First Surround Sound Purchase (1 Viewer)

[TheGary]

Is there a way to bypass those Dolby options? I thought it was best to just let the receiver do all the work. Those are speaker level inputs on the back, for like a low pass filter I think, you dont use them, use a RCA cable to the sub out. Just make sure your connections are solid, those warnings are just so when that one guy blows his speakers turning it up to +12db is sol. Good luck! Also, what onscreen display.. The receiver out?

 

[gene c]

Use the rca cable between the receivers subwoofer output and the subwoofers input. Set the Phase Control to "0". Set the Crossover setting all the way to the right. Don't worry about the Dolby Digital things on the subwoofer. They're bypassed with the rca connection. Make sure you have connected the speakers properly (we all make silly mistakes), Connect the yellow composite cable for the on-screen display, rconnect the MCACC mic, run the MCACC setup program, afterwords go into the speakers setup menu and re-set the speakers to Small and the crossover to 120 hz. You may have to go into the Input setup menu and select which HDMI input you used for each input so the receiver knows where to look for the signal when each input is selected.

 

[Trogdor796]

So it literally doesn't matter which the sub is set to, Dolby Pro or Digital? There is no setting for neutral, so it has to be on one of those settings. And do I need to run my video through the receiver when having it hooked up to my PC? My PC outputs to a monitor via DVI, so do I have to use a DVI to HDMI to receiver, then an HDMI to DVI from receiver to my monitor? Or can I just bypass the receiver for the video in this case, and only send audio to the receiver via optical cable? Sorry, so many questions....

 

[gene c]

The Dolby ProLogic and Dolby Digital are only used when hooking the subwoofer up with regular speaker wire. When using the rca cable between the receiver and the subwoofer they aren't use. The Dolby processing is done through the receiver, not the subwoofer. You can run the video straight to the display if you want to. Some of us do it that way anyway. You'll just have to change inputs on the display.

 

[Trogdor796]

Sigh... I have everything hooked up. All speaker wires run. Optical going from soundcard to receiver, RCA cable from receiver to sub. I put all the settings to what you said on the back of sub. Next I hooked up the setup mic. Had my tv connected to receiver via Composite(RCA Yellow) cable(had one tv there, tv didn't have input button on it, so I looked for remote, nowhere to be found, so I had to go get a different tv and carry it into that room). I turn everything on. So far, so good. I change input on the tv, and run the setup program. It finished and everything is going good. Unfortunately, this is where is stops being good... When I went back into manual speaker settings, the speakers were already set at small, the crossover was at 80hz I think I went to change it to 120, and I can't. You can only change it to certain numbers, and 120hz isn't one of them.100hz is the closest one, so I left it on that. Then, I turned off the tv, and turned my PC on. For the life of me I cannot get it to work when connected through my actual sound card. I set that as the default connection in windows, the optical is in the optical out port on my soundcard, and I have the right input selected on the receiver. No sound. Nothing. So I see that I have an optical port on my motherboard, the built in sound I guess. After plugging it into this, I am able to select the input on the receiver, set this as the default connection in windows, and I do get sound. However, it only comes out of the front R and L speakers, and is extremely quiet. I turned the receiver up to like 35, and the windows noises were still slightly hard to hear. I tried setting it up as a 5.1 system in windows, but it just wants to recognize it as stereo. I updated my sound drivers, downloaded an audio program, and it only sees the stereo connection. I did get sound to come out of all the speakers though. There was a thing in windows where you can set the format, like Dolby or DTS, and that played on all 5, but still very quiet. I also found this Dolby download sound test file, which played sound correctly, but once again, very quiet. The sub is also extremely quiet during everything. I can't even hear it, had to feel the woofer to make sure something was coming out. Tried out Battlefield 3, no surround. I deselcted stereo, no effect. Also really quiet. I thought that I simply must be hooking something up wrong or it's something with windows. So I got my PS3 out and hooked it up to my monitor via HDMI to DVI. I ran the optical cable from the PS3 optical out to the reciever optical input, same input I used for computer. Set up the sound with DTS and Dolby checked, as well as the other standard formats. I barely ever got sound. You are supposed to hear a menu click for every icon you go by, I would say I only heard it 1/10 times. So I figured I would put in a DVD and see if it would output surround. Nope. Even after selecting 5.1 in the DVD menu, nothing. So I'm at a loss. Part of me told myself to wait and not even hook this up until the other room was done. I wish I had waited at this point. So many hours wasted if I can't get this working. And to be clear, all speakers played and were loud during the initial setup(well, sub seemed quiet,but I'm not sure how much I had it turned up and I don't really remember how loud it was). Is it possible my optical cable is bad? Could I have hooked something up wrong? I don't know, I just really wanna get this working. Sorry if I sound pissed and angry, I'm just dissapointed after all the research and hooking this up it's having some issues. But thank all of you for answering all the questions I have so far, you've helped me get to this point. If anyone has any suggestions, I will gladly take them into consideration. Thanks for reading.

 

[gene c]

Sometimes the auto setup routine leaves the sub set too low. You can increase the sound output of just the sub either in the receivers speaker setup menu or by using the remote. Typically, you need to have the volume turned up to 30 to get any real sound output and about 20 when things start to get loud. The automatic setup program raised it to 0 when testing/setting the speakers. I don't know anything about hooking up a receiver to a computer. Maybe someone else can pitch in for that.

 

[Trogdor796]

Are the 20 and 0 in your post typo's? Because it seems like the 20 should be higher than 30, and the 0 should be, well, a higher number since they got quiet loud during setup.

 

[Trogdor796]

Also, is the red light by the mcacc setup supposed to be on? Like does that indicate it is still trying to perform setup options? http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Pioneer+Receivers/VSX-821-K Like if you look at the main picture of the front of the receiver, the light in the top left. It's always on whenever I I have to receiver on.

 

[gene c]

Are the 20 and 0 in your post typo's? Because it seems like the 20 should be higher than 30, and the 0 should be, well, a higher number since they got quiet loud during setup.

Not typo's. The number decreases as the volume increases. 40 is barely audible, 30 is quite but listenable, 20 starts to get kind of loud, 10 is pretty darn loud and 0 is supposed to be "reference level". That is the volume setting MCACC uses during setup. The red MCACC light just indicates that MCACC is in use. Turn off MCACC in the setup menu and the light should go out. Whem MCACC is in the setup process the MCACC menu will be on the screen. Any luck with getting things sounding right?

 

[Trogdor796]

I'm confused. Where are you getting these numbers? When I press the volume button on the remote to increase the volume, the number goes up as it would on like a standard TV. So is there a different volume adjustment somewhere? Also, the red light has always been on. I guess that would indicate the setup was never closed. I'm guessing this could interfere with using the speakers? I think I'm going to run the setup again, then make sure the setup is closed before proceeding.

 

[gene c]

With most new receivers the volume numbers work the way I listed them. Your's must work the old fashioned way. I looked in the manual for a setting that would change it from one way to the other but I didn't see one. In any event, don't worry about the numbers. Worry about the sound output. The red light just means that you are getting the benefit of MCACC. It's supposed to be on when MCACC is equilizing the speakers. It doesn't mean the setup process wasn't closed, just that MCACC is processing the sound like it's supposed to. If the MCACC setup process was still open then the MCACC setup menu would be on your screen. You close the setup process by selecting Finished or Done (or something like that) after MCACC has done it's thing. Sorry for making things more confusing for you lately .

 

[Trogdor796]

Don't worry, your not confusing me at all. It's probably me that is making it more confusing than it has to be.  Yeah, the volume thing is kind of weird. Whenever I would initially turn the receiver on it would give me the message "min volume". When I pressed the up arrow on the remote, the number would increase from 0 to whatever number I let it go up to. And it would get louder when the number got bigger. So I guess it must just be the older way, or there's a setting to reverse it. However, like you said, that shouldn't matter, only the sound output.  The volume just seemed unusually quiet. I mean, I've never owned surround sound before, but when I turn a tv up to 30, it's very loud, and these speakers at 30 are quiet. They were a good volume during the setup though.  As for the light, so is it normal for it to remain on forever? Like every time I would turn the receiver on, it is on. It never goes off. I just want to confirm that it's normal for the light to constantly be on.  With the setup, to be honest I can't remember if closed out of it correctly. So I just wanted to make sure that is not interfering with anything. And you mentioned that I would still see the on screen display. Well, here is exactly how I have things hooked up. Since the receiver is hooked up to my pc, I am not running any video through the receiver. I am simply running one optical cable from my pc to the receiver. The ONE time I had video hooked up to the receiver was when I ran the initial setup. I took a tv, and ran a yellow optical cable from the receiver "monitor out" port into the composite video in on the tv. The onscreen setup displayed, I let it run, and I think I may have simply unhooked the tv. So I think that the setup could have still been running. I just wouldn't know it.   So what I think that I am going to do is run the setup again, and make sure I properly close or chose to finish it, then go from there. If you have any other suggestions, please share them. Everybody has been a great help so far.

 

[Trogdor796]

So I finally figured it out. I hadn't pressed the button on my receiver to change modes, and I guess it was defaulted in stereo mode, because as soon as I selected one like Dolby PLII, I got sound from all speakers. Watched the first few minutes of Transformers, man, it was so cool! Tried out Battlefield 3, simply amazing! I'm just so glad it works now! Thanks to everyone for their help!!! Can't wait till I get it hooked up to my TV and I will have a complete home theater finally! So is it okay to be turning the volume up to like 50(halfway to full)? Is that like normal? I'm just a little concerned for two reasons. One, I don't want to blow the speakers. Two, on a TV with built in speakers I never put it past 40 really, because that is when it starts getting loud. Maybe it is just different with speakers and receivers, and I just need to get used to it.

 

[gene c]

Glad you got things straightened out! As long as you have all the speakers set to Small and the crossover set to You can't compare the volume control on a tv with that of a receiver. The way the amplifier sections are designed in receivers these days it's like an earthquale scale. When you first turn the dial it's like nothing is happening. Then as you coninue to turn it up it really starts to get loud. In other words, the difference between 0 and 40 is like the difference between 40 and 60. Or 60 and 70. Or 70 and 75. Etc. etc. My Pioneer receivers sometimes default to Stereo when they should be playing DD or DTS. Can be frustrating. Not sure why they do that . I remember you saying you set the crossover to 100 hz. If you plan on really cranking it up you might want to change it to 150. Pioneer receivers offer a few other audio settings which I found to be worth-while like the Dialog Enchancement found in the Audio Parameters menu (on the remote control). Makes dialog a little easier to hear.

 

[Trogdor796]

So after sme research I have learned more about different Dolby modes. So apparently Dolby Pro Logic II takes a stereo signal and converts it to a 5.1 signal, slits not true surround sound. Dolby Digital is a true surround sound signal and what I want, correct? Also, I was reading about Dolby Tru HD, but this is only found in blu rays right? So with the DVD of Transformers, I was able to get it running in Dolby Digital. However, when playing games, mainly Battlefield 3, I was only able to use Pro Logic II.  After researching, some people said that Dlby Digital can't go across an optical cable, well, it only can in movies. Is this correct? Either that or I need a sound card with Dolby Digita Live, have you heard of that?

 

[gene c]

Dolby Digital, and DTS, are what you want. Dolby ProLogic II and DTS Neo:6 convert a stereo signal to 5.1/7.1 as best they can but it's not as good as DD/DTS. Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio are only found on BluRay disc and are only available through HDMI and Multi-Channal analog connections (were are beginning to disappear from receivers) but not through an optical or coaxial digital connection for copywright reasons. There are also two other formats, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS HD, but these aren't mentioned very often. They are much like regular Dolby digital/DTS but have a higher bit rate (for slightly better sound) and are only available through HDMI. I really don't know anything about computers or sound cards. But as you mentioned, DolbyDigital is available through optical so there must be someother reason your game defaulted to ProLogic.

 

[Trogdor796]

Okay, sounds good. Ill look into it further with the sound card. Thanks for all of your help. Is there a way to select you as best answer? I feel like I should be paying you lol. Who knows how much it would have cost for geek squad to help with all this stuff, but they probably couldn't even do It right, because geek squad should be known as fail squad. Anyways, thanks again for everything!