Sherwood R-972 User Thread - Page 67

 

I can hear vocals in all seven speakers. Obviously, the center has the most volume, fronts next, sides and finally the surrounds (which are directly behind the seats). Now the only way I can hear them in the surrounds is to press my ear against the speaker and stick a finger in my other ear. :) With Trinnov off I only hear them from the center. Now which do I prefer? With Trinnov on as it removes the completely directional vocals coming from under the screen. And no I don't hear them coming from any other speaker... they float... although I wish they would float even higher but one can work with what one has and I'm not raising my fronts anymore or moving the center. 

I do not mind if the vocals float, but so far they have the effect of just coming from the whole front wall when I sit in the center, and from L or R speakers when sitting far left or right. I miss that focused source that a center channel provides, even if it's at the bottom of the screen (of course I'd prefer it to be in the center of the screen). In my case nothing is coming out of the center channel with 3D mapping, so my experience is not optimal at all. Raising my L & R would probably help, but I am not sure it will help with the L & R seats. However, I think 2 center channels, one above and below the screen will at least keep the vocals centered in the front wall (no matter where one is sitting) but perhaps stretched vertically from bottom to top center channels. That I might prefer, I just need to get time to try it.

 

Originally I had the opposite problem. When set to Cinema I had zero remapping and everything was coming out the the center. The moment I switched to Music remapping kicked in. I think the results vary to a large degree based on speaker angles, various settings and whatnot. I'm sure there are hits and misses. Moving speakers around (slightly) would probably give completely different results...

 

I'm surprised you are getting zilch from the center. Have you tried a factory reset followed by another Optimizing? Couldn't hurt.

Me too.

Are you getting very close to 0 deg horizontal angle reported by Trinnov?

If not repoint the mic and try again until you do.

I had the same issue of not getting much out of the center channel on various calibrations.My center was located about 2 inches higher than my mains(which was one of the reasons that I was curious to see what Trinnov could due). I would run 3 calibrations in a row without moving the mic and only one of the 3 attempts every time would result in the center channel being utilized properly with 3D mapping on.The other 2 calibration on each run would result in Trinnov phantom imaging the center mostly from the left and right speakers and I could hear sort of a hollow sound quality to it.The center was still being used,but not much sound would be produced due to Trinnov using the left and right speakers mostly to create the center image.

To me it was obvious when the center wasn't completely being used.

Hello all,

Any reply to post 1977 would be helpful though I know asking this amidst much serious talk will get no responses. I have seen a local listing at onkyo official distributor in Kuwait selling new ONKYO-818 for 240 KWD = 860US$.

I can go for this or get R-972 from AC4L shipped to KUWAIT for less than 800US$.

I was using a Onkyo 709 before and it kept on failing and then I come to know that they sell mostly refurbished Onkyos and that too 6 months late, which tells a lot. rather than getting a Onkyo 818 at 679US$ in Amazon
wouldn't it be better getting aR-972.

The only problem, which might not be aproblem is the Step Down Converter being unable to change Frequency from 50Hz to 60Hz. Would this be OK?

I've just upgraded projectors to a 3D capable model. I'm considering using this as an excuse to change AVRs as well. I currently have an Onkyo NR1007 that I have no complaints about, but it is unable to pass 3D Blu-Ray video over HDMI. I have worked around this by using the SBS output of a Panasonic BDT220 Blu-Ray player, but I would like an AVR with the ability to properly pass 3D Blu-Ray over HDMI.

It's been said that the R-972 can pass Blu-Ray 3D, but with the HQV video processing bypassed. Is it possible to bypass the video processing only for the input the Blu-Ray player is on, and keep it engaged for other inputs (TiVo HD, HTPC)? Is Blu-Ray 3D content passed at full resolution? And does the R-972 properly handle DTS-HD Master and Dolby TrueHD for 3D Blu-Ray content?

I've more-or-less narrowed my selection down to the R-972, Onkyo NR809, and NR818. The big draws for the R-972 are Trinnov and price. The main draw for the NR818 would be Audyssey XT32. The NR809 basically falls between the R-972 and the NR818 in price, but has only Audyssey XT.

Any thoughts/feedback on 3D Blu-Ray on the R-972? Also thoughts/comparisons to the NR809 and NR818?

Thanks in advance!

From what has been said the HQV video processing on this unit is pretty much crippled when it comes to adjustability.I believe someone mentioned that the 3D pass through didn't pass at full resolution.Others that have more experience using the video processing may know more about this.I had no interest in 3D to see what happened.

There is no issue with frequency. The R-972 will operate properly at 50 or 60 Hz.

There will be some issues with AM/FM if that is important to you. It is not to most R-972 users.

Jeff
Edited by Stereojeff - 12/26/12 at 10:00pm

Bypass for the video processing is a main menu item and is not an option on the individual inputs. With the latest firmware the 3D pass through works great though. I tested with my Oppo 103 and it passed at full resolution and DTS Master Audio and Dolby True HD work fine. From what I have read the video processing in the R972 is not great. You could consider looking for a cheap video processor to add to your system also. I use a DVDO Edge that I found on EBay for $160 that works great.

Jeff,

Thank You, Straight from you, much appreciated.

Will keep this thread posted about my purchase and experience.

Thank you.

Anyone have to upgrade their HDMI cable for this receiver. I have an Onkyo PRSC-5508 pre-pro also. I have had no problems sending 3-D to my projector with a 9M monoprice 22awg cable. The sales guy on the phone believes I will have to upgrade my cable with this receiver. He said the HDMI output on this was lower than other manufacturers.

My existing HDMI cables seemed to work just fine. I downloaded the optomizer notes and have run Trinnov about 4 separate times. The first time, the voices appeared to come from my left speaker. I re-ran and got the voices to come from the center of the screen which was good. I do have some questions though. I want to play CD's in just stereo mode. The display says stereo but get music from all speakers. It is much fainter in the surrounds but still there. The last time I ran Trinnov, it didn't acknowledge I had a sub. I also noticed that it is setting my -6db setting at 0 hz. I have not seen that on other results in the thread. Does that mean I need to turn up the sub volume? It recognized it all the other times. It does recognize that I have a center but when I choose 3-D mapping, it is not utilizing the center.
My center channel sits under my screen. Do I need to tip the mic down to point at the center or do I leave it level? The mic is sitting on a tripod in my chair at ear level.
I am also going to try using a mic stand with a boom which I use when I do the Audyssey XT32 set up. I found that it actually makes a difference with bass performance with the boom set up. I wonder if Trinnov is the same way.

 

I noticed (while adjusting my speakers) after Optimizing x times (in a row) I would get invalid data reported such as speaker distances, angles, etc. At that point I did a factory reset and the values returned to normal. Now the first unit I received never worked (always reported two speakers) but the second one resetting did the trick. If you want pure stereo you'll have to disable 3D mapping and whatnot.

I also have faint sound from rears in 2 channel (stereo mode). Otherwise the unit works great.

It is using the surrounds to correct for speaker placement.

If you do not want to hear anything from other speakers with two channel material, setup the input to not use 2D or 3D remapping. Use "DLY+LVL", this will only set the delay and level of the speakers, and not do a remap.

I purchased a Sherwood R972 from A4L in the summer and have received my third replacement unit. This may have been answered somewhere in the thread I just can't find it. I use HDMI for all my devices, BluRay, Apple TV and Cable box. When I switch inputs and now when I turn the unit on either a black or a pink and green screen show up. There is sound but no picture other than the pink and green or black screen, the only way to get rid of it and get the the picture back is to plug and unplug the unit several times until the picture appears. This has happened on all three units. I returned the second unit directly to Sherwood and Eugene indicated he could not duplicate the problem. So Eugene sent me a brand new third unit 3 weeks ago and I am still having the problem. It must be something in my setup if no one else is having this issue. Can someone give me some advice to determine what is causing the loss of picture when turning on the unit or switching inputs. Constantly rebooting the receiver is a pain.

Have you tried different cables?

I have from TV to 972 and 972 to cable box, I am going to buy a new HDMI and try that. I plugged up an old Yamaha and it worked fine. I wonder if the 972 favors a type of cable

I read this tip in one of the threads somewhere and it works great. Disconnect all speakers except the fronts and sub(s). Calibrate Trinnov again in position 2. I use position 2 for stereo and it sounds wonderful. You can use settings to your liking but I found flat, 3d remap and music works the best for me.

It is worth a shot. This unit surely has a steep learning curve and some quirks. I think I will like the sound if I can get it nailed down.

I still didn't get the answer of the mic placement. Do you keep it level or pointed down to the center channel?

Hey guys,
I recently bought R-972 and love the sound. Really good. But the controller is giving me hard time. The only way it works is if I am pointing it from straight direction. Which means that I have to stand up and walk in front of receiver and then receiver responses to changes from remote control. Is there some settings that I need to make to make it work in all directions?
Thanks

Th

Per the manual, aim the mic with the bottom horizontal and level at the listening position. Trinnov and red dot face forward. More tips can be found in the R972 User Notes:

http://www.cahoyt.com/Trinnov/R972Trinnov.pdf

Cheers,

Thanks to cschang and pwiss for the tips.

I must not have seen that in the notes, sorry. I did print them out. I will give it another look.

Turned the sub volume up and got it to recognize the sub. Finally got a good run with the mic. Using a mic stand and boom seemed to work better than a tripod on the seat of the recliner. Compared to a 5508, I believe the sound quality is at least equal. That is pretty impressive. If I didn't already have the pre-pro, I would probably keep the Sherwood. I definetly believe the Trinnov is better than previous versions of Audyssey. Someone else had mentioned that an Onkyo with Trinnov would be a killer.

I'm very tempted to pull the trigger on the r-972 to finally upgrade from my Chiro C-800 Preamp and C-5.1 processor which has served me well. As I was researching the r-972 and Trinnov, I stumbled across what seems to be an unbelievable deal - the r-972 seems to be selling for $499 on a site called Sherwoodonlinestore.com. Anyone know anything about this site? Any purchasing experiences? I cannot find any reviews about this website and want to make sure it is legit.

thanks!

 

 

Sherwood (ETRON) is running the site however the R-972 receivers are refurbs even though the site doesn't reflect such. They should be updating the site...

Okay - with the holidays it took me until just a few days ago to get the 2nd R-972 set up in the "lower man cave" system. I started off by resetting the R-972, then I hooked up just 3 speakers (front left, front center and front right). The speakers were all Boston Acoustics Compact Reference 8 (aka CR-8). The left and right speakers were on stands and the center was below the TV. As a result, the center channel speaker's tweeter was about 8 inches or so below the tweeters of the left and right speakers. I ran the Trinnov calibration and then configured the flat curve and 3-D spatial correction for the DVD input (sent via coax digital). I watched Terminator 2 and found that dialog remained very well centered until I moved 3 feet or so outside of the left and right speakers. I reset the R-972 and added 2 more speakers as front hight speakers (connected to the rear surround speaker terminals on the R-972). I re-ran Trinnov and found that the resulting soundstage was notably taller. It seemed also that I was able to move even further outside the right and left speakers with dialog remaining centered on the screen but I did not do a double blind test to confirm this.

To compare, I viewed the opening scene of Terminator 2 upstairs on the "upper man cave" system (with Gallo Strada speakers and another R-972). I found that with the Strada speakers, the imaging was superior and I could move even further outside of the front right or left speaker without the center dialog starting to jump to closer speakers. It's not really a fair comparison considering the Stradas cost about 6 times more than the CR-8s but I concluded that the post Trinnov soundstage is very wide regardless of the speakers used.

I then hooked up an old school Nintendo 64 and proceeded to play Goldeneye 007 for well over an hour. I was shocked at how incredible it sounded throught the R-972 and I got sucked in to the game.