Official Pioneer SC-05 and SC-07 Owners Thread - Page 232

Top....something's wrong. The SC 05 should very significantly outperform your Integra. Make sure you put DNR to OFF. Run MCACC. Check all connections to make certain they're secure and correct.

Just a few things to check before we get any more in-depth.

I totally agree

This sounds like a great idea. Can you give me a bit more info please?

Thanks,
Chris

Initial thoughts on my new SC-07 receiver.
Replaced a five year old Anthem AVM20 pre/pro, Which I paid $3400. The Anthem was excellent, and really found it hard to let go of it. Couldn't believe a pre/pro of that caliber should be replaced by a mid-priced receiver. Pulled trigger and prayed.
But after basic calibration of the 07, setting speaker sizes, distances and output levels to 75db. I am truely amazed at how much better everything sounds now with comparison to the Anthem. My comparison with Anthem includes running audio outs of my BDP-05 to the Anthem. I think it's fair to say that today's new receivers at mid point pricing surpasses relatively high end technology even going back 4 years. I know a lot of you a saying, tell us something we don't know, I now know. Belive me, I'm a slow learner or I must be convinced with my own ears. I'm convinced! This receiver (actually
pre/pro) I'm using an external amp (Sherbourn 7/2100) is more than I expected, and couldn't be more pleased with the decision to go with the 07. The output audio quality
is so engaging that I'm wondering if I should even consider getting into the MCACC calibration system?
Thoughts?

Run MCACC and see if you like it. You can always disable it if you don't find that it improves the sound. There is so much tweakability in this receiver that if you can't get it to sound exactly how you want than a) your speakers are junk and/or b) you room is junk and/or c) source material is junk.

This receiver is terrific, and I'm 100% glad I got it.

bmwracer:

You forgot your 4th option:
d) your hearing is junk...

anyone using a pioneer elite 59avi with analogue outs for sacd and dvd audio? i am coming from a 56txi and i find the sound very different. i want to make sure i dont need to change some settings in the 59 or the sc05 now that i am using analogue.

I just did a very quick swap out of my old Onkyo and the new SC-07.

Mind you I have only performed a bare minimum of setup on the actually receiver, since I spent a great deal of time charting out on paper what video and digital audio inputs all of my sources were using. Yeah, and then tweaking every single input in the receiver to tell it what video and audio inputs these components needed. And then I remembered that HDMI takes care of all of this, and I blurted out a loud Homer-esque "DOH."

Basically I have ran the room correction program once, and let the parameters fall where the did, atleast the distances were all accurate. I was more fascinated with the actual process as I have never owned a receiver with room correction before!

The sound quality is already superior in just about every way to the Onkyo. It sounds "Huge," that's the only way I know how to describe it I will spend some time with the receiver and mccac tomorrow, and see how much further I can push this monster

I'm setting up my new SC-05 this weekend...I have a question on the "Sound Retreiver" feature. I will be using a Squeezebox, and if I engage the Sound Retreiver, will the setting be universal to all inputs, or just the one I have the Sound Retreiver on? Can anyone who uses this feature tell me a little about it?

Thanks!

I was at best buy yesterday and listened to Denon 3808 and SC-07. My friend and I did not notice any change in sound.

well, that's good for you, especially if you already have a 3808, as you'll have more money to spend on other things...

If you're not inclined to do it yourself I have seen power strips that have this function built in but IIRC they are very pricey, circa $100 or so.

I had the materials I needed already but here's what you would need from Radio Shack:
1) 275-248 12V Relay 10amp AC load
* Coil rating of 12VDC
* 30mA
* 400 ohms
* Body size of 9/16x5/32x5/8"

The 30mA coil is important as the 12v triggers combined only source 50mA. The 10A is also important if you are going to hook up some loads. I use mine for my subs and some back lighting.

2) 274-251 1/8" Mono panel mount jack
Note: This is an open connector. You may want to use an insulated type, especially if your power strip is a metal case as this would short.

3) 1/8" male to male mono cable to connect to the 12v trigger jacks.

4) A power strip with some room inside to fit in the relay and the plug connector.

Open up the power strip and find a good place to fit in the relay and a place to put the jack. Drill a hole to accept the jack.

Cut or desolder the incoming AC black wire ahead of the 120v receptacles. Connect (I recommend soldering) one side of the black wire to the NO pin on the relay. Connect the other side of the black wire (going out to the receptacles) to the common pin on the relay. That's it for the AC line.

Solder a wire from the 1/8" jack ground connector (this is the one that contacts the side of the plug) to one of the coil pins on the relay. If the coil pins are polarized, connect to the "-". Do the same with the tip connector to the other coil pin, this is the +12v incoming. Most DC relays aren't polarized. That's it for the DC.

I super glued the relay to the power strip case. Close it up. Plug in the AC and run like hell. If nothing happens good. The AC receptacles should be off. Connect a 12v trigger with the 1/8" cable on the back of the AVR to the connector you installed on the power strip. Go into the Pio setup menu and select an input, on the second page should be your 12v trigger assignments set it to "MAIN". The 120v receptacles should be on when you exit setup. That's it. $10 and a 1/2 hour.

Note: If you get a 12v trigger error on your display you have a short in the 12v wiring or the relay coil is pulling more than 50mA. After you fix it, you must press standby on & off to reset the circuit protection inside the AVR.

Another note: My technical writing skills or lack thereof not withstanding if the above doesn't make any sense or you can't figure this out yourself you're better off not doing it. It's easy to do and it's also easy to screw up for the un-electrical inclined. Have someone do it for you or buy the ready to go power strip.

TBS, good luck. Mine works great and since the built in 120v switched outlets in AVRs typically only carry an amp or less this adds more functionality.

Thanks for the tips mrgribbles I will give this a try.

My next question is is there a way to disable any inputs you aren't using so that you don't have to scroll through them all when you are using the knob on the front of the receiver? Not a big deal but just wondering.

Chris

Hello everyone,
I have been lurking here for awhile and finally pulled the trigger on a 05 last monday. All I can say is WOW WOW WOW. I am in tweaker heaven. Yesterday I had a chance to really start tuning my system and the MCACC setup was spot on except for the sub. It set the distance at 11-6 when it is at 9-2 from the setup mic. Overall the sound quality is outstanding and the only thing left for me to do is nail down the lows to my liking.

My first impression of the 05 coming out of the box was the power cord size being very small as other people have noted. I picked up the BDP51 at the same time and, yes, It,s cord is like a fire hose.
I opened it up and ran +10 for a half an hour and checked for heat in the unit and power cord. Pio picked an appropriate name when calling these ICE amps. Not overly hot at all and the power cord was at room temp. So it is safe to say the Pio engineers matched the power cord to the current drawn by this amp. I am amazed at how this unit can produce so much power with so little current.

I had decided on a SC receiver in Jan. and this thread confirmed my choice. So a big thanks to everyone posting here and CHP_VR for updating this thread as it has evolved. All my questions concerning setup and operation have been answered here.

Sticker and fingerprint photos coming soon
Thanks again and happy to be a member of the ICE club.
Steve

Check your bass boost settings on the Pio 59AVi. You may need to apply the +10 in the analog output/imput on either the 59 or the 07. The 59 only goes to +6 and that's default for all channels with the audio setting in the "fixed" postion.

Do you notice a bass loss with the 59Avi set to "fixed" in the audio setup?
If so on the 07 go to page 63/64 and make the 10db + change in other setup.


That's all you can do. I believe the SC-07 does BM over it's analogs but it's not clear about it.

I just set up a new SC-07 and I, too, noticed that my subs (which are both at 9' from the LP) showed up as 11' 3" and 11' 5". I adjusted this in the manual sp setup menu, and I boosted the sub level by 3.0db and I am much happier now. It still has some tweaking to go as my mid-bass seems weak now that I have upped the sub, probably a parametric EQ tweak will solve it.

Good luck!

I have had my SC-07 for a little while now, and I continue to be very dissapointed with its performance with Dolby TrueHD material. It sounds lifeless, lacking directionality and without punch. DTS Master Audio on the other hand sounds amazing.

I am using it with a Panasonic BD30 BluRay player, and have tried tweaking all the various settings, including the eq, but to no avail. The display shows DD True HD on the display, so it is getting the right signal.

Has anyone else had this experience. Any ideas ?

Try THX Ultra2 Cin. To me, it blows past Dolby TrueHD and a bit better than DTS Master.

Remember that with Audessy and MCACC and other caibration systems you are NOT supposed to get accurate sub distance readings. The calibration system accounts for time delay in bass waves and standing wave issues that are not present with other frequencies. I think it's ok to tweek levels to your taste but if you rely upon auto calibration for distance settings - I would not mess with the distance settings for subs.

Do you have DRC (dynamic range compression) on? What discs are you using for reference? Some turn it on automatically.

How about THX loudness - on or off. Try both ways.

I have a Toshiba X-A2 hddvd player hooked up to my Pioneer Elite SC-05 receiver bitstreaming high res audio to the receiver where the decoding of the hi res audio is done in the receiver. For some reason hi audio will drop out for a second and then pick back up immediately about five minutes after I start a movie. It does this continually during the film roughly every 5 minutes and is quite annoying. It never happens in the same place twice so it is not the discs. Anyone else experiencing this? The X-A2 did not do this when hooked up to my Onkyo 805.

Okay this appears to be a problem with bitstreamed DD+ and the Pioneer. Anyone have this same issue with firmware 3.0 on the X-A2? Any info on this and the Pioneer DD+ problems would be greatly appreciated.

DRC is not the problem, not loudness, I tried twiddling those

What titles are you basing this on?

This is the problem I am talking about any fixes from Pioneer?

After searching for this problem a few days ago,i wound up on a forum,that i now can't remember,but they had it narrowed down to dd+ on Universal HD dvd's,but if you have the same thing going on with transformers than maybe it is not limited to Universal

I watched Black Snake Moan last night and it did it every 5 minutes. That is a Paramount title. It does it on Warners as well.

I did apply the +10 for sub and lows are good. it just seems as i remember more highs and certain notes with my 56txi that i am not hearing with the sco5. i am very familiar with my sacds DSOTM and brothers in arms and i know the sound is different, Depeche mode violator on the other hand, is freakin amazing at a -5 volume

I have not checked out too many hd dvds lately,but i know it does it with the first 2 bourne movies,but not the 3d

The 3rd was TrueHD, the first two DD+ on HD-DVD.