Onkyo pr-sc5507 pro Review [technical talk only please] - Page 9

It won't be.

Hi retate,

Onkyo Australia (Ambertech) still hasn't gotten back to me at all either. I have however logged in repeatedly on my Audyssey installer's login and still can't purchase a license for the 5507. I have been able to purchase a license for the Integra 80.1 for a while now but like you have held off purchasing the 5507 until it becomes Audyssey Pro enabled. I do like the look of the 5507 better and think that the Pure Direct mode probably should be present in the Integra rather than the Onkyo. Now I just have to find the other forum I had asked this question in too as I think someone said the units were identical in all ways but I hadn't gotten round to checking yet.

You may have to invert your speakers.

Balderdash!
I can simply stand on my head

- Rich

But then the channels are reversed!

Just insert the wire into the terminals upside down. That will fix it.

Check out my thread on Audyssey Pro support for 5507...


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1208798

thanks.

I have been playing with the Audio Preferences/Direct/DAC Direct setting.

I had turned it off because it seemed more dynamic and direct.
Since then, I have uprated my Amplifier which seems a bit brighter.

Now, I am finding I like DAC direct ON. Despite the fact the manual says it is for SACD, it affects everything. Some more than others and in bizarre ways.

For example, Playing Fantasia 2000 Pines of Rome DTS, the Subwoofer is basically inactive for most of the song with DAC Direct OFF, turn it ON and the woofer is cranking. I find DAC direct OFF to be significantly brighter and ON to be more natural. I suspect people preferences might have a lot to do with their Speakers, AMP, Room, Source matter, etc.

I am getting the feeling that even Onkyo (or very few people there) actually understand what these settings do. Clearly, the manual writers have no clue.

Can someone else try changing DAC direct this and see what they think about it?

- Rich

I turned "DAC Direct" on while listening to a SACD but got way too much base from the subwoofer so turned it back off immediately. Best to stick to the normal or direct modes for SACD playback.

Actually, DAC direct effects all modes.
Make sure the Subwoofer Analog setting is OFF, what it does is sort of random anyway. It's effect goes away when you power on and off even though the setting remains.

- Rich

Hello!

I've been using a Denon 4306 receiver as a pre/pro with my Outlaw 7700 7x200W amp for the past year. I enjoyed a huge improvement in overall sound quality when I added the separate amp vs. using the internal Denon amps. But for some reason I've had ground hum ever since I added the separate amp. I've tried everything to fix it (ground isolaters, swapping power around between circuits and outlets, power filters, lots of cable configs, etc. It seems to be a ground current traveling through the shield of the HDMI cable to my Samsung 67" DLP and then over the shields of the RCA cables to my amp. Because RCAs are single ended, using the shield as the return for the signal current, the ground current adds background hum to the signal. Grrrrr. As an EE I know well the value of electrically isolated interfaces (optical) or at least differential interfaces (XLR). It's actually pretty amazing that single ended RCA cables ever work to transmit high quality analog audio signals without noticeable noise.

Anyway, I'm thinking of replacing my Denon 4306 which does not have XLR outs with an Onkyo 5507 so I can connect to the XLR inputs of the balanced Outlaw 7700 amp. Good idea or bad idea?

Is my ground hum likely to go away once I am using XLR between the prepro and amp?

How will the sound of the 5507 compare to the Denon 4306?

I think a few other people on here are using the 5507 + 7700 combo. How is it?

I wouldn't mind if the unit clicked when I made configuration changes, which will be infrequently. I'm worried if it clicks every time a program stream changes between 2 channel vs. 5.1, such that every commercial change makes it click. I guess eventually the commercials will be mostly HD with 5.1 but right now its a real mix on DISH network. hmmmmm.

Thanks for your advice.

p.s. - Any other feature rich, high quality, state of the art, pre-pros with XLRs that I should be considering?

p.p.s - Any dealers that are selling these (new unopened, not refurbs) please PM me. Thanks.

Do you have cable or satellite TV? And if so, have you ever tried completely disconnecting the coax feed for the Cable/Sat feed to you TV to see if the hum goes away? Because many times these ground loop hums after adding a external amp, are actually caused by a Cable/Sat installation where the coax feed going into the building is not grounded properly.

XLR connections might minimize the hum, but it's just sticking a band-aid on the problem. You don't have a hum simply because you're using RCA connections. There's an underlying grounding problem that needs to be corrected.

Johnla's recommendation of checking the cable/sat TV coax is sound, as improper grounding on it's shield somewhere upstream is quite common.

If that's not it, try using a cheater plug (3 prong to 2 prong power adapter) to narrow things down. Don't leave a cheater plug installed permanently, because that's just another band-aid (and a dangerous one). It can be handy for finding where your ground problem is, though.

I just replaced my Denon 4806CI with a 5507/Outlaw 7700 combo. The AQ is much, much better. I despised that denon and will never own another denon product. The onkyo sounds great, is way easier to use and understand. The outlaw amp rocks! I can really crank the volume and rock out.

We upgraded from a Denon 4306 to a 5507 one week ago.... I can only say, just do it....

The 4306 and our 7 mono bloks had a slight noise issue when using our dimming lights (no ground loop problems) and the combination with tne 5507 is now dead quiet. SQ also a step up, Audyssey now also gives much better results than the old Denon. Nice also tho have OSD overlay of volume etc, and enough HDMI inputs....

Regarding the grund hum. I have earlyer experienced that what I have assumed to be an grund hum to be Transformator interference between components. Have you tried to move your power amps avay from the Denon (even if that solves the problem, i still can recomend the 5507 :-D)

I had the same experience with Audyssey - on the Denon it sounded horrible (like everything else about the Denon), with the 5507 I really like it!

Can you use a web browser to access and change the setup/setting for the PR-SC5507? If not, can you view the settings/status of the unit in a web browser?

Has anyone connected their Sirius satellite radio to the unit using a SCHDOC1 Connect Home Dock?

Thanks much for all the responses. Sounds like I won't be sorry to make the change to the Onkyo 5507.

This 4306 isn't all bad and when it came out a few years ago it was pretty much unmatched in its features. 3 HDMI inputs was good back then, and it did a magic trick that other receivers didn't do - it converted all analog inputs into digital HDMI and scaled them to whatever you wanted so you could run a single HDMI interface to the TV. Before this receiver pretty much all the models I'd played with had separate digital and analog switching and you had to run an HDMI plus a component interface to the TV and switch the TV inputs back and forth depending on what source went to the AV receiver. So I considered that a big step forward. Especially back then when we all still had lots of analog sources. Now that pretty much everything is HDMI its less of a big deal.

It also has programmable audio delay which was a big deal then because the high end TVs of the time, the first 1080p sets, had huge latency thus skewed the video from the audio badly.

And this receiver was pretty much the first to have internet radio and it even has a webserver that you can log into and view/modify all the settings. Pretty cool . . . for WAY back then. haha.

Terrible remote though. And it was a big bummer that the OSD wasn't visible when using an HDMI input, hence basically never.

It was completely stable and I've never found any bugs so that seems to be different than the newer prepros that all have bugs and need ~2 years of updates before they are solid.

Anyway, it has been a pretty good AV receiver in most ways.

I spent weeks trying to resolve the ground loop that is causing my buzz but it was a few years ago and I hardly remember all the things I tried to isolate and eliminate the problem. After trying many configurations including ground lift plugs, alternate cabling, disconnecting sat and cable, and buying 3 different expensive power/ground distribution centers, I eventually became discouraged and gave up. I think I concluded that the only combinations that eliminated the buzz required me to disconnect products that I really needed (such as my DISH DVR or DLP TV). I'm ready to give it another try though. Especially if I get a new prepro!

At a basic level, it annoys me that any engineer would design an interface that is "corrupted" by a small ground potential offset. There's nothing fundamentally wrong, dangerous, or damaging when different products have slightly different ground potentials. It's very common and reliable operation in that environment should be considered a requirement on the power/ground design of products and interfaces. Oh well, jousting at windmills again. But I bet the differential XLR interface resolves my hum entirely as ALL analog signal interfaces between separate electronics boxes should be differential. That's how we build satellites to work reliably in an environment with fairly brutal power/ground scenarios and zero tolerance for unreliable interface behavior after launch into space.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm trying to close on my 5507 decision in the next few days and then place an order. Any other models I should be sure to consider and look at?

If disconnecting the Dish DVR made the hum go away, then the coax from the satellite dish itself on the outside of the building is more than likely not grounded properly to a ground rod, or is not even connected to any ground at all before the coax goes into the building. And it that's it, and if you fix that ground properly, then your hum problems will probably be gone.

Yep.

Well, there's your problem.

It's not that any particular CE device engineer came up with a bad design. The problem is that those engineers expected (and not completely unreasonably) that the other engineers (or the technicians who actually implemented their designs) would make the effort to ground everything properly according to the specifications.

Officially, no.

However, I think there's a home-brew project for tapping into the network-control capabilities of the Onkyo/Integra pre-pros. I remember reading about that here, I think, but I don't remember what thread or what the software was called.

Maybe somebody else can point you in the right direction, or you may find it just by searching the forums.

This one?
http://www.avforums.com/forums/onkyo...ogramming.html

Yeah, I think that was it. Thanks for the link!

Thanks RoboRay and rickardl for the info.

If your cable is causing a hum in your system then a Ground Isolation Transformer should eliminate the problem. They are available from MCM, Part Number 33-8700, info here.

I am thinking about picking up a 5507, but I have a few questions..

I was wondering if aanybody here is using the network capability for streaming audio from a WHS server? If so, how well does it work, would my wife be able to use it? And lastly, does it require a monitor/TV to be on to use this functionality(I assume it does)?

One of my main reasons for considering the 5507 is the streaming audio functionality; if it does not work that well should I just consider an 886 and use an external device made for streaming audio?

One other question; are the relay clicks when switching audio sources coming over the speakers, or are they just a noise that comes from the Onkyo itself?

Thanks a lot....!

I stream from a ReadyNas Pro and I have had no problem with CD's, WM, FLAC, and WAV files. FLAC 24/96 worked too.

I also like Pandora. All work quite well.


The clicks come from the unit only and are ignorable (at least by me).

- Rich

Thanks for the info Rich! The clicks probably will not bother me either as the 5507 will go in AV closet...


Do you use a monitor or your TV when streaming music? I'm trying to figure out if I need to have my Tv on...

i was thinking about hooking up a small monitor out of the way to the component out of the 5507 when I just want to listen to music.