What speakers are beneficial with this receiver? I want to have surround sound from my TV and also from my other components - CDs and old record player.

watch this ......copy the below item and paste it on google ....there it will show you the whole video...it will solv your problem

How do I connect the Home Theatre System so that I can hear surround sound from the TV instead of through the TV speakers?

need to know what all conections are first, then will go from there

The broadcaster of the TV station has to tell you they are transmitting surround sound - sometimes they are just transmitting stereo. Also, the media as in CD's and DVD movies must have surround sound embedded or recorded on it to allow surround sound.

Get the audio from the cable box.

There is no way to do this in a controlled manner without re-mastering the disc, an unrealistic option.

However, there is a very simple way to extract the out-of-phase portion of a stereo recording, which can yield a quasi-surround sound effect.

To get this effect, connect an additional rear speaker to the positive ( + ) connection of the right speaker output and the negative ( - ) connection of the left speaker output.

Please keep in mind that this only works with a stereophonic (not mono) source and is fairly subtle.

Make sure the speaker you use is at least 8 ohms.

This is an old trick that pre-dates surround sound and works with music CD's too.

This set-up will probably degrade the sound of a true Surround-Sound recording so consider wiring a simple switch to disconnect the additional rear speaker when not in use.

Hope this helps.

Snakeplissken

hook your front speaker wires up to the A side and on the front of it make sure only the A speakers are playing but leave the rear speakers plugged into the B side then hit the listen mode button and you should be rocking

Considering you only have 3 speakers, I would think you would be further ahead by purchasing an entirely new system.

This article explains the differences between Dolby 5.1 and Dolby 7.1 surround sound:
Home Theater Receiver Guide 5 1 vs 7 1 Which is Better

In terms of brands, I'd recommend finding a complete set up that's in the price range that you would like to spend.

the red green and blue are component video
to get the surround sound to work the red and white audio outputs from the tv go to the audio inputs on the reciever , and to get the digital surround sound the optical also has to be hooked up

read your manual well and double check all your connections,make sure the remote is working, check the battery contacts in it too. If you haven't got a manual, obtain one.

Plug the TV to an open channel on your receiver via this output:
*Rear, 1 x Digital audio output (coaxial) ( TOSLINK )
This will look like a single RCA output plug.
Set that input channel on your receiver to some sort of virtual surround mode because it doesn't look like your HDTV has a decoder in it (meaning it will come out stereo and the receiver will have to fake it).
Turn the volume all the way down on the TV and use the receiver to control TV volume just as you do with DVDs.

*Substitute this with the digital audio output on your set top box if you are sending video only to the TV from the set top box (component, DVI or s-video connections). So video goes to the TV, audio to the receiver.