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Stereo Isn't Stereo... (1 Viewer)

Spottedfeather

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A bit of a weird issue I discovered last night. I was hooking my vcr back up to test out some tapes, and came across something weird. At first, I thought there wasn't any sound, but it was just that I had to turn up the volume...a lot. This is where the issue came in. The sound seemed to be coming strictly from the right. I checked and the av wires are connected in the right spot.

I set my receiver to stereo, at which I discovered that the sound was coming from only the center speaker and the front right speaker. I unplugged the left audio wire and nothing was affected. This whole issue isn't really that bad, as I can balance the sound to get stereo, but I'd really like to have multi channel stereo for a fuller sound. But I'll take what I can get.

Just to check, I plugged my Wii back in (I had unplugged it to plug in the vcr) and the sound is in proper stereo. I'm thinking that the left channel connection on the vcr is broken....but if that's so, why would the right channel connection be coming through the front and right speakers and not just the right channel ?

Maybe I just left the vcr sitting for too long, at least a year I think at this point, and the left channel decided to break on me. Otherwise, the vcr works fine.

Any ideas ? It's a Denon AVRS530BT, if that will help any. I'm good with tech, but even so, there are times I don't know how to troubleshoot. I'm thinking a different vcr is in order.
 

Todd Erwin

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What happens if you reverse the left and right audio cables on the VCR?
I'm thinking that the left channel connection on the vcr is broken....but if that's so, why would the right channel connection be coming through the front and right speakers and not just the right channel ?
This would happen if a surround mode was enabled.
 

Spottedfeather

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What happens if you reverse the left and right audio cables on the VCR?

This would happen if a surround mode was enabled.
It happens in all modes. In some modes, the sound is softer than others. But in every mode, the sound is coming from only the center speaker and right front speaker. I don't know WHAT'S going on. Like I said, I can get stereo...or at least sound balanced to left and right, but the left channel cable doesn't seem to do anything. This problem happened with both red and white cabled plugged in. I disconnected the left white cable and nothing changed.

I'm really thinking that the left channel of the vcr is broken.
 

Spottedfeather

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What happens if you reverse the left and right audio cables on the VCR?

This would happen if a surround mode was enabled.

I don't know what would happen, but I'll try later on. What do YOU think would happen ? It's been years, I think, since I've used a vcr, and never with a surround receiver as far as I can remember, but I don't remember this ever happening.
 

Spottedfeather

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It would help to confirm that the left audio output on the VCR is dead.
you mean to change the wires on the vcr it's self or the ends that go into the receiver ? Because as I've said, both wires are plugged into both outputs on the vcr and the inputs of the receiver. Sound only comes out of the center and right front speakers. If I take out the left channel wire FROM the receiver, nothing changes.

Sorry if I keep repeating myself, but I'm a bit ocd and when I get my mind set on something, I tend to focus only on that. I don't mean to sound rude or anything.
 

Todd Erwin

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On the VCR, change the left to right and right to left. If the left channel is out, then you should hear the opposite (left and center only)
 

Spottedfeather

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On the VCR, change the left to right and right to left. If the left channel is out, then you should hear the opposite (left and center only)
I'll try that later on tonight. I could also try another input on my receiver in case that would help.
 

Spottedfeather

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On the VCR, change the left to right and right to left. If the left channel is out, then you should hear the opposite (left and center only)
but wait....couldn't you get the same effect by changing the inputs going into the receiver instead of the vcr ?
 

Spottedfeather

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I DID change out the left and right channels. The sound came from the center and left, instead of center and right. I guess my vcr just has a bad left channel. Not too upsetting. I suppose I can just fine another vcr on ebay or something.

I had an idea of how to get stereo out the machine, though. Would it be possible to use the coax and put an rca adapter to get stereo sound ?
 

Spottedfeather

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No, the coax doesn't carry a stereo signal that you can extract with an adapter.
I can't do it ? I was wanting to take the coax output from the vcr and have a splitter send one cable to the tv for the video and one cable to the receiver for the audio, using a coax to rca output adapter to get sound.

That's not possible ? What sort of signal does the coax cable carry ? Mono ? That would be okay as long as the sound was coming from left AND right instead of center and right.
 

Peter Apruzzese

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As far as I remember, the coax output contains mono sound, but it is modulated onto channel 3/4. You would need a demodulator connected to the RF/coax output of the VHS to then give you left/right/composite video.
 

Spottedfeather

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As far as I remember, the coax output contains mono sound, but it is modulated onto channel 3/4. You would need a demodulator connected to the RF/coax output of the VHS to then give you left/right/composite video.
Ah. what exactly would I look for on, say, amazon ?
 

Peter Apruzzese

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I see some with this search "RF demodulator analog" - but you'll notice you can probably buy a used VCR for those prices.
 

Spottedfeather

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I see some with this search "RF demodulator analog" - but you'll notice you can probably buy a used VCR for those prices.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I found one that's 89 dollars, but you can get a good stereo vcr for like 30 dollars on ebay. That's probably what I'll do instead. Going through all this mess isn't worth the trouble.
 

Spottedfeather

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As far as I remember, the coax output contains mono sound, but it is modulated onto channel 3/4. You would need a demodulator connected to the RF/coax output of the VHS to then give you left/right/composite video.
what about a coax to rca adapter that gives the coax cable an rca connector. Would that work on my receiver's digital input ?
 

Peter Apruzzese

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what about a coax to rca adapter that gives the coax cable an rca connector. Would that work on my receiver's digital input ?

No, the signal on the coax output of the VCR is analog and contains video and audio modulated together into one. There is no digital content in it.
 

Bill McCamy

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Maybe I'm missing something here... If changing the cable connections reversed the loss of signal from left to right, the problem may not be with the VCR. It could be that the audio cable is bad. Put a new white/red audio cable into the system connecting the VCR and receiver.
 
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