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Onkyo PR-SC886P Pre/Pro Official thread - Page 107

post #3181 of 3210
6/15/12 at 12:49am
...you probably ment "(Integra equivalent of 5508)", right ?
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post #3182 of 3210
11/19/12 at 3:21am
Quote:
Dynamic EQ Code

Any chance that those remote codes are available via RS-232 as well?
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post #3183 of 3210
11/19/12 at 6:19am
Yes, they are:

RS-232_RCVR_031809(1).zip 144k .zip file
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post #3184 of 3210
11/19/12 at 12:06pm
Do you feel this is true of the stereo 886 inputs as well?
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post #3185 of 3210
11/23/12 at 2:35pm
Answering my own question in part, I found this review in Hi Fi World: http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/index.php/av-receivers/39-av-reviews/199-onkyo-pr-sc886.html?start=1

A key point: Distortion was very low at 0.0002% and noise also low at -90dB at full gain, Direct or Pure Direct selected, lowering to 85dB through the input A/D.

What can be the problem. It also lauds the MM input and the DACS.Here is a review I found from Hi Fi World

I find it difficult to describe this level of distortion and noise level as "medicore" out of hand. I do intend to experiment by hooking the 95 directly to my Orion Xover and see what I hear, but I'll be less surprised if I don't hear much difference.
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post #3186 of 3210
11/26/12 at 10:40am
I have one of these processors and am having a strange problem. I tried searching this thread for references, but it's not an easy search, and nothing useful came up.

Occasionally channels drop out,the center particularly, and also sometimes the surrounds. When I notice this, turning up the master volume will kick the center back on. For the surrounds, I have to go into the calibration menus, and run up the level on the particular surround. When the channel come back, I run the volume/level back down to where it should be, and it will stick on for a while.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Anyone have a permanent fix?
Edited by BBMW - 11/28/12 at 9:33am
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post #3187 of 3210
11/28/12 at 9:34am
Bump for last post. Maybe someone will notice.
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post #3188 of 3210
11/28/12 at 11:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BBMW View Post

I have one of these processors and am having a strange problem. I tried searching this thread for references, but it's not an easy search, and nothing useful came up.
Occasionally channels drop out,the center particularly, and also sometimes the surrounds. When I notice this, turning up the master volume will kick the center back on. For the surrounds, I have to go into the calibration menus, and run up the level on the particular surround. When the channel come back, I run the volume/level back down to where it should be, and it will stick on for a while.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Anyone have a permanent fix?

For a while, I was having a somewhat similar issue with my 876 in which the center channel would randomly drop out. I discovered that it could be quickly (but only temporarily) fixed by activating the level setting tone from the remote and cycling through all of the channels (no level changes required... just cycling the noise signal through the channels). This would restore the center channel to normal operation. Eventually, I ended up doing a reset (since I needed to re-run Audyssey setup anyway due to some room rearrangement). After the reset, the center channel problem disappeared for good.

Your problem is not exactly the same, but it's similar enough that it might be worth trying the same temporary and/or permanent fixes that worked for me.

Also... have you definitely isolated the problem to the preamp? Long shots, but could possibly be a power amp issue (auto-on feature?) or connections between the two (oxidized connections can sometimes behave this way, where raising levels can "break-through" the capacitive coupling that the oxidation creates).

.
Edited by jcalabria - 11/28/12 at 11:28am
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post #3189 of 3210
12/3/12 at 10:56am
Thanks for the reply.

The power control of the amp is handled separately from level/volume. I have a wall wart plugged into the switched outlet on the pre/pro. The current from that triggers the power control on the amp. Also, I can see the front of the amp in question, and it's on.

I could be some sort of wacky hdmi issue from the cable box to the pre pro. But raising the levels on the pre pro makes it go away, so that's why I suspect the pre pro.

Your problem does sound similar, but with min, just putting the tone to the channel doesn't clear it up. I have to raise the level of the channel to get it to kick back in.
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post #3190 of 3210
12/4/12 at 9:44am

I have a 3D TV ordered and do not want to upgrade to a 3D capable receiver at this time.  I won't be doing a whole lot of 3D viewing, but will watch the occasional blue-ray and don't want to lose the improved sound I can get using HDMI to the receiver rather than optical or coax.  Also, I will occasionally watch DirecTV 3D content and know that I don't need to worry about enhanced sound for those programs.

 

Currently I have all my HDMI sources going to my PR-SC886P HDMI inputs and one output from the PR-SC886P going to the TV.  What are my options for what I want to be able to do from my first paragraph?

 

thanks,

Murray
 

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post #3191 of 3210
12/19/12 at 7:23pm
As far as blu ray watching goes, you could upgrade your blur ray to one with dual HDMI outputs such as the oppo line.
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post #3192 of 3210
12/20/12 at 7:45am

I did exactly that.  I got the Oppo BDP-103 Monday and my TV arrives tomorrow.  The good thing about the BDP-103 is that it has two HDMI inputs so I can run my DirecTV DVR into one of the inputs and my HTPC into the other so I could send the video to my TV and sound to my PR-SC886P.

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post #3193 of 3210
1/22/13 at 12:44pm
I have both a OPPO 95 and Samsung 5700 Blu Ray hooked up to my Onkyo 886. I've got the 95 connected with both HDMI and analog and can control which input is used. The Samsung has only HDMI. So in the case of the Samsung, what is fed to the 886? Does the 886 do the decoding of the audio for a CD? If the Samsung was connected directly to the TV, does the TV have DAC's to decode?
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post #3194 of 3210
1/27/13 at 10:52am
Hello everybody! Does this Pre/Pro decode HDCD? Thanks for your help!
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post #3195 of 3210
2/5/13 at 12:04am
Got a question hopefully someone here can answer......

I want to get Dolby TrueHD audio to play through my SC886.

Setup
SC886 with 5.1 speaker setup

PS3 (fat) - HDMI to SC886
PS3 audio set to Linear PCM - I know the PS3 is outputting TrueHD cause when I'm playing a movie and hit 'SELECT' it shows TrueHD

SC886 shows PCM signal incoming on LCD screen.

What sound mode should I set the Onkyo to so I get TrueHD output? TrueHD is not an option, only options are PLII options, Neo6 sound modes, stereo, direct, pure audio, and THX. Haven't found a 'multichannel' sound mode.

Been trying to look through this thread but haven't found anything related to this particular question.

Thanks in advance.
Edited by silver22 - 2/5/13 at 12:26am
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post #3196 of 3210
2/5/13 at 6:13am

From what you describe, you ARE listening to the TrueHD audio.  The PS3 is doing the decoding and passing it to the 886 as uncompressed PCM (as opposed to the 886 doing the conversion to PCM).  There is nothing wrong with this as long as you can get over not seeing the the TrueHD light on the 886's front panel. 

 

I'm not a PS3 person, but my understanding is that with some vintages of PS3s, this is your only option for HD audio tracks, since the PS3 cannot bitstream the raw audio data to an outboard decoder.  If your PS3 (or any other player) is one of those that can bitstream raw audio for outboard decoding, just setting the player to bitstream instead of PCM output should make the 886 automatically detect and switch to the correct mode.

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post #3197 of 3210
2/5/13 at 6:44am
I believe silver22 is asking what surround setting would be the standard True HD unmodified sound. Since his PS3 is outputting PCM I believe the answer is PCM surround. The other sound modes will still be using the PCM True HD soundtrack but modifying it. You may prefer one of the modified over the standard PCM mode. Play around with the different settings until you find something you like the best.
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post #3198 of 3210
2/5/13 at 12:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by beekermartin View Post

I believe silver22 is asking what surround setting would be the standard True HD unmodified sound. Since his PS3 is outputting PCM I believe the answer is PCM surround. The other sound modes will still be using the PCM True HD soundtrack but modifying it. You may prefer one of the modified over the standard PCM mode. Play around with the different settings until you find something you like the best.

Yes this is my question. I was just wondering if the SC886 has a sound mode that will play True HD unmodified. I couldn't find a PCM surround sound mode but I'll check again.

Just curious for people who have a blu-ray player, not a ps3, hooked up to their SC886. When you play a Dolby True HD disc, what sound mode does the SC886 default to?

Thanks!
Edited by silver22 - 2/5/13 at 12:32pm
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post #3199 of 3210
2/5/13 at 12:27pm
Start playing the disc and make sure it is outputting a 5.1 or 7.1 True HD signal converted to PCM of course. Look on the front of the receiver and you should see the number of channels that are being received. Then try all the different surround modes. I believe there is a standard PCM surround mode but I may be mistaking.
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post #3200 of 3210
2/6/13 at 7:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by silver22 View Post


Yes this is my question. I was just wondering if the SC886 has a sound mode that will play True HD unmodified. I couldn't find a PCM surround sound mode but I'll check again.

Just curious for people who have a blu-ray player, not a ps3, hooked up to their SC886. When you play a Dolby True HD disc, what sound mode does the SC886 default to?

Thanks!

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by beekermartin View Post

Start playing the disc and make sure it is outputting a 5.1 or 7.1 True HD signal converted to PCM of course. Look on the front of the receiver and you should see the number of channels that are being received. Then try all the different surround modes. I believe there is a standard PCM surround mode but I may be mistaking.

 

For multichannel PCM inputs (as Silver22 has with his PS3 decoding HD formats), the Onkyo should display "MULTICHANNEL" when no additional processing is desired (other than room correction and bass management... those could also be defeated by using Direct or Pure Audio modes).  With the standard remote control there is no way to get there other than scrolling through the listening modes.  With a programmable remote, there is a discrete command that most Onkyo AVRs and preamps respond to called "Direct Decode" (easily confused with with "Direct" listening mode, but something else entirely), which puts the unit in the correct "native" mode for whatever the current source format is. 

 

For 5.1 systems, the most common listening modes for a TrueHD source decoded at the Onkyo would either be TrueHD (native) or THX Cinema.  For a 7.1 system, either PLIIex (native with rear channel synthesis when required) or PLIIex+THX Cinema.  If the decoding is done at the source (as with the PS3), then Multichannel (native) or THX Cinema would be most common for 5.1 systems...  for 7.1 systems, again PLIIex or PLIIex+THX Cinema would be the typical choices.

 

Again, with the standard remote the only way to change listening modes is to scroll through the choices (Stereo and Surround buttons are shortcuts that will jump to specific locations in the mode "loop" to shorten the number of presses required).  The Onkyo does respond to discrete IR commands for virtually all of its listening modes, but a correctly configured programmable remote is required to access them.

 

Fortunately, Onkyo provides a way to automate the correct listening mode selection 95% of the time without ever having to touch a thing. This is the Listening Mode Presets in the configuration menu which, unfortunately, seem to confuse and intimidate many folks.  Onkyo's default setting of "Last Valid" was, imo, a horrible choice that only adds to the confusion.  The default settings should have been exactly what Silver22 is asking for... native decoding of the source format with no additional processing.  I'm not saying that native decoding is always the best choice, but it is a safe and easier to understand starting point.

 

For a given input, to establish native decoding for all sources formats, its Listening Mode Preset configuration should look like this:

 

Source Format Default Listening Mode
Analog/PCM Stereo
Dolby Digital Dolby Digital
DTS DTS
D.F. 2ch Stereo
D.F. Mono Mono
Multich PCM Multichannel
192k/176.4 Stereo
Dolby TrueHD TrueHD
DTS-HD Master Audio DTS-HD Master Audio
DSD DSD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above setup would automatically provide native decoding as source formats change, while retaining room correction and bass management functionality.  Direct or Pure Audio could also be set for all formats, but those would defeat room correction and bass management as well.

 

A more typical 5.1 system setup might look like this:

 

Source Format Default Listening Mode
Analog/PCM Neural THX + THX Music
Dolby Digital THX Cinema
DTS THX Cinema
D.F. 2ch Dolby PLII + THX Cinema
D.F. Mono Mono Movie
Multich PCM THX Cinema
192k/176.4 Neural THX + THX Music
Dolby TrueHD THX Cinema
DTS-HD Master Audio THX Cinema
DSD THX Music
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post #3201 of 3210
2/6/13 at 3:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcalabria View Post


For multichannel PCM inputs (as Silver22 has with his PS3 decoding HD formats), the Onkyo should display "MULTICHANNEL" when no additional processing is desired (other than room correction and bass management... those could also be defeated by using Direct or Pure Audio modes).  With the standard remote control there is no way to get there other than scrolling through the listening modes.  With a programmable remote, there is a discrete command that most Onkyo AVRs and preamps respond to called "Direct Decode" (easily confused with with "Direct" listening mode, but something else entirely), which puts the unit in the correct "native" mode for whatever the current source format is. 

For 5.1 systems, the most common listening modes for a TrueHD source decoded at the Onkyo would either be TrueHD (native) or THX Cinema.  For a 7.1 system, either PLIIex (native with rear channel synthesis when required) or PLIIex+THX Cinema.  If the decoding is done at the source (as with the PS3), then Multichannel (native) or THX Cinema would be most common for 5.1 systems...  for 7.1 systems, again PLIIex or PLIIex+THX Cinema would be the typical choices.

Again, with the standard remote the only way to change listening modes is to scroll through the choices (Stereo and Surround buttons are shortcuts that will jump to specific locations in the mode "loop" to shorten the number of presses required).  The Onkyo does respond to discrete IR commands for virtually all of its listening modes, but a correctly configured programmable remote is required to access them.

Fortunately, Onkyo provides a way to automate the correct listening mode selection 95% of the time without ever having to touch a thing. This is the Listening Mode Presets in the configuration menu which, unfortunately, seem to confuse and intimidate many folks.  Onkyo's default setting of "Last Valid" was, imo, a horrible choice that only adds to the confusion.  The default settings should have been exactly what Silver22 is asking for... native decoding of the source format with no additional processing.  I'm not saying that native decoding is always the best choice, but it is a safe and easier to understand starting point.

For a given input, to establish native decoding for all sources formats, its Listening Mode Preset configuration should look like this:

Source Format Default Listening Mode
Analog/PCM Stereo
Dolby Digital Dolby Digital
DTS DTS
D.F. 2ch Stereo
D.F. Mono Mono
Multich PCM Multichannel
192k/176.4 Stereo
Dolby TrueHD TrueHD
DTS-HD Master Audio DTS-HD Master Audio
DSD DSD













The above setup would automatically provide native decoding as source formats change, while retaining room correction and bass management functionality.  Direct or Pure Audio could also be set for all formats, but those would defeat room correction and bass management as well.

A more typical 5.1 system setup might look like this:

Source Format Default Listening Mode
Analog/PCM Neural THX + THX Music
Dolby Digital THX Cinema
DTS THX Cinema
D.F. 2ch Dolby PLII + THX Cinema
D.F. Mono Mono Movie
Multich PCM THX Cinema
192k/176.4 Neural THX + THX Music
Dolby TrueHD THX Cinema
DTS-HD Master Audio THX Cinema
DSD THX Music

Now that is an answer!!! Nice Job!!!!

Since you mentioned all the different listening modes it made me think of a question. I have a 7.1 setup. I believe I use THX Ultra Cinema the most often for movies since that use PLIIX for the rear surround channels. I've read the manual several times but it doesn't give great explanations of what all the sound modes acutally do. Could you help describe what the differences are or share a link that might have that info???
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post #3202 of 3210
2/7/13 at 12:05pm

Take a look at THIS.

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post #3203 of 3210
2/7/13 at 12:25pm
Thanks to your input I was able to get my system working properly. Problem I noticed as mentioned was that I was not getting the 'multichannel' sound mode on my 886. The 886 manual says the 'multichannel' sound mode is only an option if it is receiving a multichannel pcm signal.

Funny thing is even when the PS3 was saying it was outputting TrueHD 5.1 (by hitting select while playing a movie), the 886 did not seem to see this as a multichannel pcm signal because 'multichannel' mode was not available. When looking at the audio ouput options in the PS3 sound settings I did have several options checked off such as Dolby Digital 5.1, Linear PCM 2 channel xxx, Linear PCM 5 channel xxx.

I changed the HDMI option to AUTO instead of Manual and then the 'multichannel' sound mode became available.


I may be wrong but this seems to mean that even though the PS3 said it was outputting TrueHD 5.1 in LPCM, it may have just been sending another format from that list of checked off audio formats.

At least now I can figure out which sound mode I like the best.

Thanks Guys!!!!
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post #3204 of 3210
2/11/13 at 10:59pm
I have an SC886 that has less than 10 hours on it. It works perfectly, but I had to scrap putting together a Hi-End Home Theater system for many reasons and my 886 has been in a box for a couple of years. If anyone's interested, contact me. I have all original packing, box, remote, everything. Thanks.
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post #3205 of 3210
2/18/13 at 8:20pm
Jimmy, I just sent you an offer on Audiogon. I'm in Fort Worth and will come pick it up from you. Feel free to make a counter offer, of course. Sorry the circumstances aren't better.

Dave
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post #3206 of 3210
5/9/13 at 10:41pm
Can anyone tell me what model was the Integra version of the PR-SC886 Pre/Pro and what was the model number of its immediate sucessor???smile.gif
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post #3207 of 3210
5/9/13 at 11:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vcrpro3 View Post

Can anyone tell me what model was the Integra version of the PR-SC886 Pre/Pro and what was the model number of its immediate sucessor???smile.gif

The 9.9 was the Integra version of the 886. The 5507 was the immediate sucessor to the 886.

Bill
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post #3208 of 3210
5/16/13 at 1:33am
Was there a Onkyo version of the Integra DTC 9.8? Did the Onkyo/Integra pre/pro line-up have the same heat and HDMI problems that the Onkyo AVR's had from 2008-2012? I have to admit that i had never paid any attention to AV separates word in the past, but now that i have a couple of multi-channel power amps that i got at a bargain, i am looking foe a used pre/pro to put together with them.....and again, since i am on a limited income...need something inexpensive (Did find out that the Marantz AV9000 was the companion piece to my amplifier-but would like something more up to date)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Mac View Post

The 9.9 was the Integra version of the 886. The 5507 was the immediate sucessor to the 886.

Bill
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post #3209 of 3210
5/16/13 at 3:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vcrpro3 View Post

Was there a Onkyo version of the Integra DTC 9.8? Did the Onkyo/Integra pre/pro line-up have the same heat and HDMI problems that the Onkyo AVR's had from 2008-2012?

Yes, the 885. The early Onkyo/Integra prepros do run hot but not as hot as the AVRs.

Bill
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post #3210 of 3210
5/16/13 at 11:35am
I installed a cooling fan over the hdmi board area on my 886 the day I installed it. That area becomes very warm to the touch. I figured a fan was a good investment to keep it cool. The fan keeps it cool to the touch and it is inaudible. I highly recommend it.

My 886 has worked flawlessly since the day I installed it! I've thought about upgrading but I can't find a reason to.

Something like this: http://www.coolerguys.com/840556099987.html
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