Bizarre! Lost main dialogue in 3801 in DD and DTS (1 Viewer)

[JackM]

I have a year old Denon 3801 that has developed the most unusual symptom...when listening in Dolby Digital, the main characters vocals AREN'T THERE! All the good digital effects play, background voices can be heard, and there is output from all channels. Everything seems fine except that I cannot hear the dialogue. The other DSP modes work. For example, I can listen to 5 channel stereo and get the dialogue. Also, listening to a DTS encoded disk, the same thing happens: great decoding of all channels, but no dialogue.
Has anyone seen this happen? Any suggestions? This was a purchase from Crazy Eddie a bit over a year ago, so I would guess I am s.o.l. for any warranty work.

 

[Paul Clarke]

Dialogue is mainly center channel in any multi-channel format. Are you getting center channel output at all? When using any Stereo mode, even multi-channel, you SHOULD ALWAYS hear dialogue and you do. This is the likely reason you think the problem is limited to DD and DTS. The illusion is there that you are getting full speaker output but you are LIKELY NOT: it seems there is a CC problem with your equipment or connections. The last thing I would be worried about is an internal decoding failure on the receivers part.

 

[JackM]

Thanks, Paul. That was my thought, but I am getting center channel output. There is some intermittant hum so I suspect something may be loose in the receiver. BTW I am running the front three on an Acurus A200x3. Great amp!

Anyone have any other thoughts? This is TOO WIERD!

 

[Michael Reuben]

It's a long shot, but have you checked all your wiring? It sounds like what's being sent to the center speaker isn't, in fact, the center channel.

M.

 

[JackM]

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner...PLEASE nominate me for moron of the year! I had swapped some cables around, and the pre-out for the center channel is directly above a surround pre-out.

BANISH ME FROM THE HUMAN RACE FOR STUPIDITY!!! But don't make me turn in my HT equipment!

 

[Michael Reuben]

Great news, Jack! And don't worry about the pilot error. Almost everyone here has fallen victim to something comparable; we just don't like to admit it.
M.

 

[Richard Travale]

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner...PLEASE nominate me for moron of the year! I had swapped some cables around, and the pre-out for the center channel is directly above a surround pre-out.

I did this as well a few months ago when I moved things around. Only the pre-out directly below the center on mine is the sub out. I thought the dialogue sounded very muffled and chesty and the bass just wasn't happening. We all do it, no worries.