I bought an onkyo hts-5300 it has grave reviews for sound. Yet it is not producing what i feel it should,what is the ideal db setting for the speakers for crisp sound and deep theatre style bass

Try differnt speakers, if they do not produce sound, amp channels may be blown and then you need to take it to a shop.

Hello
You have to use a step down transformer with this set and not a converter. The AC household voltage in Inda is 220VAC. Your set is designed to work on 120VAC. Therefore a 220VAC==>120VAC step-down transformer is needed to feed it. The onkyo has transformer inside, and it should get 120VAC; atleast 5AMPS current capacity. AN inverter cannot synchronised with this set. You can either buy it from Inidan electronics spare part market, of can be winded by expereiced transformer winders. Never give any inverter to this set, as some Onkyo models will have Torroid transformer inside, and it will take a tremendous amount of current at start-up, and make either your Onkyo of your converter to get damaged. OK.

PCM is what it's receiving from the DVD player. The player has output bitstream settings, too, maybe even speaker configurations and distances. Read its manual.

You can choose any speakers to go with your amp as long as
1) they will allow the amp to perform at its best ( impedance and power handling)
Ideally you will buy speakers which will handle the full amps output plus more, then when you turn it up LOUD, you will not break the speakers

2) you still like the sound when they are demonstrated, installed at your home.

Sound is a very individual thing, if you like it then its fine, after all you are the one listening to it most.

Hope this helps
Thanks for using FixYa

if the speaker settings are deactivated, there is no other way but to reset the receiver back to factory settings. press and hold down vcr/dvr and then press standby. you will the word reset and that should activate your speaker set up again. hope this helps. ^_^

Hello, if you have the speaker set up microphone I suggest that you use it to calibrate the speakers and it will set the distance and delay. Thank you, Onkyo USA

I had the same problem and fixed it by manually setting the surround speakers changing the Level Cal to +12dB. You will immediately notice a significant increase in volume and may need to back down on the dB's. What a diffence it makes!

Sir,
This is due the the DVD issue, so please check the dvd audio support as well 5.1 channel enabled on your player to get the surround sound.
Please keep in mind that if the DVD supports 5.1 channel then only you can here the surround effect.

run blue ray diret to tv ok or set it in 720 p mode with bit stream for sound but go diredct to tv and back from tv in coxial in of sterio ok for sound

Ooops, that did not work.  OK try  http://www.retrevo.com/s/Onkyo-TX-SR503-Receivers-review-manual/id/365ag216/t/1-2/  for download of manual in .pdf form, and English too!   Hope this helps.  Cheers,   Chris  :)