound as well in your receiver, check at the back of your tv if you have an "HDMI out". If you have then you just need to plug that in the back of your receiver (onkyo) with a label of "HDMI in" then from your receiver configure it.

if you dont have a "HDMI out" , check if theres an "RCA/component out" and it's the same concept plug that in the back of the reciever labelled as Audio/video in (rca type or component type)..

Turn on the receiver, open whatever audio player your are using on the Mini eg Itunes, VLC etc and then Look for "Audio Midi" settings in spotlight on the Mac Mini. In there you will have several choices of output device, one of which is HDMI and it should be enabled. Make sure the HDMI is set it is 5.1 output and not 2.0 stereo. Also click in to the speaker settings and then specify the speakers you want to generate sound for ie two fronts, a center and a subwoofer.