"OFFICIAL" Pioneer MCACC thread - Page 27

I don't have a 1019, so it may be different than what I'm used to, wherein the LCDs on front panel display the current input signal. However, the 1019 does have little indicator lights, one of which (center top of display) lights when a PCM signal is being received. That is the only one you can expect to light, as the receiver only "sees" PCM with your arrangement. The decoding is being done by your computer, and the receiver has no way of "knowing" what the signal was before the computer decoded it into PCM. If the front panel LCDs did spell out the input, all they would say in this case would be "PCM." It can only display the original codecs if it receives a bitstream which it can decode itself.

I believe the connection to your TV the manual refers to is not relevant to you. Connection from the AVR to the TV will not affect the AVR's ability to produce sound (although there is a setting that allows you to bypass the amp and use the TV's speakers).

As long as the sound is as good as you say, I wouldn't worry about any of this.

MACFAN424: THANKS so much for "getting on my case"; this is feedback/info that I NEEDED to HEAR; I have been studying the manual till I am "blue in the face" and decided this AM that IF I did not get some kind of answer about this I was calling Pioneer to see IF I could get them to "repair" my unit.
What you say about PCM explains alot eh? I do have the little PCM on my screen and NOTHING like in the DISPLAY shown on page 9 of the manual - like on above left lights up 1, 2, or 3 are non existent. So I guess I just leave it on "Auto Surround" and not worry about the format.....just ENJOY eh?
SOUNDS like good old common Sense to me.....actually might be best NOT to know what format is being pumped out of all of these speakers.....all I do know, I have never heard them sounding better.
TKS again....from what you tell me there is nothing wrong with my receiver - and that is a relief,,,,,,,,,WHEW!

Are the new Elite models able to EQ the subwoofers yet?

I don't believe. But for $99 you can get the Behringer Feedback Destroyer and use that to EQ your sub.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/bfdguide/

Yes after spending hours of trying to figure it all out along with your room. A quicker method for around 350 or so is the Anti Mode 8033 that is fully automatic and takes about 10 minutes from setup to full EQ of your sub or subs.

Bill

There are other good options as well (SMS-1, AS-EQ1,) but the Anti Mode is probably the bang-for-buck champ, at least if you value your own time.

FWIW, I too love my Anti-Mode 8033

Thats almost 400 shipped. Considering my VSX 01 cost me 450, doesn't really make sense. Maybe I should have gone with a denon with multiEQ.

For the past few days I have been using my Pio '94 as a pre amp and all my speakers are all fed by Carver M1.5t's. With this setup after I ran MCACC, all of my speaker settings have increased by at least 2 db. They are now in the range of 2+ where before they were at -1.5 to -0. Is there that much of a difference in the signal between the amp in the Pioneer and the Carvers?

Bill

Everyone has their own preferences and priorities. I'd rather have a dedicated sub EQ. My SMS-1 cost much more than my reliever at the time, but I still consider it one of the best investments I ever made in audio.

It's probably because of the difference in sensitivity between the Pioneer's internal connections and its preamp out/Carver input in connections. It's of no great consequence, although a lab might measure a slightly lower signal to noise ratio with the external amp.

from all the reviews I read, multiEQ does a better job integrating the sub because it works blending the sub with the main speakers. Dedicated sub eq can't do that.

But MCACC does if you run it after running a sub EQ.

Which is better? You can find reviews either way.

I just purchased the Pioneer VSX-1019HK to replace a seven year old yamaha receiver. I have been using the speaker level inputs/outputs on the subwoofer for bass management. (Front speakers set to large and sub-woofer set as "No" in receiver; using subwoofer's crossover). I was pleased with sound.
With the 1019, will it make a difference to sound quality to use the same set up? As I understand the manual, the MCACC does not actually equalize the subwoofer.
Thanks.

You should be fine with the same set up. You'd probably be wise to leave the amp setting on your sub alone, as it is most likely already at the correct level.

MCACC will adjust the 63Hz band (which primarily affects the octave between 40 and 80Hz) when the fronts are set to Large, which should fine tune the sub's calibration, especially if it was pretty close to begin with.

Thanks, Macfan424.

Does MCACC do anything with subwoofer/mains phase? Here is what I did. First I eq'd my sub with an Elemental Designs eD eQ.2. I then ran MCACC, which set my speakers to large. Next I went in and changed the crossover back to small/80hz. Finally, I took the advice from the first post, and re-ran MCACC doing the custom/Keep SP settings.

1) Why are we re-running MCACC with the Keep SP setting...I am assuming it is to force MCACC to run through everything again keeping the crossover in mind?

2) Do I now re-take measurments and play with phase on my sub to get a flatter response, or do I leave things alone, because MCACC did this for me?

Thanks

That's why, although I'm not convinced it actually makes a difference. I still do it, just in case.


No, leave it alone. MCACC will make any phase adjustments necessary to blend the sub with the mains.

I've ran MCACC numerous times and settled on Front Align as the best
sound for my room, however, it seems the best audio sound for HDMI cable television is the stereo ALC mode even with a digital Dolby signal. The Direct mode sounds almost muffled compared to ALC. Am I missing something? I would think Direct would produce a better audio sound. Thanks

Hi all,

I'm copy-posting this here on advise of mr. Ccotenj from the The "Official" Pioneer VSX-1019AH Owner's Thread. He has been a great help thus far, but I'm hoping you can help me some more with the following:

After listening to some audio CD's, I noticed a lot of hisses in the high tones.
Vocals almost seem to "lisp". This is also audible on movies, but listening to a music source is particularly annoying (thanks to ccotenj I now know this is called "sibilance").

I've tried several calibrations and adjustments, but no matter what settings I choose, the sharp hissing on voices stay. I also noticed that the other non-configured presets had the same problem. My last Pio (VSX-D511) had a much nicer sound on the vocals.

Does this ring a bell to anyone, perhaps someone has the same experience, or could it be of a wrong setup? All my other devices have been unchanged, only the receiver has been changed. My last chance is of some manual EQ setting that could filter the hisses if I changed the correct frequency band or something.....

I'm using the settings as stated below:

Symmetry calibrated, using the MCAAC guide found elsewhere.
Listening mode for music is either "Auto Surround" or "Stereo".
EQ=On
S-wave=Off
Tone=On, Bass=6, Treble=0
S.Rtrv=Off
Phase Control=On
Speakers=Small (I've have 2 large Magnats fronts, large center, a sub and two small surrounds)
X.Over=100Hz
X-Curve=Off (tried on, but it flattens the whole sound)

Basically I'm looking for some sibilance taming tricks.
If anyone knows some, please let me know.

B.M.

on the 59TXi - when you run Pro MCACC - does it make any difference to calibration if you select Xcurve to be on or off ? on the calibration screen before running it specifically asks whether on or off ?

The first thing I listen for when auditioning speakers is excessive sibilance. Drives me nuts, so I can empathize.

MCACC should take care of your sibilance problem automatically, and it's hard to guess why it isn't in your case. Be that as it may, sibilance is associated with a peak in the octave centered at 8kHz, so my recommendation is that you go into manual EQ and cut the 8kHz band for the offending speakers, most likely your right and left fronts. That's what professionals do when mixing sound tracks.

Can't tell you how much to cut; there will be some trial and error. I'd cut several dB, and, if it's gone, keep edging that band up until the sibilance starts to reappear.

You might check the All Channel Adjust settings (assuming you saved them) and see if you can spot an anomaly in the 8kHz settings for one of the speakers. This could help you find the offending speaker(s) if you can't tell for sure by ear.

Hope that works for you. (Say "hi" to Ccotenj )

Good luck.

Well I'm giving up, the sibilance has won this battle.

I adjusted some of the higher bands like the 8'er as you suggested.
Even copied the MCACC preset so I could compare the sound.
But it's just terrible....

It's too late for a return of the Pio, but I now regret getting this.
The high pitched screams will dominate my living room, until I have saved enough budget to replace the Pio, while getting slapped by the wife.

Sibilance versus Beran:
1 - 0

But on a positive note:
Thanks for all your good help and advise!

Try and turn off the "Dialouge E" in the audio parameters. I used to have this same issue with my '94 and it all changed when I amped out my mains and center. I went with Carver M1.5t amps and that fixed it.

Bill

Well, that's a puzzle. Sorry to hear it's causing you so much frustration. Obviously, it's not a common Pioneer problem or many other owners would be complaining.

A maximum cut of the 8 kHz band (-10) "should have" killed the sibilance. Unfortunately, going that far could be expected to decimate the definition, clarity and brilliance in the process, unless your speakers are excessively bright. But at least there would be no sibilance.

You seem to have tried a lot of things already, but just in case: Did you try it with the Tone Control Off? (Most of us don't use tone controls, so we have no experience with any possible artifacts.) I assume Loudness is Off as well. Does anything change when using Direct or Pure Direct? Is anything else On that you didn't specify? Following bsoko2's thought, try turning everything Off that is not On by default as shown on p. 64-66 of your manual.

I left mine on. Love the 59

bob

Not sure of what you're trying to say here.. your sibilance-type issues ended with just turning off the dialogue enhancement feature, or, you turned this feature off the same exact time as you added the separate amplification and attribute the change to both? Or was it just the amplification and the dialogue feature may or may not have played any part in this?

With the ability to store 6 different MCACC settings, is the speaker set up stored with settings, or is it one speaker set up for all?
I want to try different SP setups with different calibrations settings, such as one with the fronts set to large for when listening to music, and another with fronts set to small for cinema. Can this be done?

The speaker settings are universal. Large/Small/Crossover remain the same for all MCACC memory settings.

With analog (not digital) inputs, you might try Pure Direct. Some of us have found that Pure Direct Analog bypasses the bass management function, but not MCACC. This is undocumented, and may not work in all cases, but it could be worth checking out.

I have VSX-01. I now have Ascend 340SE fronst and center with inceiling surround(not great but these were placed 6yrs ago by my builder and no easy fix to change them out and it is all the wife will allow). I purchased a eD A2-300 subwoofer.

I used MCACC and set my speakers to small with 80hz crossover for THX. Now my sub has a knob to set the crossover from 35-180hz. I set it to 180hz. If I understand what I did was by setting the PIO to 80hz crossover it will send the signal at 80 and below to the sub. The subs crossover will not "filter" any signals since it will take signal hz below 180hz.

This means the sub is only reproducing the signals at 80hz and below correct?