bass and treble not working (1 Viewer)

[BradK]

Hey everyone, kind of new to home theatre in a way. I have had a/v receivers in the past, but never have paid much attention to tweaking and using them properly. Basically turned them on and watched a movie. I am finding out now (thanks to this forum) how much there is to learn, and how enjoyable it CAN all be when operating properly.

I have upgraded to Yamaha RX-V800, and Energy Encore satellites combined with a Sound Dynamics THS-1000 sub that my wife has had in a closet for a few years. We also have a Sony s570D dvd player and a plain jane 32 inch Sony Trinitron which has a great picture (we think), but lousy inputs. I hope this will be a decent system for a newbie for at least a couple years, and am interested to hear what others would think of it.

I gotta say though that all of the info. is very intimidating for someone relatively new to all this. So in the coming weeks I am going to have some pretty dumb questions I'm sure!

Anyway, first dumb question: I have everything hooked up and running the way I think it's supposed to be, but my bass and treble controls on the front panel of receiver dont seem to have any effect. I have tried them under different dsp modes and without any dsp at all, and still nothing. Can someone tell me what might be wrong? Thanks for all the helpful info.

 

[ColinM]

Welcome!!

Many new rec's have a tone control 'bypass'.

Bypass, Direct, something like that should be in the manual.

Good Luck!

 

[BradK]

Thanks Colin, I have a button marked "processor direct". Manual says "when pushed on, bass, bass extension and treble are bypassed, eliminating any alteration of original signal". Well, I have tried both positions of that button, and still have no control of bass/treble knobs.

 

[ColinM]

Bummer.

I have Harman/Kardon...maybe someone from the Yamaha camp will chime in.

Don't be discouraged...

What are you listening to when this is happening?

Maybe tone controls don't work with digital sources at all. Try the tuner...

Just a guess, prolly not right.

Good Luck

 

[BradK]

I just tried using the bass/treble controls while listening to tuner, and they seem to work fine there. I then went back to cd and couldnt tell they were working, nor on dvd. Hmmm, I can't find anything in manual about this, but my receiver must be setup just to use these controls for tuner?!? Unless my ears are just to deaf to tell diff. on cd or dvd!

 

[ColinM]

Maybe digital inputs aren't affected by the tone controls.

Are you using the digital in's for the CD/DVD players?

Maybe try using analog in's for the CD and see what's up.

Strange!!

 

[BradK]

Im using digital coax for dvd and plain old rca for dvd player.....go figure!

 

[Bill Kane]

Brad, I have the RXV800 and I've never been able to find an answer -- short of calling a Y tech and good luck -- the full options of the PROCESSOR DIRECT.

But first, my Bass/Treble works on Tuner, CD (in 2-chl Effects Off and 5-Chl Stereo). But the tonal effect-ranges are not large. In most cases, purists will say forget Bass/Treble controls and trust the mastered source of DVD and CDs. That also wud apply to not adding 3dB of so-called Bass Extension, booming/muddying up the sound.

Believe me, if one has nice, matching, sensitive speakers w/ accurate midrange, there's no real need to adjust bass/treble away from "0".

All of this ignores your listening tastes and the sound liveliness of your room, of course.

Re PROCESSOR DIRECT, I can't figure why one wud use a button to turn off Bass Ext, Bass/Treble when all you need to do is adjust those controls themselves to O position. I suppose you can adjust and leave the bass/treble to the way you like most of the time, then use the PROCESSOR DIRECT for a clean signal pass on some other source, say CDs. In the long run, it may be that Yamaha provides this as nothing more than a minor tone tweak.

Pardon me for going on, but the other issue I wonder about is the signal chain of Audio-to-Digital and Digital-to-Audio chips (DACs). Yamaha isnt clear on this.

I have a CD player whose DAC chip I prefer, so I send analog signals to the Yamaha. The goal wud be to bypass any additional A-D and D back to A conversions in the receiver. In the end, I leave tone controls at 0 and play CDs in Effects Off.

Hope I am not ranting on re your particular setup, but these are some things (I) think about.

 

[BradK]

Not ranting at all Bill, the more people that can give advice, and lots of it, on my receiver, the better for me. To say the least I am quite overwhelmed by it all, but do know I'll get it all together eventually.

I really didnt have any desire to actually adjust the bass/treble, just wanted to know if and when I did, I could !

So, what YOU do is, turn bass/treble all the way counter clockwise, and rely on sub and speaker mode settings, is this correct?

 

[Johnny Mac]

The tone controls only affect the front l/r speakers and presumably, only with the Effect Off. A quick experiment with the processor on should let you know if they have any effect when a DSP is engaged. The processor direct button bypasses the tone control.

 

[Bill Kane]

hmmm, Johnny, I think you're right, the tone controls only work on the Mains, but it also works on the Mains in Yamaha's 5-Chl Stereo.

Brad, tone control OFF position is 12 o'clock.

 

[BradK]

Uhhh, thanks Bill, I knew that....kinda. At least thats where I had mine set at.

 

[BradK]

I was just doin some more tweakin, and realized that it DOES work with cd input, just very minute differences. Will just set at 12 and leave it alone.

 

[Harry Lincoln]

On my DSP-A3090 the tone controls affect the front three speakers, not just the mains, according to the manual.

Harry.