Hello everyone. I just recently purchased my second home theater receiver, a Sony STRDE898B 7.1 receiver after my first 5.1 receiver finally gave up the ghost thanks to an electrical brown-out. My first receiver was what came in a Sony HTIB setup.
I have been having some problems with the new Sony receiver. Here's what's going on:
1. The front left and front right channels don't seem to contain the proper amount of sound and I can't locate any sort of adjustment. However, there are adjustments for the surround right and surround left, front center, and the sub-woofer. I am using the speakers from the old HTIB setup in a 5.1 configuration. Where should I look to fix this problem? Should I get some new speaker wire from the store? New speakers, perhaps?
2. When I watched a DVD movie with my old receiver, I would put the volume at around "22" for a DD soundtrack and "20" for a DTS track and get a nice crisp audio performance. Now when I watch a movie with this new receiver, I have to put the volume up at around 34-36 to get some sort of sound I can hear clearly. What could the problem possibly be?
3. I had a repair person come to my home to look at this problem and tell me that it was perfectly ok to run a digital optical (to my Xbox) and a digital coax (to my DVD recorder) simultaneously. This doesn't sound right to me as I'm under the impression that having two similar DVD products powered on together was bad business. Has this changed?
If I posted this in the wrong area, my apologies. If it's covered in a FAQ, please post the link.
I have a Sony receiver and have worked on many for friends. It is not uncommon to be watching a movie around 30 or so. Switching between the different surround formats on the receiver can make a big diference, (Cinema Studio EX A,B,C) and so on. If your subwoofer allows speaker level connection I would recommend that you hook it up in that manner. Rather than the traditional subwoofer preout from the reciever to the Sub via RCA. Polkaudio.com has a good forum on this.
There are also settings on the receiver for small/large speakers. You can even adjust the individual speakers up or down (in dB) so that they all have the same volume output.
Speaker wire may be useful if you have long runs where a bigger guage is needed to reduce signal loss (say 14 ga.).
I have my DVD player is using an optical, optical on my XBOX, and digital coax from my cable box. All going into the receiver and everything is fine.
Feel free to e-mail me if this does not help or you have other questions. I have worked on many Sony's from baisc models to their ES line.
I found in the Sony manual where it illustrated that you can make individual adjustments for the center speaker, left surround, right surround, and the powered sub-woofer. However, there is no option for the left front and right front channel shown. The speaker setting on the receiver is currently set to "large".
The subwoofer I have from my old HTIB setup doesn't allow the hookup you mentioned. The only way to do it is via the RCA cable hookup.
I read on another message board that having two DVD players powered on simultaneously is inadvisable. That was also told to me by a friend who's worked in the electronics business as well. Now that I think about it, I also recall reading that in my old Toshiba manual how having two DVD players powered on simultaneously was a big no-no and could possibly cause damage to an HT receiver. If that is the case, it's only another axe to grind with this repairman as his work was, in the opinion of the aforementioned expert, sloppy at best.
I could be wrong but I still see no problem having two DVD players running. But if your're still worried, a call to Sony will give you the final answer.
I guess trying the different sound fields didn't help?
Michael, I've not ever had a good experience with Sony's technical support. In the past, it's been my observation that they have no clue what to do and choose to blame either the shipping process or the retail store employees. I like Sony's products as I think they are one of the better brands on the market, I just wish they'd hire more competent personnel on their phone banks.
I'll give you a recent example of their support. Last October, I purchased a new Sony DVD recorder, model RDRGX315, to replace my aging Philips model. The darned Sony would flake out on a DTS soundtrack, stopping and starting like crazy both visually and auditorally. I called Sony up, they told me that it was likely defective (in broken English to boot!) and started the blame game on Best Buy. The actual solution came as a result of a power outage while I was on the 'Net researching solutions; after the power was restored to the unit, it functioned perfectly on a DTS soundtrack. That seems peculiar to me, but hey, if it works, it works.
Unfortunately, trying the different sound fields did not help. What's really confusing is that the cable TV broadcasts I get in the old 2 channel analog sound better than the digital sound I have plugged in to the unit. The receiver is set to sound field Cinema Studio EX A for both TV and DVD.
In regards to what I mentioned having two DVD players powered on simultaneously, I read the confirming information that my friend told me on remotecentral.com. I don't have the exact thread name in front of me at the moment, but it's on there somewhere.
I understand, most company's have horrible tech support.
I have a high def. LCD t.v. but it has no optical ouptus as does yours. You can try to hook your digital sound connection (optical or digital coax) directly from your cable or satellite box into the receivers input. This eliminates any possible loss in signal quality as the connection goes from one unit directly into the other.
Since you are using a HTIB speaker setup, you may want to upgrade to a different speaker package, or at least a subwoofer that will allow speaker level connections. This made a big difference in sound for me. Also, those tiny speaker wires included in HTIB setups are low quailty and too small for long runs. If this is the case, a good speaker wire (14 ga.) will only help.
I've been over my manual and there isn't really anything else within the receiver that can help. All you are left with is adjusting the EQ settings or switching over to the small speaker setting for experiment purposes.
Everyone I know, incluing myself, with Sony receivers usually has the volume on the 30-35 range, and the sound is excellent.
I consider myself very knowledgable on home theater matters buy I am still learning to this day so you may end up being correct on your DVD question.
I have cable as well and very few channel are broadcasted in "true" surround sound. Usually higher end channels like HBO. The rest will show up as PCM 48kHz on your receiver.
I will still do some heavy thinking on this matter if you still think I am a reliable source.
Sorry for the late reply. I've been busy with some personal matters.
I had that same thought about the switching the speakers. Right now funds are tight so I'll have to deal with what I have. I used Monster speaker wire for the hookups and I believe it was the 14 gauge material you spoke of. I also re-read through the owner's manual of the old HTIB receiver I had and there were no adjustments for the front left and front right channels. Making an adjustment for "small speakers" or "large speakers" didn't do anything.
I'll post up the exact link for the simultaneous running of DVD players when I locate it again. The website I previously mentioned is still up and running when I last checked.
I appreciate your help. If you think of something else, let me know about it.