Marantz SR8200 quirks... help! (1 Viewer)

[Racio Martinez]

Hi all,
I just purchased the above-mentioned receiver and have been tinkering with it for a while. However, I can’t seem to configure my front speakers to run “full range” without cutting-off the audio signal to my sub. The only way to revert back the audio signal to my sub are if I set my front speakers to “small”, or choose “THX” at the top of the menu, which of course would subsequently set the rest of my speakers to “small”. I’ve checked the manual and all, but I can’t find a way around this. :frowning:
If this “peculiarity” with the Marantz SR8200 has previously been tackled and resolved in this forum, then please direct me to the proper thread. I recently upgraded from an SR6200, so I’m quite aware that this is pretty unusual since I had no problem with such setup with the latter receiver. :frowning:
TIA,
Racio

 

[Chris PC]

Source Direct on my SR 6200 cuts out the subwoofer, but I am able to run the subwoofer and the fronts LARGE if I like. I don't do this though, because it sounds crappy that way.

 

[Paul Clarke]

When you say 'it's cutting off the audio signal to my sub' do you mean in the setup menu or do you mean when you actually play something? And if it's related to source play, what are you using and what are it's speaker settings, if any?

 

[Racio Martinez]

Paul,

Yes, it's during actual playback of a disk, whether DVD or CD. On the setup menu if I would configure that fronts to "Large" and sub to "Yes", there are no audible signal coming from the sub. However, when I perform a test tone on page 2-3 of the setup menu, the sub does respond. Odd isn't it?

And as I mentioned before, when the front are set to "Small", immediately, the sub receives the appopriate signal which is quite apparent during playback.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
-Racio

 

[charles_w]

Racio,

Sounds like it's working the way it was designed. When the mains are set to small the 8200 sends everything below 80hz to the sub. When they are set to large it sends the full range to the speaker. It sounds like you want double bass, I don't think thats possible with the Marantz line.

Lee

 

[Mike Sloan]

Reply to: Marantz 8200 turning sub output off when "large" is selected for L&R mains.

I hope the Marantz 8200 doesn't force you into running "speaker-level" outputs to your sub. This would be a way around the problem. I would imagine if you set the fronts to large and selected the subwoofer off (in the setup menu) the receiver should add the LFE signal in with the full range signal to the mains and "speaker level" to the sub. If not...then this is a fatal flaw in the 8200. I will call customer service on Monday and find out. If anybody can shed light on this "quirk"...please do so!

 

[John Garcia]

I don't think thats possible with the Marantz line.

It IS possible. None of the other x200 line does this, so it seems a bit odd that the 8200 and probably 9200 would do this. However, the 8200 and 9200 are slightly different from the rest of the line, and there may be a reason it is this way.

What speakers is this with? What is the lowest frequency response for them? You may not need to have them set at large at all.

 

[Racio Martinez]

Hi all,

I'm currently using Sonus Faber Concertino's (Home) for my fronts, which can manage to handle frequencies down to around 50Hz, and I usually set my M&K V75's x-over to 55Hz. The benefit, for me, is that the sub becomes somewhat acoutically "invisible", if you will. With my ol' 6200, I could have my fronts running full-range and utilize my sub as well, with no hassle at all.

I'd really prefer having my fronts at full-range, since I'm using the same speaker/sub configuration for my separate stereo-only system. (SF Concertino's but with a Velodyne VLF 1012.) I feel that my audio system's sound is more cohesive this way.

I could also hook-up the sub at "speaker level" and then set my sub to "None" which would direct all LFE signals to my fronts, but of course, I wouldn't be able to make use of the 8200's bass management facility.

Thank you all for replying. I'm much obliged.
-Racio

P.S. Mike, I'd love to hear what the Marantz's customer service would recommend regarding this. I'll really appreciate it if you could share their response in this thread. Thanks again.

 

[Mike Thompson]

Racio, music and movie tracts have very different contents. While your fronts may handle music well down to 50, various explosions etc. will raise problems. This is a problem with a fixed bass management system; one reason I bought a 950 was for the bass features. Personally I think its always better to cross the mains higher than their natural roll-off; it just takes a load off, and lets them play higher freqs. cleaner. I would suggest crossing the fronts at whatever the system supports (80?) and then playing with the sub xover point and level to make a good match.
Mike

 

[JimDMass]

I have an 8200 and I believe that what you describe is the normal behavior.

If you set speaker size for the fronts to large all bass goes to the front speakers (it won't send it to BOTH the fronts AND the subwoofer). If you set the speakers to small, all information below 80hz goes to the subwoofer (unless you press the Source Direct button, which bypasses all filtering and crossover settings).

Now, I believe that there is an important distinction between bass and the LFE channel in 5.1. As long as the subwoofer is set to yes, the LFE information (below 80 hz) will always be sent to the subwoofer, regardless of speaker size.

Disclaimer: This is how I THINK the 8200 works. I have not played with these settings since I originally set up my system, and I am basing this on recalling what I tried, and how I interpreted the manual.

I think what the 8200 lacks that you are looking for is the ability to set the crossover to a value other than 80. I agree this would be nice. In my case, 80hz happens to work out fine.

 

[Mike Sloan]

Just talked to Marantz and they confirmed that the 8200, as well as, the 9200 completely turn off the subwoofer line level output when front speakers are set to large. This is incredible to me since it does not allow the user to have the option of running a separate subwoofer or sending the LFE to the sub. Why would they force the user to accept this..or run line speaker level to the sub. There are great reasons to run full range speakers up front(minus LFE) ..while simultaneously sending only the LFE to the sub! How about build a receiver that forces you to use THX processing all the time! Well I canceled the order on the 8200 and have now popped for the Denon AVR 4800 THX Ultra2 with a multitude of "user selected" subwoofer options and crossover settings(40,60,80,100,120HZ).I think Marantz is the only company that forces the user to do it "their way". Have I lost it or does this sound strange.

 

[charles_w]

Mike,

This sounds strange. The 8200 does send the LFE signal to the sub but it doesn't crossover the signal when the speakers are set to large. I just put in a DVD and set all speakers to large, and the LFE signal was sent to the sub. However in stereo with the fronts set to large there is no signal to the sub.

One of the complaints with the Outlaw 950 was the double bass issue(you couldn't turn off the sub when running the mains large)

Lee

 

[John Garcia]

I thought the point of source direct was so that you wouldn't have to go into the menu to switch the mains to large, specifically for 2ch music. In the manual it states that the "tone controls and bass management are bypassed" with S-direct turned on.
For music, I now turn off my sub, turn on s-direct and sit back
BTW, is this with an analog source?