H/K AVR-525 issues: can anyone help? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Meininger]

This forum has been helpful in solving some other H/K 525 issues I've had (see 3 links below) so I figured I'd ask some more questions.

#1: I have the well-known problem where the audio drops for 2 to 3 seconds when changing digital modes. I enjoy the sound on THX trailers and little production studio intros, and I'd like to not miss the first 3 seconds of them. More annoying is the fact that if I want to flip channels on the cable box, I don't get any audio while doing it. I have to wait 3 seconds on each channel before I flip to the next. My Onkyo didn't do this. Question: Have any 525 owners actually fixed this? Either by some obscure tweak or by having H/K replace your unit, etc?

#2: If I pause a DVD, the audio will often stutter / skip (1/2 second of audio, 1/2 none, 1/2 second of audio, 1/2 none, etc) when I unpause. It will not stop until I turn the receiver off and back on again. I've read another 525 owner's post that said he had this problem, and I know it's not DVD-player related because he has a different player (and because power cycling the RECEIVER fixes it). Question: Have any 525 owners actually fixed this? Either by some obscure tweak or by having H/K replace your unit, etc?


THANKS!!!!!!!!


A little history...
I've already been through a few issues with my H/K. (Upgrading from my easy, user-friendly, do-it-correctly-right-out-of-the-box Onkyo SR500 has been "interesting". The sound and authority of the H/K sure is nice, but GEEZ... I took this features and functionality stuff for granted.)

My digital/analog detection thread. (Solved, thanks to this very helpful forum!)

My loud fan problem thread. (Solved, thanks to some plywood and PC cooling parts.)

My delay settings thread. (In-progress, but I'll be suprised if there really is an acceptable answer to this one. You need 3 values to do the math properly here, not 2.)

 

[Chris Elm]

Well, I''m not sure if this is what you are looking for, but if the internal DACs in your DVD player are good enough, try using an analog connection from the DVD player to the reciever.

Straight off of HK's website:
Question: Whenever listening to a CD, the first 1/2 second of the track is cut off. What can be done to solve this?
Answer: This is an inherent characteristic of digital audio processors. The chip mutes until it sees a signal, and then takes a second to engage. Typically this should not be a problem when watching a DVD, as the video signal will usually cause the chip to recognize the signal before the audio even starts. This is usually only an issue when listening to stereo audio via digital inputs. However, the D/A converters built into a CD player are often superior to the stock stereo D/A converters built into a receiver. We recommend using the digital inputs on this receiver for Dolby® Digital or DTS® use only, not stereo use.

Maybe this helps.
Good luck

 

[Marcel_V]

Jeff, regarding your second question, I have a 325 and just started having this stutter problem after switching to a toslink optical cable instead of using a coaxial cable. Do you use an optical cable on your system?

I have never had this problem before in the 4 months I owned the reciever, but today I got a new DVD player that makes me use optical, and low and behold it stuttered. However, I didnt think to turn off the reciever, I assumed it was the DVD player so I turned that off and on, and it remedied the problem.

I am hypothesizing that something with the optical transmission gets out of whack when pausing. It sure annoyed me


-About question 1, I just wait for a couple seconds then hit the back chapter button on my dvd player that I have learned to the HK remote. Another annoyance considering with some movies the THX or DTS trailer is the best part

 

[Marcel_V]

double post

 

[Lewis Besze]

Whenever listening to a CD, the first 1/2 second of the track is cut off. What can be done to solve this?Answer: This is an inherent characteristic of digital audio processors.

BS! It's not present on all processors/receivers,only on some.Obviously some manufacturers found the way to correct this.
Can the HK programmed to recognise only 1 type of digital signal,like PCM? Kinda like defeating the "auto sensing".
If yes then go ahead and set it as such,and it won't "stutter" anymore.

 

[BrianCli]

Jeff

I have been considering purchasing the h/k 525 for a while now. Would you still recommend it, despite these problems?

1) Are you ever able to hear the DTS/THX intros?

2) How does 7.1 sound when listening to DTS/DD5.1?


Any advice (from anyone) would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Brian

 

[Jason GT]

I'm not going to recommend/not recommend, but in my experience, the dropout isn't 2-3 seconds - more like one half to one seconds. Still annoying though.

As for trailers, I've never had a problem with hearing the full intro (or else all I have are intros that start off quietly ).

IMO the greater problem with the audio dropout is if you're using a digital connection to an audio source. I'm using my DVD player as a CD transport, connected via optical cable. On certain CDs (not all of them) there is a dropout between tracks. I seem to recall reading on another forum that the dropout was in part caused by (mis)adherence to a CD audio standard.

 

[Jeff Meininger]

My dropout is usually a full 2 seconds. I'd be okay with a one half second dropout. I can always hear most of the THX/DTS/whatever trailer, just not the first couple seconds. For many trailers, such as the old-fashioned no-nonsense THX trailer with just a blue box and the letters "THX", there is silence and then when it finally kicks in, the crescendo has already risen and the fun of it is lost.

BrianCli: I'm only using a 5.1 speaker setup for now.

I think the 525 has an outstanding amp section... it handles my 4-ohm speakers without a flinch. But the little quirks like the audio dropout, the noisy fan, and the dumbed-down-to-the-point-of-worthless speaker delay settings really irritate me.