Bose Acoustimass 10 Series IV - no surround sound (1 Viewer)

[pmantey]

So my parents move into a new house and purchase components for their home theater system and ask me to install everything. No big deal, right? Except they selected a finicky Bose surround system. Here's the equipment being used, all of which is new:

- Denon AVR-E400 receiver
- Bose Acoustimass 10 Series IV speakers
- DirecTv Genie
- Samsung 60" 3D LCD
- Sony BluRay player (actually, this is not new, but works fine)

All of the other components work. Picture looks great, DirecTV works, BluRay works. I even have good audio on the TV if I switch the Denon's output to TV instead of AVR.

But the Bose speakers are not cooperating. I can actually get good bass out of the module, but nothing from the center channel, front, or surround speakers. Here are the things I've tried:

- verified that the Acoutimass bass module has AC power.
- checked/double-checked the wiring connections from the receiver to the bass module.
- checked/double-checked the wiring connections from the bass module to the other speakers.
- verified that the Denon speaker settings are on for each of the speakers being used, including the sub.
- tested WITHOUT the sub speaker setting being 'on' (a suggestion I found online).
- tested audio output using different input sources (sat/tuner/bluray/pandora, etc). None of them result in sound from the speakers, but all of them will generate audio to the TV speakers once the HDMI audio setting is switched to TV from AVR.
- unplugged all the speakers from the module and tested them each independently. Nothing.

So I'm kinda stuck. I understand the Acoustimass system ignores the processed audio signal from the Denon. It just takes the raw audio and re-processes it itself. But it seems like it's just ignoring it altogether. Not sure how to fix that.

A couple of things worth mentioning...

The sub is laying on its side in a cabinet. The owners manual says this is okay. Even if it's not okay, I had it sitting upright on the floor outside that cabinet during troubleshooting. It made no difference.

Bose provides their own speaker wires for the system with RCA plugs on the sub module side, and soldered wire ends on the speaker side. Since my parents' place has the room pre-wired for surround sound, I used the existing wires in the walls and connected the Bose ends to them. It's a simple pos/neg braided wire connection. I used wire nuts to connect them and wrapped in electrical tape for protection. I also tested all four of them for connectivity -- they passed. The center channel uses the Bose-supplied cable, uncut.

I know that's a lot of information. But I figure if someone's going to be able to help me, they're going to need all of that. I would gladly wire a far superior set of speakers directly to the receiver, but alas, those aren't the speakers I'm dealing with here. I'm just about out of ideas. I appreciate any input someone may have.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[schan1269]

So, like the instructions say...You have the proprietary wire connected from the Denon to the bass module*.The 5 cubes run to to the bass module*.Denon set 5.0.*The bass module is not a subwoofer. Nothing acoustimass should be confused as such.

 

[pmantey]

Sam,

Thanks for the semantical clarification. But I don't have 5.0 or 5.1. If a person were to refer to the bass module as a subwoofer (which I did, apparently erroneously), then I have 0.1. But if the bass module is not a sub, then I have 1.0? (presumably -- again left to semantical clarification).

Bottom line is the speakers in the bass module work. None of the others are emitting any sound. Everything is hooked up as per the directions and your instruction. I suspect, as one person suggested to me, that I have a defective unit. May be time to return the Acoustimass system for something better (and even possibly less expensive).

 

[schan1269]

Good plan.

 

[Jason Charlton]

May be time to return the Acoustimass system for something better (and even possibly less expensive).

Actually, I think you'll be surprised at how many options you will find that outperform the Bose AND are less expensive.

 

[ArmSC]

You already have a nice AVR with that Denon 400 so all you need now is nice set of speakers to go with it. I'm not sure how much you payed for the Bose but retail has it around $1000. I know you could get something that sounds great for this price or even half as much. Now you just have to go speaker shopping...sounds like fun to me.

 

[Todd H]

Dump the Bose on eBay and get decent speakers.

 

[John Garcia]

Return them for sure.