The "Official" Pioneer VSX-1020-K Owner's Thread - Page 137

So I've done some searching, and discovered that I purchased a warranty for this receiver when I bought it a year and a half ago (wipes sweat off forehead)

My question is, is it worth taking this receiver to the closest Pioneer certified service center and verifying that there is something wrong with the receiver and THEN hoping to get a new receiver out of the warranty, or is it a possibility that there was something that went wrong with my speakers?

To recap my problem:

A few months ago I made the switch from the Energy RC Micro 5.1 set to the Pioneer Andrew Jones line of speakers (FS-51, C-21, BS-21) which this receiver should have no problem driving.

I live in a condo, so I sincerely doubt I crank my speakers up to too great a volume to blow my speakers. (-26 dB at the most)

One day while streaming an episode of Family Guy, my speakers started producing a siren-like whining.

Doing a factory reset on the receiver eliminates the sound, and the speakers are functional, but once they are calibrated, the siren-like whining returns.

Swapping out my floorstanders for the bookshelves that were brand new (I hadn't even hooked them up before) and calibrating them, produced the same siren-like whining.

I've triple checked that my DIY speaker wires aren't poking out all over the place and have secure connections.

There shouldn't be any interference from anything else on the circuit, the nearby cable modem is grounded into my surge protector.

I've tried several different HDMI cables, and Toslink, and it yields the same result once the speakers are calibrated.

Connecting my PS3 directly to the TV and not using my speakers / receiver at all eliminates the sound.

Sounds like the receiver in my opinion, but I'm not entirely sure of myself. These speakers are the latest thing I've added into my home theater and once I added them I created new cables for them, so there's a slight possibility, but I've always been under the impression it's a lot more likely for your receiver to fail than it is for your speakers, and the receiver only comes with a one year warranty.

Any input would be appreciated.

omg, if you have a warranty, I'd go to the service center. I'd bet on a problem with the digital processor. We already established that the problem is with the receiver and not the PS3 or speakers. Nor cables. I wish you good luck -- but please tell us the result of that return.

makio --- I have no idea either, sorry. Although you didn't mention your source. The source may still be the problem in your case. Is your problem also present 1) with other HDMI sources? 2) using other HDMI input ports? And conversely, does the problem persist if your source is connected to another receiver, or directly on the TV? Answering these questions will allow you to at least know if the problem lies with the receiver or another component of your HT setup.

I figured, lol. I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't void the warranty, the warranty is from Square Trade (bought it on buy.com I believe) and yeah I was pretty happy I stumbled upon it, I almost completely forgot about it.

Just replaced my Sub two days ago and this morning when I turn on the receiver I hear a switching sound and I get the flashing MCACC. The manual says this is very bad and to unplug it and take it to a service center. I'm out of warranty at this point and just curious if anyone else has had this issue and how it was resolved. Wondering if it will be worth it to fix. Meanwhile my 12 years non-hdmi receiver is coming out of retirement. Bummer, a year and a half is not acceptable.

Of course this thread is selection-biased with respect to people having troubles with the receiver. However it *does* seem like *lots* of people have hardware problems just outside the warranty period I hope you'll be able to fix the receiver for cheap. But I see it as a bad omen for people like me who own the 1020 for less than a year. At this point I'm crossing my fingers for a failure to occur before the end of the warranty. But at the same time that means no receiver during the repairs. Maybe I should start shopping for a replacement now

Thanks Neutro, I will try those suggestions.

Came home from a baseball game this evening and found that I cannot get any audio from my 1020. Picture is passing fine. When I try to select a speaker set or go to the receiver home screen the display flashes "Phones In" and that's it. No GUI comes up and no speaker set is displayed. Even tried a system reset from page 75 in the manual, did not help. Please tell me this is something simple and I don't need service...!!!

Update: Seemed OK this morning. Ran a small screwdriver around inside the Phone input on the front of the receiver (with power off) and when I turned it on I was back up, though all my settings are gone thanks to the reset I tried. Makes me nervous though that it will become a repeating problem...
Edited by iontyre - 7/2/12 at 6:19am

I am not sure on that... I have to power my 1020 off at the wall every once in a while because it gets "frozen" and won't even (warm) power off at the power button.. it needs a full "cold boot" to recover.. it's happened about 3 times in a year. Aside from that it's been a good little receiver... a little slow on video switching to the cable box.. not sure if the HDMI handshake is taking extra long with that device or what...

glad you got it sorted out.. I hear ya on not wanting repeating issues... I am hoping my freeze issue isn't something that's only going to get worse. :/

I get the frozen 1020 issue also, but I can tell you how: If I turn on the receiver BEFORE the television the HDMI handshake fails and the receiver freezes. Have to hold the power button for about 30 seconds to get it to turn off. I have my remote programmed to turn on the TV (VIZIO 47" LCD) first, then the DVR and then the receiver. No problems if you do it in that order.

Ahh... thanks for the tip. I will try giving my tuner some more time to power on after the other components.

I have the same issue with regard to the slow switching of video. It happens with all my devices. If anyone has found a fix for that, please let us know.

I really doubt there is a "FIX" for that. Handshaking HDMI connections takes time, and I don't think its going away. Some devices are more flaky than others, but all of them take at least a few seconds in my experience to properly finish the handshake.

I'm planning on using the "speaker B" feature on my 1020 and I have a question which is not really answered in the manual (that I can see). I already have a 7.1 setup in my living room, and I want to connect an additional pair of speakers in the adjacent dining / kitchen area to play the same content there. Since I want to play the same content I guess using Zone 2 is not the solution -- and I want to play content from HDMI sources (e.g. media player) so speaker B is the feature to use I guess. I understand that while in AB mode, my surround back speakers won't play and the receiver will be used in a 5.1 configuration. That is ok since I'll use AB mode for music exclusively.

Ok so once I have that pair up and running in the dining area, will there be a way to either change the volume independently for the Speaker B set? Or, barring that, is it possible to apply a trim level to those? I currently have relatively sensitive speakers in the living room and I am considering planning much less sensitive (almost 10dB less) for the kitchen area, so I wonder if I'll be stuck with a volume half as loud in the kitchen as in the living room.

Good question. I would guess you can turn them down in speaker setup, but you'll have to check. If not, you may want to consider speakers that better fit your 7.1 setup.

Yeah I may want to reconsider the speakers for them to at least roughly match my 7.1 setup in terms of sensitivity. But if I can just add 8 dB in trim I guess I would be alright. When you add speakers to the Speaker B terminals, do they appear in the speaker setup screen? Can you adjust the trim in the Channel Level menus?

I'm not sure. I'm embarrassed to say I still haven't bought my 7.1 system, and am still rocking my old tower speakers. That said, I'm open to any recommendations.

You mean, recommendations as for a 7.1 setup to use with the Pioneer? Well of course if we address this issue here, we'll be slightly off-topic , and we will have to discuss budget, aesthetics, and room size...

But as a rule of thumb, if you're American, there are tons of good deals online for outstanding speakers and subs. Vann's periodically has out-of-this-world prices on very nice speakers and receivers. And in the US there are lots of excellent internet-direct subwoofer manufacturers that offer outstanding bang-for-the-buck and free shipping.

Quick question, I was between speakers, and in the meantime a friend set the receiver to HDMI THROUGH so he could watch TV through the TV's speakers, now I cant find the setting to switch it back, something tells me its right under my nose, but a run through the manual and a few guesses have left me without an answer. Can anyone point me in the right direction before I can get in touch with him tomorrow? Thanks!


-TJ

^^

Manual p.68... Basically the process is :

AUDIO PARAMETER -> HDMI -> AMP

(the two settings are AMP or THROUGH).

Hope this helps.

Kentyman - if you want to experiment, some places have Martin Logan MLT-2 5.1 system on sale for around $300 periodically.

They're small, have a decent sub, and sound great for the price. I have them in a medium-sized (15x19') room, and they fill it with sound pretty well.

For this receiver, with 7.1, MCACC and all the home theater bells and whistles, if you're a tinkerer like me, I expect you'll have no end of enjoyment playing with them, your towers and the receiver. If you watch action movies or play console games you'll wonder what took you so long to switch.

Also pretty nice, is their service - when I was moving things around after 6 months and I ran MCACC test tones, I could hear that one of the surrounds had bass that was cutting out. I emailed ML and they sent out a replacement speaker right away :-)

Perry

Hi all,
After 2 years with my 1020 I am having problems with it.
I noticed that my TV will go blank to black with no audio.
I can try changing inputs back and forth with no resolve.
Then when going between HDMI Inputs the unit will freeze on "Dial Norm -3"
When it freezes only unplugging and plugging it back in will get it back to working properly.

Once it is working properly again, it can do so for the rest of the night or even days, so it's weird, it just seems to freak out every now and then.
When it really gets bad and to the point that a quick un-plug & Plug In doesn't want to fix it, I'll finally take it in.
Thankfully I have a Pioneer Authorized Service Center literally two miles away.

Has anyone else experienced this and if so did you get it looked at.
Would like to see what it is.

Later,

Bud
PS. I did not get a warranty for this 1020, I did get a 4 year Warranty on my Elite VSX 53 that runs until late 2015.
What do you bet that my Elite that has a Warranty, will never have a hiccup but my 1020 without a Warranty, has problems!!
Doesn't it always work like that! LOL!
Edited by Bud B - 8/2/12 at 6:36am

^^^

have you done a hard reset?

if that doesnt work, it sounds like the hdmi board is failing...

Hi Chris,
I haven't tried a hard reset yet, it's just glitchy at this point.
Like this evening I turned the 1020 on and about 15 minutes later it just clicked off and immediately back on displaying "Power On."
Stayed on for a few minutes and did it again, 3 times in all, now it has been on for a half an hour and no more "Power On' cycles!

It's feeling sickly for sure..I'm thinking Power Supply or logic problem.
But the power cycle issue sure reminds me of a Power Supply problem.

I'll keep an eye on it over this weekend and probably take it in on Monday.
Because I have no warranty at this point I'll probably pull the top and see if I can see anything amiss, like a Capacitor with a weight issue that has gotten fat around the middle.

Thanks again, I'll post any further developments good or bad.

Bud B

^^^

ugh... el sucko... intermittant issues are a pita...

i'll be curious to see what the diagnosis is...

Hi again,
Well I called Pioneer and spoke to Tech Support.
When I explained what was going on with my 1020 the Rep said that it sounded like one of three things...

1) An external short with the Speaker wiring.
I explained that the speakers and their wiring had not moved in 6 months. All Solid Banana to Banana
Not to mention that after about 3 of it's power On/Off cycles, it will stay On (until I turn it Off) without a glitch!
I did check the wiring though and found it as solid as when I initially hooked up my speakers.

2) An Internal Short
He thought that this option was the most viable, providing that a "System Reset" did not fix it's current glitchy status.

3) A general software glitch and the receiver needs a "System Reset."
The rep said that they have seen just general internal glitches occur and after a full reset the unit is OK..

So, I performed a System Reset and put everything back to the original out of box status.
Since doing the reset, the 1020 has not (knock on wood) had any problems over the last 2 days!

I have not done anything to the 1020 (not wanting to put the time in, only to have it mess up again) and will monitor it for a few more days,
If it remains OK then I will rename Inputs, do another MCACC etc.
The rep did say that if it does mess up again, it should be sent in for repair and checked for an internal short.
When pressed further he did not indicate where the short may be and or the possible cost of repair.

Because it has not screwed up since the System Reset, I am hesitant to think that it is or was an actual "Hardware Internal Short."
If it was hardware related and an actual faulty component, then no amount of system reset would repair a component failure.
Which leads me to a "Software" glitch that was causing internal conflicts!
I'll keep you all posted...
Bottom line though, if your Pio starts to do funky things, do a "System Reset" even though it doesn't really make sense to you!

One environmental change that has occurred with my Pioneer receiver is that I have moved back to Florida from Rochester, NY.
Florida summers are notorious for afternoon rain storms that have caused my home power to go off and then come back on.
All of my equipment is plugged into good Surge protectors but the Pio's are always in Standbye Mode if not on.
I can accept that the Software might have become corrupt during one of these FPL power outages and a Reset was needed to put the receiver's software back to it's original software status.
Rarely if ever in Rochester did my homes main power go off and then back on, this may be why I never had any "Glitches" before moving back home to Florida!
We have always called Florida Power & Light , Florida Flicker & Flash!
If this turns out to be my problem and you also live in an area where your power goes off and on a lot, you may need to reset your receiver if it starts acting screwy!...
Just an FYII!
Because of my Power going On and Off so often, I have been thinking about getting a small UPS for my Home Theater setup,

Anyone have suggestions for a Home Theater UPS?

Later,

Bud B
Edited by Bud B - 8/5/12 at 7:39am

My only suggestion for anyone getting a UPS is *NOT* to get one with an alarm. I don't need a stupid box, especially at two in the morning, beeping every 30 seconds to let me know the power has gone out. Some have a disable/silence mode, but most do not.

^^^

the icontrolav2 app will not work on your model... it will only work on the newer models...

I thought the firmware upgrade was to get the icontrolav2 working?

^^^

which firmware upgrade are you referring to? got a link to some release notes?

sorry just realized i updated the wrong thread. my model is 1120k.