The "Official" Pioneer VSX-1020-K Owner's Thread - Page 136

You can do it on 1-3 for sure and probably on 4.

Well I can't tell for sure (never tried it) but in the manual, p.41, the table shows that digital input is only enabled for input function HDMI1 corresponding to input termnial HDMI-1. I was under the impression that this meant HDMI1 was the only input that accepted video through HDMI and audio through digital (coax or optical).

I have HTPC and PC set up on 2 & 3 and both have optical input in addition to HDMI.

How did you do that? When you go to the input setup menu, chosing HDMI 2 or 3, you can't select any digital in (it's grayed out). Are you sure you have a 1020 or that sound is not actually going through HDMI?

^^^

do you have hdmi control turned on by any chance?

you should be able to assign a "digital" (i.e. either coax or toslink) audio input to whatever input you like...

edit: you should be assigning it to the input, NOT the hdmi port...

Nope, HDMI Control is off. And yes, I'm talking about "input functions" as the manual calls them. The HDMI1 input function is the only one that has a non-grayed out Digital In entry. The BD input function and HDMI1 through HDMI5 are associated to the HDMI-0 to HDMI-5 inputs and except for HDMI1 they can't have an associated Digital or Analog input.

Wait I think I know how you guys do it. You chose another input function such as VIDEO then you can assign both the digital in and HDMI input to it. Well that's kind of weird. I'm thinking Pioneer could have done things much simpler by just letting the user create input presets and associating audio and video inputs as needed. Glad to know the 1020 is more flexible than I thought though!

You have to go to one of the preset names (like DVR, etc) and it will let you add digital audio. I'd have to erase one of my names to see the default name and it's a lot of work to redo it. Just go through the setup menus and look at the set names rather than HDMI 1, etc.

read page 41 in the manual and look at the charts on that page.

they do...

I'm experimenting with my just-arrived ATI 5450 and I have the exact same issues. It says "the device you have detected does not support audio" as soon as I flip away or turn off something else. So frustrated.

Worse, my receiver is now stuck in HDMI THROUGH for all inputs, and when I try to get back to the MCACCS Setup, it just flashes, I cannot get out

I did a reset to clear that. I do get very quickly "you have disabled a display that supports audio playback. Do you want to configure default audio and communication device settings?" even with 5450.

I used to get that, but usually the audio worked. Disable any audio devices you do now want to use line on-board audio.

Continued fiddling - I no longer get the error I posted. What I am getting now is that the Realtek HDMI Output (the only device I have available to me) flips to "not plugged in" until I reboot.

I had a question but I wasn't sure if it was in regards to my receiver, or my PS3.

I recently purchased some new speakers for my home theater, and use a PS3 as my media server which is connected to my VSx-1020. Recently while streaming shows on Hulu, my speakers started making a siren-like monotone whine that was audible at the same time as my streaming media.

I reset the receiver to factory defaults, and this problem went away (I didn't change any settings on my PS3) and I continued to listen and I'm pretty sure there is nothing wrong with my speakers. Then I ran Auto MCACC for the speakers, and the siren-like whine returned after booting up the PS3. Tried to change the settings on the PS3, but the siren-like whine disappears only for a split second after changing a setting or a new menu pops up.

Any ideas?

I guess it may be worth mentioning that when I hook my PS3 directly to my TV that it doesn't make the whining sound no matter what I do.

That's most definitely weird. And considering your description it is most likely due to your receiver. That doesn't sound like a feature at all... I'd guess something is broken. But you could try hooking your PS3 on another input. Is there another device hooked to the receiver that gets the same problem?

If not, and the PS3 stops whining on another input port, I'd say something is wrong with that input. If no other device is doing that, but the problem follows the PS3 around when plugged into other ports, then that *may* be a configuration problem. If other devices are also affected, then I guess your receiver is probably broken.

I have no other devices that I use my receiver for. All I have is an HDMI from my PS3 to the receiver, and an HDMI from my receiver out to my TV. I've tried using a few other HDMI cables and they didn't change anything. Just seems strange that it only happens after I calibrate the speakers, but before they're calibrated they don't malfunction.

Can you reset all the PS3's settings without wiping the hard drive? Maybe that could help.

I thought I've read a few places that this receiver is notorious for having the HDMI inputs go bad. Maybe it's just the inputs.

My speakers are the Pioneer Andrew Jones set if that's anything worth mentioning, they're not even two months old and I don't listen to them very loudly at all... receiver has never gone above -20 dB while they've been hooked up.

Well I'd definitely try another HDMI device... If you don't have any around, maybe you can borrow one? They're almost ubiquitous now. That would really help troubleshooting: if the problem is present on another device then your PS3 is not the problem, period.

You could also try the iPod input or another analog input, too. If the problem is also present on analog inputs, the problem is not HDMI-related and definitely caused by the receiver.


I missed that in your first post. That is intriguing. Are you able to revert the receiver in a state in which the problem is not present? E.g. by doing a factory reset?

You say that the problem sounds like an alarm; I guess it's high-pitched? Is it quite loud? Can you tell from which speakers it's coming from (is it only one speaker? all of them? including the subwoofer if any?) I'm wondering which of the calibration setting could cause that, but frankly I'd be surprised... I guess it would be worth it to check the calibration data / results. Is there anything suspicious looking, such as trim levels set all the way to + or - 12 dB?


I'm not sure -- you can look into the System menu.

Is the problem present whatever the source using the PS3? (e.g. during games, playing music, videos, etc.).


I wouldn't say it's notorious but I've seen 2-3 people in this thread with HDMI chip issues.


While we're a it... have you tried the speakers on another amp or receiver? If you hear the same thing on another amp, then the problem is either the source or the speakers.

But by your description so far, the receiver seems to be the likely culprit. And sorry if I'm shooting in all directions with my reply, but those are the thing I would check out.

Here we are in 2012 and I still really like my VSX-1020 however I think at some point this year I may upgrade to a Pre-amp output model Most likely a Elite model but I will wait and see how they deal with the upcoming iOS device port change later this year. Time will tell. If you can find a cheap used 1020 and have efficient speakers like 98+ db this is a fine choice for most home settings, just add a decent subwoofer.

Well very high efficiency speakers are not very common, and I can assure you that the receiver does very well with a wide range of speakers. Mine are around 90dB and the receiver is not the limiting factor in terms of volume: my ears are. The sub is a given though

That would be an interesting topic for this thread: how do you feel about your 1020, 2-3 years later

I for one bought mine in 2011 at heavy discount, so i'm still into my first year. My previous receiver was the 520 and I upgraded in order to have more input ports, upconversion, net radio built-in, and more features in general. I'm quite satisfied with the thing.

One of my favorite perks with respect to the 520 is having a more complete display, with fine volume control, audio channel indicators, etc.

However reasons that makes me want to upgrade include:

- feeble attemps at reconnecting (once? a few seconds later?) if a net radio stream is lost, resulting in just no audio if the stream is cut for more than a few seconds.

- no on-screen volume display when changing volume

- some settings are tedious to change. E.g. if you want to put the receiver in extended stereo mode (nice for listening to ambiant music), you have to press "advanced surround" like 10 times, and there is no shortcut possible to that setting, even using iControlAV. Then if you put a blu-ray in afterwards, since the device is already in a "surround" mode, it won't revert automatically to normal 5.1 or 7.1 surround. Yes, I've been bitten, listening to half a movie before realizing the receiver was still in extended stereo.

- iControlAV is basically useless.

- I think I would like a per-channel crossover, and more flexibility in the cut-off. Right now I have to chose between 50 and 80 Hz for speakers that have frequency responses between 34 and 60 Hz.

- Subwoofer EQing would be very nice (I think only Audissey MultEQ XT and XT32-equipped receivers do that -- is there a Pio with subwoofer EQ?). But I decided on a standalone solution anyway.

Sound-wise though, I have no complaint. I won't upgrade for a while anyway, if the Pio manages to not bust in the meantime.

I'm horrible with quoting so I'll do my best to answer your questions. If my roommate and I weren't out to kill each other I'd take her cable modem while she isn't home but I doubt that would work well in my favor. So currently, I'll go with no.

When I reset the receiver to factory defaults, the sound goes away. I can turn on my PS3 and the sound does not return. As soon as I run MCACC however, the PS3 gives me my wailing sound. It sounds like it comes from each speaker. And when I swap out my FS-51's for BS-21's, and run MCACC again, I get the same result.

I found out after doing some digging that you can reset the audio and video settings on the PS3 without formatting the hard drive. I did this several times, and it didn't help me any, unless the speakers weren't calibrated. But that's the same thing that happened before I reset the PS3. Basically, no matter what I do to the PS3, once the speakers are calibrated I get that high pitched whine. For the most part it drowns out all other sound that the receiver is producing, you can still hear what you should be hearing but it is feint.

You can hear it during music, video, and gaming.

I also tried to have the PS3 output sound to the receiver with a Toslink cable from the PS3 into the receiver, and the sound still came up once the speakers were calibrated.

I don't have the luxury of having another receiver around, but from what I can gather if the receiver still makes this noise on speakers that weren't hooked up (and never had been until I started troubleshooting, for that matter) then there's probably something wrong with the receiver.

Pioneer was of no help whatsoever. Their CSR responded to everything I said with "hm, uh huh, weird." "Go to pioneerelectronics.com and look for a service center and bring it in." But the warranty on this thing is only a year, so it's well beyond that timeframe (I bought it in December 2010, what a joke)

^^^

Well that definitely sucks. It definitely seems to be a problem with the receiver -- although if you can use any other source (as I say it could be the net radio, iPod, etc.) and confirm you have the same problem, that would nail it in my opinion.

Anyway the interesting thing is that you can put the 1020 in a state where the wailing stops. Suppose it's calibrated and wailing; if you select PURE or PURE DIRECT mode, does that fix the problem? What if you simply change mode to STEREO? If the problem disappears in PURE mode, I'd say the effect processing chip (which is responsible for EQing, delaying, applying reverb effects and the like) is toasted. You could still use the receiver by bypassing this chip (PURE mode) but then you'd forfeit a whole bunch of features.

You can try asking the service center for an evaluation before paying for any repair. Maybe its an easy job *crosses finger*. But if you have to put up above $100 maybe I'd just put that into another receiver.

Calibrated speakers produce the same effect when I play a station from Internet radio, but again as soon as I reset the receiver to default settings, the wailing disappears.

Toggling the remote's advanced surround button (the button in the bottom right corner) produces the wailing sound indefinitely before the speakers are calibrated also it seems.

Switching from PURE DIRECT, PURE, Auto Surround and ALC didn't cause the tone to disappear. Neither did changing to Stereo.

Considering the same chip is responsible for some aspects of the calibration (distance, reverb cancel, etc.) and for the special effects of the Advanced Surround modes, I'd guess this chip is the problem. This is nice and all but provides no soution alas.

What you describes sounds like some kind of feedback that shouldn't be there. I don't think it should affect anything but... is your mic still plugged in when you hear the problem?

Whether or not the mic is plugged in I have this problem.

Hello folks,

I had some issues with an Infinity sub recently that was about 12 years old, where I could smell the woofer getting warm after a bit of use, and it would eventually start to "pop". I read that it was a typical failure of that model Infinity sub. A few days ago, the woofer finally died (or so I thought). The green power light no longer came on, and I got no sound out of it.

I recently ordered a new Polk PSW125 woofer online. I'm running a basic 5.1 setup. I hooked it up using the LFE input (I used the R input, not sure it matters, there was no designated LFE input). I used a Y splitter on the patch cable from my receiver to the woofer on my old Infinity, I eliminated that Y with my new Polk.

When I powered up the system, I was getting nothing from the woofer. I went through the basic troubleshooting in the back of the VSX-1020-K manual, and went through those steps. I tried varying the crossover frequency to as high as 100. No luck. The LFE channel is at 0dB, not set to "off".

When I set the front, center, and surrounds to "small", the woofer is set to "yes", but is greyed out. I ran the Advanced MCACC. The woofer is being tested, but I get no sound from it. After the test, the subwoofer is defaulted to "no". I changed it to "yes", with no success. I did notice that my left rear surround says the polarity is wrong. I triple checked the polarity, it's hooked up properly.

Right now, it seems like nothing I do gets any response from the woofer. I'm wondering if I'm missing something silly in the receiver setup, or if perhaps the subwoofer output from the receiver is damaged. I bought the new woofer assuming the old one died. I'm also not sure if perhaps the cable from the receiver to the woofer is damaged.

Any thoughts? I'd love to hear I've missed something silly in the receiver setup.

Just to be clear. The LFE is the .1 channel in 5.1. Typically when you have a sub it is sent to the subwoofer. But the sub also plays the low frequency parts of all other channels if your speakers are all set to SMALL.

So I guess what you means, I what you should have done, is to use a cable to go from the SUB PRE OUT output of the receiver to the PRE IN of your subwoofer. That means you're using the pre-amplified sub output (i.e. line level, not speaker-level). Typically it does not matter if you plug it in the L or R input: those are added internally. If you use a Y splitter you'll raise your pre-amp level by +6dB.


This is normal to some point. MCACC tests the presence of each channel. If for some reason it cannot play anythin on the subwoofer, it will set "subwoofer" to "no" automatically. So you have to find out why the sub is not playing.


Well it's something really basic but... are you sure your subwoofer is turned on? The sub has its own amp. You typically have to connect it to a power source, then possibly flip a switch (typically on/off/auto) or two (if there's a master ON/OFF switch as well). Then the sub will probably come with its amp level all the way down. You have to typically set this about 10-11 o'clock. Then set the low-pass filter to the highest setting (or bypass) since you'll do bass management in the receiver.

If you have taken care of this on your sub, I'd test it with another source to be sure it is ok. When you're able to hear it, then we'll focuse on receiver setup, but it sounds like you did everything correctly on the receiver side.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, the woofer is definitely powered up. The light goes green when in "auto" or "on" mode. It turns orange when in standby. I powered up my old Infinity to make sure the light did *not* turn on, confirming it was toast.

I suppose the next step is to bring the woofer to a friend's house. I'm just wondering if the cable is bad, or output from the receiver is blown (maybe from the failing Infinity woofer?). The new Polk woofer is new out of the box, but I suppose you never know......

I am indeed using the sub pre-amp output. I didn't change any connections from the back of the receiver. The only difference is I'm not using the Y connection that I had used on the Infinity. I did try using it for kicks, though. No difference.

This should have been a simple woofer change. I'm missing something, or I have another hardware defect.

Well if your sub is definitely on, and the gain is not set to zero, then your first priority I guess is to find out if the problem is with the sub or the receiver.

Either find another sub to test with the receiver or another amp / source to test your sub. Ideally do both... You can switch cable but I doubt that would be the problem. I've never had a broken sub but if it's the woofer that broke, I don't see why that would have sent a surge on the preamp input.

On some subs if you have a single input (not left/right) you should only use specifically one of them (e.g. left only). You can try and change the input also. But frankly I'm running out of ideas. The first step is definitely to see if you can get your new sub to play, and/or if your receiver can drive another sub.

This was driving me crazy until I stumbled upon the fix. I don't know why the manual is not clear on this. You HAVE to hit the "Signal Sel" button on the bottom half of the remote before you can assign any other HDMI digital signals. Let me know if this helps.

Well it's certainly good to know but... perhaps it wasn't clear but I don't have any direct use for that feature, I was just surprised that it worked.

In this day and age, I managed to get rid of all devices that are not sending both video and audio through HDMI (to the notable exception of the Wii, which does not see much use anyway).

I have searched for this issue, but could not find anything. I have my cable going to the receiver using hdmi, and then hdmi out to samsung tv. The video is great, but the audio cuts in and out. No static, just cuts off for a second every so often. I routed the cable using the component hookups and kept hdmi out, and did not get the audio problem. I have tried several hdmi cables into the reciever. Any thoughts?