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Official Pioneer SC-05 and SC-07 Owners Thread

2M views 17K replies 1K participants last post by  fuzzysig 
#1 ·
Started 10.1.08

Last updated: 04.03.10

A Few Items New or Prospective Owners may want to Know


REVIEWSDownloads:

General information:
Universal Remotes & RS232 codes:
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) Spoiler  
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) Code:
Code:
- [URL='http://www.pioneerusa.com/PUSA/Search?keywords=ir+and+hex+codes+sc-0'][B]IR and Hex codes[/B][/URL] 
-Pronto (ccf format) files and "Universal" (mxf) files  [URL='http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=16013382#post16013382']here[/URL] 
-RS232C Protocols for Custom installations [URL='http://pioneerusa.com/StaticFiles/PUSA/Files/SC-07%20RS-232C%20Protocol.pdf']SC-07[/URL]  and  [URL='http://pioneerusa.com/StaticFiles/PUSA/Files/SC-05%20RS-232C%20Protocol.pdf']SC-05[/URL] 
-Crestron , Crestron's Integrated Partner Module  [URL='http://www.crestron.com/tools_and_resources/programming_and_integration_resources/integrated_partner_modules/default.asp?module_id=658&devicetype_id=&manufacturer_id=134']Click Here[/URL] 
-Harmony codes: available as of 10/30/08 (ccotenj)
- [URL='http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=16131010#post16131010']Harmony Remote Tips[/URL]
- Service Codes

========================================================

Tips/Examples from Members:

========================================================
 
Networking and Streaming:
-Apple and OS/X networking and Music Streaming ccotenj
-Internet radio Impression1 Impression2
-Network and media server connections ( a_ok2me )
Tips:
-To access HMG MENUS with the remote, be sure to switch from "receiver" to "source"
- Cooling/Ventilation
-SC-LX81 (SC-07) autopsy and here
-Removing stickers without Scratching? Method1 Method2 Method3
-Dimmer setting location: bottom portion of the remote, under the sliding door (number 3 button)
- PURE Direct Observations by MacFan
Subwoofers/Speakers
-Quickstart Speaker setup - MacFan
- Bossobass guide to subwoofers
-General Subwoofer settings (Macfan424) and here
-How do I hook up my Definitive Mythos to the SC/05/07/09? MacFan424
- Dual Subs Graphicguy and MacFan424
LFE/MCACC
-Proper Microphone position for calibration Ray
-LFE and crossover settings MacFan and secrets by Colin Miller & Brian Florian Thanks MacFan
-Why are my MCACC settings 6db lower from my last Pioneer? ss9001
-X-Curve and room sample by eldithomaso
- Connecting your PC to MCACC
- MCACC calibration MacFan
- MCACC and background noise by ss9001
General Connections:
-How to set Video HDMI with Digital (Optical/Coax) Audio Click here
-PS3 connection to Your new SC-05/07 AUDIO/VIDEO
- working setup example of Zone 2 and Zone 3 by mhdiab
-Zone 2 and 3 configuration example by Geoff and alerion
-Adding the ability to watch TV from one source and Audio from another? method1 (SC-05/07) method2 (SC-07)
-HMG and an external HD JS1000
Utilities
-DIY 12VDC Trigger for switching by mrgribbles and circuit diagrams by decoupe
-Member recommended CD to FLAC converters EAC winamp dBpower
-Rippng DTS with Windows - Info_Dan
- How much Power do you actually use? SPL Calculator Thanks MacFan
- Resetting your AVR/Service Mode Codes
- HMG Update
Potential problems:
-Problems with DD+ with the Toshiba XA2 and Samsung HD-DVD. Workarounds from FilmMixer and ss9001
-Rel Subwoofers and SC-05/07/09 Precautions
- Flashing MCACC LED and LED Issues
-Fios Cable Box shows "green screen of death" -- Try HDMI Input 3
added January-March 2010

MCACC background noise ss9001

SPL Calculator

SC-07 with Oppo 83 review Shane55 member's review (page 3)

working setup example of Zone 2 and Zone 3

FW HMG updates from users

Raymond G review
My first impression - original first post
 
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#11,401 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Macfan424 /forum/post/16813671


MCACC automatically set's it's own volume level so that the test tones are ~75dB. It doesn't matter what the volume was when you started. As part of its process, it adjusts the overall volume compared to 0 based on your speakers and room. There is no need to change anything. If you want it louder, turn up the volume. The numbers on the front panel display are useful for reference, but nothing to worry about, and they have no affect on the receiver's performance.

really? because i do not like the settings it gave me. it was way too quiet. even when i cranked it up to 18 or so. When i was testing it before gunshots and stuff in games were way louder and crisper, after macc it was quite quiet even cranked up afterwards


i looked at the db ratings and it had some stuff cranked down to like -9.5 db, isn't that way too low?


im pretty unimpressed with the default auto macc, im thinking i did something wrong but i just set it going and put the mic on the headrest of my chair. you sure volume doesn't matter?
 
#11,402 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by msilverz /forum/post/16810144


I have an old Sony SACD changer connected to my new SC-07 via the analog multichannel inputs. Am I right that when the multichannel inputs are selected, the SC-07 forgoes all MCACC processing? That's how I'm reading the footnote on p. 63 of the Operating Instructions, but I don't think said footnote is entirely clear.

Now that I've played around with the receiver a bit more, I'm less sure. Even when the multichannel inputs are selected, hitting the "Audio Parameters" button on the remote does bring up the choice of one's various MCACC settings in memory. Does this mean that the SC-07 can apply MCACC processing to a 5.1 SACD signal sent over the multichannel analog inputs? Anyone?


Thanks!


Matty
 
#11,403 ·
note: with the default settings after mcacc i cant even hear anything untill its cranked up to the 20's. that sounds really odd to me, is that right? my old pioneer that would have been WAY loud. about 40ish to 30ish is where i played in the eavning here thats nothing. its gotta be around 10 to be decently loud
 
#11,404 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by kenshin-dono /forum/post/16814485


note: with the default settings after mcacc i cant even hear anything untill its cranked up to the 20's. that sounds really odd to me, is that right? my old pioneer that would have been WAY loud. about 40ish to 30ish is where i played in the eavning here thats nothing. its gotta be around 10 to be decently loud

With my SC-07 I am at -24 to -22 for TV Dolby Digital 5.1 sources

and -20 to -15 for most movies (Dolby True HD/DTS-HD MA via BD)


-10 is very very very loud - near painful on dynamic scenes
 
#11,405 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by TL5 /forum/post/16814094


I could use a different input - I was just wondering. I bet the AVR looks for the digital signal first, then analog. When I finally get the Oppo, I'll try it.

The AVR behavior is dependent on the "Signal Sel" parameter, with the button located on the remote (under the sliding door). See p.38 of the manual:

Quote:
Press SIGNAL SEL (SIGNAL SELECT) to select the input signal corresponding to the source component.

Each press cycles through the options as follows:

AUTO - This is the default setting. The receiver selects the first available signal in the following order: HDMI; DIGITAL; ANALOG.

ANALOG - Selects an analog signal.

DIGITAL - Selects an optical or coaxial digital signal.

Dan.
 
#11,406 ·
I set up my new 05 yesterday and have been very impressed. I haven't done much "playing" with all the settings yet but my speakers sounds fantastic! Even my wife came downstairs and told me how great they sound. I am running the 05 with a pair of B&W Bookshelf speakers, that will be upgraded to a 5.1 system soon.
 
#11,407 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by eldithomaso /forum/post/16814321


Erik:


Start with Post 1 in this thread and then 11383 (page 380).


Do you have your front speakers set to large?


Simple answer is that "Large" Front speakers and the "plus" setting directs all frequencies to the sub - there is no crossover in effect - you must use the SUB's crossover. Combine this with your SW setting change to "LFE" disables the sub's crossover.


Again PLUS - entirely bypasses the receiver's Low Pass Filter if your mains are set to large. If you set the receiver to use SW "YES" you get ONLY the bass redirected from the front speakers in accord with the receiver's crossover settings (none).


So setting front to large and SW to PLUS = full range to all speakers and to sub. It disables all crossover settings for those three speakers.


But, setting the Fronts to Large and SW to Yes - gives NO sub output.

If you want front large and LFE to the sub you have to: 1) set the fronts to large; AND 2) use the Crossover on the sub to select your desired frequency cutoff.


Why do you want to use plus without your sub's built in crossover?


Thanks for the reply. I started reading from post 1 and realized that I would probably never make it to the end because posts would be added faster than I could read! What a great repository of information!


My sub (older JBL) does not appear to have a crossover selection when the sub is set to LFE. When I switch it to LFE and play around with the crossover nothing happens.


Why would I want to use the subs built in crossover anyways if I am relying on the receiver to output only the low frequencies to the sub channel? That seems counter intuitive to the .1 in 5.1 and 7.1.


So - what you are saying is that if I don't want to use the built in crossover of the sub, than I should set my front speakers to small and the SW to Yes or Plus? Will the crossover setting then be controlling what is sent to the sub? (80HZ and below)?


Thanks,


Erik
 
#11,408 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by graphicguy /forum/post/16806870


I'm with Mac on this. From the few (OK, once) times I've tried to run at "0", my ears gave out before the SC did.


I measured ~120 db at -5 on the SC one time. I should have measured SPL the brief time I had mine at "0".

Isn't reference 105db? Wouldn't that mean that "0" should produce 105db?
 
#11,409 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by snownut /forum/post/16816074


Isn't reference 105db? Wouldn't that mean that "0" should produce 105db?

god no... most avr's calibrate to either 75 or 80db... 80db is quite loud...


105db is REALLY LOUD...
 
#11,410 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by snownut /forum/post/16816074


Isn't reference 105db? Wouldn't that mean that "0" should produce 105db?

Maybe if I turn my sub "off" then you could be correct (MAYBE). I've got my sub running a bit hot. That's at least partly the reason I hit the SPL I did, at that setting.
 
#11,411 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by kenshin-dono /forum/post/16814485


note: with the default settings after mcacc i cant even hear anything untill its cranked up to the 20's. that sounds really odd to me, is that right? my old pioneer that would have been WAY loud. about 40ish to 30ish is where i played in the eavning here thats nothing. its gotta be around 10 to be decently loud

There is no correlation between the vol reading on the SC and actual SPL. The scale will change from setup-to-setup, and even swapping out different AVRs. They all seem to have different scales.


I know the scale was different coming from my former Elite 59 TXi to the SC 05. And, the scale was different when I had a Marantz AVR in my system, too.


-20 on one AVR will not equate to the same SPL as -20 in another one....even from model to model, within the same manufacturer's product range. Rooms are different. Associated equipment is different. Even some DVDs and BDs are mastered differently. I love Chris Botti's new 7.1 Dolby True HD concert disk. It's mastered a bit on the low side. I play it at right around -12 on the SC's vol scale.


To get similar SPL on a movie....like THE HULK, I won't play it much above....-18 on the SC's vol scale, because the sonic cannon scenes are just too loud for my taste at anything above that.


Another case in point, my PS3 seems to play louder than my BDP51 on the same material. Different source....different results.


Nothing wrong with having -10 on your vol scale if that's where you like it. It just won't correlate to anything you had previously in your system.
 
#11,412 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Macfan424 /forum/post/16812193


Much of my response has already been covered, but I'll reinforce what graphicguy and Perpendicular have said. After I posted previously, it occurred to me that I should have asked if you were using the "Plus" (aka "double bass") setting, as that would account for the exact symptoms you are describing.


There is no way to bypass the AVR's crossover if you intend to use the dedicated sub output. Some subs are designed so you can wire them to the amp's R/L speaker outputs, then from the sub to the mains, which accommodates using the sub's crossover rather than the AVR's, but this isn't the best choice for most people.


Pioneer seems to be an advocate of the 80Hz crossover, and appears to have included the 50Hz crossover primarily to accommodate 2.1 music systems with large bookshelf or floorstanding speakers. Manufacturer's claims to the contrary, the vast majority of these begin to roll off in the 40's, so a 50Hz crossover is ideally suited to these systems. Higher than 80Hz crossovers accommodate those small satellite speakers that need them. 60Hz and 70Hz crossovers are more useful for marketing than any practical use. Most people are much better served by using 80Hz, which has become the de facto industry standard.


Regarding the several comments about "losing" LFE: LFE is a separate channel (the .1 part of 5.1/7.1). There usually is bass in that channel that is not anywhere else. If a subwoofer is connected the the system, LFE bass goes to the sub and nowhere else.


There is also bass in all the other channels. If any other speaker is set to "Large," the bass encoded in its channel stays in that channel. It is not redirected to the sub unless the "Plus" setting is used. The "Plus" setting sends main channel bass to the sub (as well as to the mains), but it does not send LFE to the main speakers. The only way LFE is directed to the mains is if the mains are "Large" and the sub is "No/Off". In this case, all bass that would otherwise be directed to the sub goes to the "Large" speakers.


All bass below the crossover point is redirected to the sub from any speaker set to "Small." Bass that is redirected to the sub from "Small" channels is mixed with the LFE bass by the AVR, then the parts below the crossover is sent to the sub. Dolby's LFE standard calls for a digital filter at 120Hz. In practice, most sound engineers roll off the LFE signal at ~ 80Hz. THX adopted that frequency as their standard, and the industry has pretty much followed suit. So there is almost always 50-80Hz material in any source containing an LFE, and this is removed by the 50Hz crossover.


These frequencies may also be in the main channels. This is at the producer's sole discretion, and cannot be predicted. When it's there, you are less likely to miss the frequencies cut off by a low LFE crossover, but you still won't be hearing what the producer intended (which would be bass from both).


Two channel sources, of course, have no LFE, so all the bass is on the R/L channels, which is why many people wonder why they hear no bass in their subs when playing CD's through "Large" speakers. Some people "solve" this "problem" by using the "Plus" setting, which always brings to my mind this post by an Audyssey representative:


In two channel, you will always get "double bass" with the "Plus" setting, so the bass response will never be accurate, and usually sound boomy in the part of the bass spectrum above the mains' roll off point. Of course, some people prefer that sound.

Macfan,

Thanks again for taking the time and effort to put all this together.



Added to front page with "General Subwoofer settings"

graphicguy.. had to remove link to "bossobass"..

"detailed setup guide by Bossobass " really wished I had copied it...av123forum is no longer available
 
#11,414 ·
Cool, graphicguy! that would be great!



I don't think there would be any copy write issues or problems doing that, as far as I know..
 
#11,415 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by eldithomaso /forum/post/16814321


Erik:


Start with Post 1 in this thread and then 11383 (page 380).


Do you have your front speakers set to large?


Simple answer is that "Large" Front speakers and the "plus" setting directs all frequencies to the sub - there is no crossover in effect - you must use the SUB's crossover. Combine this with your SW setting change to "LFE" disables the sub's crossover.


Again PLUS - entirely bypasses the receiver's Low Pass Filter if your mains are set to large. If you set the receiver to use SW "YES" you get ONLY the bass redirected from the front speakers in accord with the receiver's crossover settings (none).


So setting front to large and SW to PLUS = full range to all speakers and to sub. It disables all crossover settings for those three speakers.


But, setting the Fronts to Large and SW to Yes - gives NO sub output.

If you want front large and LFE to the sub you have to: 1) set the fronts to large; AND 2) use the Crossover on the sub to select your desired frequency cutoff.
Do you mean here that having the fronts set to large and the SW to Yes gives no sub output unless the source has a .1 channel? If you had the fronts to large and the SW to plus and didn't have any crossovers activated then you would just be sending a full range signal to the SW and it would play what it could play right?


[/quote]
 
#11,416 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by ccotenj /forum/post/16816125


god no... most avr's calibrate to either 75 or 80db... 80db is quite loud...


105db is REALLY LOUD...

But "0" on your deck is far louder than 75 or 80db.


I may be confused here, form what I understand, 75 or 80 db is what you use to calibrate to reference levels. But reference is 105db. It is loud. I know mine is 105 at reference level, which is "0" on your deck.
 
#11,417 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dm233 /forum/post/16753682


flashing red MCACC light amp error


Had this happen to me on a barely 3 month old sc-07 and after reading all the posts in the forum on the issue was a bit dismayed on the way to resolve it by sending it in for service...


so after some research and digging into the issue the error is from a failure in the amp block or high DC output is detected during a power-on sequence after high DC output was once detected, "AMP ERR" appears on the display and the MCACC light starts flashing and the receiver's shutdown process will start

use at your own risk, as i am not a qualified/trained service tech, nor do i pretend to be one, but information wants to be free... this may or may not work in all situations and may even damage the components further... may void your warranty in addition to any other legal disclaimer that may apply here...


you can "release" the error by pressing the "down arrow" and the "zone 2 on/off" for 2 seconds


if the error comes back then more than likely the amp block has failed and it will need to be replaced/serviced.


with my issue the release corrected the issue and amp started up fine. again, one's own mileage may vary and may damage the components further. It is a protection circuit after all.


there's also a way to see how many protection events have happened for the various components in the service menu so its possible to see where the larger issue may be. havent had a chance to dig into yet. but there are counts for DC, temp and power supply events to aid in diagnosing problems by a trained professional...

I've tried this procedure after an electrical storm gave me the flashing MCACC light. In short, this procedure worked instantly for me.


Bill
 
#11,418 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by snownut /forum/post/16816502


But "0" on your deck is far louder than 75 or 80db.


I may be confused here, form what I understand, 75 or 80 db is what you use to calibrate to reference levels. But reference is 105db. It is loud. I know mine is 105 at reference level, which is "0" on your deck.

you are talking about 2 different things...


- calibration to "reference level" with pink noise will result in that "reference level" spl when playing pink noise... this will be 75 or 80db, depending on the avr... what you are really trying to do here is get all your speakers "equal"...


- nope, 105db is NOT "0" on the deck. what you get for an spl reading when playing "real sounds" (i.e. not pink noise) depends entirely on the dynamics of the music/movie being played... it could be 105db... heck, it could be more... it could be a lot less...
 
#11,419 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by graphicguy /forum/post/16816383


CHP....thanks for the hard work. I wished I would have copied "bossobass's set up guide. I've got it in paper format. Maybe I'll scan it and see if I can do a link.

maybe if we ask him nice bosso will give us an electronic copy...
 
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