New Denon avrx3000 cable and speakers zone 2 issue

whitebriar

Hi folks,
I got this super amp from ye Thursday and monitor bx1's and enough symphony cable for to wire up the 5.1 set up and the 2nd zone a bedroom.

The 5.1 system I set up tonight and am really very very pleased!! It's super.

However,unless I am missing something , the 2nd zone speakers amp connections are phono socket only .
The bx1's are multi strand cable ie work with the symphony cable not phono.


edit,as per the advice of ritz,problem solved but a word of advice!The set up is not super intuitive and can be confusing.

it turns out the rear cable outputs also labeled zone two are assignable and they were on a rear channel for me initially from the first set up for some reason.
But once you get it going,it is the dogs dangly bits,Really pleased :-)

Richersounds.ie: John

whitebriar wrote: »

Hi folks,
I got this super amp from ye Thursday and monitor bx1's and enough symphony cable for to wire up the 5.1 set up and the 2nd zone a bedroom.

The 5.1 system I set up tonight and am really very very pleased!! It's super.

However,unless I am missing something , the 2nd zone speakers  amp connections are phono socket only .
The bx1's are multi strand cable ie work with the symphony cable not phono.


edit,as per the advice of ritz,problem solved but a word of advice!The set up is not super intuitive and can be confusing.

it turns out the rear cable outputs also labeled zone two are assignable and they were on a rear channel for me initially from the first set up for some reason.
But once you get it going,it is the dogs dangly bits,Really pleased :-)

Whitebriar,

apologies for the delay getting back to you and thanks to Ritz for the help - It's an interesting point actually as it shows us that whilst we in the industry assume that everyone knows how AVR's operate - that's a really incorrect assumption and we need to point out how important features work more clearly - the speaker outs on the Denon for Zone 2 are not even labelled as for Rear + Zone 2 - you have to delve into the manual to or of course assign the outputs in the setup.

Denon have a significanyt ( and growing) European base in Belfast now and are really approachable and we will chat to them about your query and pass on the issue ..

Thanks again and rather nice to have an AVRX3000 as your Bedroom system :eek:

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

whitebriar

I have a new issue here.
I have recently connected a sky hd box to this and assigned optical audio to the cable sat input .
However,the Dolby digital 5.1 will only work if the hdmi for that input is set to 'none'
However then you have no picture.
That hdmi from sky carries 2 ch stereo audio which stupidly over rides the optical connection.

Is there anyway to instruct the Denon to take video only from hdmi and audio from optical?

If not,then we have a Major Denon counter intuitive boo boo

Any help appreciated thanks.

jh79

whitebriar wrote: »

I have a new issue here.
I have recently connected a sky hd box to this and assigned optical audio to the cable sat input .
However,the Dolby digital 5.1 will only work if the hdmi for that input is set to 'none'
However then you have no picture.
That hdmi from sky carries 2 ch stereo audio which stupidly over rides the optical connection.

Is there anyway to instruct the Denon to take video only from hdmi  and audio from optical?

If not,then we have a Major Denon counter intuitive boo boo

Any help appreciated thanks.

I use to have sky set up with HDMI for picture and optical cable for 5.1. I had the same problem at first. The source menu has options for optical inputs. Think it might be labelled as "digital".

But there is no need for the optical cable anymore. Sky carries 5.1DD on the HDMI now. In the sound options on the sky box switch the HDMI output to 5.1. 

Richersounds.ie: John

jh79 wrote: »

whitebriar wrote: »

I have a new issue here.
I have recently connected a sky hd box to this and assigned optical audio to the cable sat input .
However,the Dolby digital 5.1 will only work if the hdmi for that input is set to 'none'
However then you have no picture.
That hdmi from sky carries 2 ch stereo audio which stupidly over rides the optical connection.

Is there anyway to instruct the Denon to take video only from hdmi  and audio from optical?

If not,then we have a Major Denon counter intuitive boo boo

Any help appreciated thanks.

I use to have sky set up with HDMI for picture and optical cable for 5.1. I had the same problem at first. The source menu has options for optical inputs. Think it might be labelled as "digital".

But there is no need for the optical cable anymore. Sky carries 5.1DD on the HDMI now. In the sound options on the sky box switch the HDMI output to 5.1. 

Whitebriar,

I'm pretty sure that JH79 is correct - there is no problem using HDMI as your Video source and optical as your audio source - as standard the CBL/Sat input is set as HDMI for Video and Coax as Audio - you will need to change the Digital input to 'Opt1 or Opt2' and then select 'Digital' in the 'input mode':

If you look at your manual pages 146/149 it explains it fairly well.

Thanks JH79 and White, keep us posted if we can assist,

Best regards,

John Mc & Crew

whitebriar

Hi John,

No,that doesn't work.
I have cable/sat at video set to hdmi1 and audio to optical 1 and the hdmi sound over rides the optical such that you only have Dolby pro logic.

The iPad app shows the sound as Pl 11 cinema which as you know is a virtual sound field.
Set the hdmi to none and the sound suddenly comes alive with real Dolby digital 5.1 and the app displays Dolby digital.

so the inputs are assigned as per the manual for this to work but for some reason it doesn't
I suspect sadly that this is a sky non comparability issue?

whitebriar

Here's a screen grab of the assign page

whitebriar

and here's a grab of what the app says when the hdmi is on (over riding the optical audio feed)

whitebriar

and here's what happens when you set hdmi to none,the app tells you the sound is Dolby digital and boy you notice it! But no picture
That's with the sky hd box on sky sci fi and horror this lunchtime.

whitebriar

here's the programme info from the sky plus app confirming the DD sound but I can hear it anyway,just I have no picture.

Any ideas?

whitebriar

Just to add,I read the manual page 146 and 149 and have things set also input wise decode mode-auto and input mode digital.

When I have more time later,I'll just hdmi the sky plus directly to the tv and hope there's no sound delay.

Could you ask Denon about this at some point when you have time John Thanks.
It seems very counter intuitive and appears to be related to the fact that sky do not ouput 5.1 via hdmi but that shouldn't matter as the Denon should not be allowing the 2 ch stereo sound on the hdmi cable to over ride the digital optical feed when in the set up guide,you've told it not too.

I am hoping this is another case of the Denon manual not being clear and we are missing something somewhere.
If so Denon need to know that most of its customers aren't telepathic

Richersounds.ie: Dave

Hi White.

Sky do output 5.1 via HDMI on the HD box but the sky box settings have to be set for that.

http://www.whathifi.com/news/sky-enables-dolby-digital-51-over-hdmi-on-sky-hd-boxes

Which sky box are you using ?

ATB


Dave

whitebriar

Richersounds.ie: Dave wrote: »

Hi White.

Sky do output 5.1 via HDMI on the HD box but the sky box settings have to be set for that.

http://www.whathifi.com/news/sky-enables-dolby-digital-51-over-hdmi-one-sky-hd-boxes

Which sky box are you using ?

ATB


Dave

They only do that on their most recent boxes Dave,of which there are very few because they are shedding subscribers not adding them.
My sky hd box is 2years old,a pace.

whitebriar

Here is a screenshot of what you can change in the sound field on my skyhd box.
It's software was updated 3 days ago.


edit,just did another forced software update there and there is no change in that menu.
#maddening.

The software version is 9F3003

jh79

whitebriar wrote: »

Here is a screenshot of what you can change in the sound field on my skyhd box.
It's software was updated 3 days ago.

The first part (audio output) can be changed to dolby digital.

whitebriar

Nope,it can't
The options there for me are stereo or mono

whitebriar

Surprise surprise .. hooking the hdmi cable to the tv and using the amp separately for the Dolby digital gives you an audio delay. :mad:

So lip synch issues unless I shell out for a new sky box to replace my not broken one :mad:

I will ring sky now to enquire and report back as Google tells me this problem is rife
I'll post back what they say.

That said I am shocked that the Denon won't simply use the superior optical audio but instead for some stupid reason over rides it with the sub standard worse quality hdmi 2 ch stuff .
An amp like this should automatically find the best sound source for the chosen media.
Why doesn't it have an option to use the hdmi as a monitor only.
Technically it says it does but in practice it's not happening.
I really need to know why the over ride is happening.
There is nothing in the manual about this.
If here is not the place for airing this my apologies.

jh79

Try changing hdmi audio out option from AMP to TV , it says in my manual ( older model) that optical inputs are ignored if this is set to AMP.

whitebriar

jh79 wrote: »

Try changing hdmi audio out option from AMP to TV , it says in my manual ( older model) that optical inputs are ignored if this is set to AMP.

Cheers man,however I cooked up a different plan.
Rang sky and they said my box was a 09 model incapable of the new hdmi option.
So I went over to the uncle's where they have a brand new box and asked if I could swap as I wanted Dolby digital.
He says what's that? Dolby wha? Can I get that on the wireless
Cards paired now anyhow and super 5.1 sound roaring round the room.
Happy days,all sorted \0/

Richersounds.ie: John

whitebriar wrote: »

jh79 wrote: »

Try changing hdmi audio out option from AMP to TV , it says in my manual ( older model) that optical inputs are ignored if this is set to AMP.

Cheers man,however I cooked up a different plan.
Rang sky and they said my box was a 09 model incapable of the new hdmi option.
So I went over to the uncle's where they have a brand new box and asked if I could swap as I wanted Dolby digital.
He says what's that? Dolby wha? Can I get that on the wireless
Cards paired now anyhow and super 5.1 sound roaring round the room.
Happy days,all sorted \0/

WB,

that sounds like a good deal ( actually a great deal  ) but your X3000 will do what you want it to do - if you are still in strife, give us a shout and we will get the guys in Denon Europe support to call you when you are in front of the unit  ( they are actually great guys and really helpful) ..

Thanks again and keep us posted if we can ever assist,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew