Help with PCM on my HK AVR-325! Please! (1 Viewer)

[WillB]

Well, today I got my jbl n26 speakers and my HK AVR-325 receiver. It's a beauty and when I hook everything up it plays clear as a bell in stereo. Now when I hook my computers digital pcm bitstream (from SB audigy) or a dvd player (coaxial & optical) it only plays in stereo mode. It never tells me that I'm getting a DTS or DD signal. It also only lets me pick from DTS Neo, Prologic 2, and stereo source modes. Is my receiver broken since it doesn't recognize the different 5.1/6.1 formats or is it so smart it won't play them because I only have two speakers? Thanks! -Will

 

[James Edward]

That is probably right. If you only have 2 speakers specified in the setup, the receiver won't output to 5 channels, and yes, it does know. I originally had only a center and L/R speakers, and though my Onkyo had a
'5 channel stereo' mode, it would never engage, because it 'knew' from setup that I only had 3 speakers.

I doubt your receiver is broken. You could probably test it by going through the speaker setup menu and specifying that you have 5 speakers and a sub, then cycle through the DSP modes. You'll probably see what you're missing now. Be aware, though, that not all modes are available for all signal types. Somewhere in the manual will detail this.