Pioneer VSX-1120 TXH HDMI V1.4 Receiver Owners' Thread - Page 166

Hi, just bought a vsx 1120 and klipsh rf-82, rc 52. I also bought 3 marantz thx ma 500u mono amps.I also have enough speakers to do a 7.1 or even a 9.1 set-up. #1 will using the 3 front pre-outs on the 1120 to power the monoblocks benefit me at all? #2 will bi-amping or bi-wiring the 3 front channels improve power or sound? #3 what combonations or suggestions would be best for my set-up.? I think the 1120 is only 7.1 so I would need amps for 2 more channels to achieve 9.1 right? I was really hoping the mono-blocks could fit in and help things out. thx in advane for any and all advice. cheers.

You'll definitely want the mono blocks powering your front speakers, the sound will be a dramatic improvement. And the 1120 can do 9.1, front height or width. I am doing front height with mine. I have a 5 channel Emotiva amp powering the main 5 with the 1120 handling the 2 rear and front height speakers, everyone loves my system.

My RF-7s can do bi wiring as well, but I've never messed with it.

Thanks Snake. I am so happy that YOU read my post last night, lucky that you stumbled by. Others have said that theris no way that I can get 9.1 with a 7.1 avr even with ext. amps. I am going for the same setup as you with heights as my extra 2 ch. + working back surrounds. I am also very happy to hear that off loading my front 3 to the monoblocks will make the 1120 sing and breathe easier. My power supply also says thanks. I might or most probably will ask for your help again with some settings, hope your o.k. with that, I have given up on bi-amping, bi-wiring. Everyone says the same thing, FORGET ABOUT IT. So once again, Totally appreciate your insights on this and will update when 9.1 is my reality. Happy Holidays and cheers to all the other 1120 owners out there.

Happy I could help, yeah it gets confusing for whatever reason with 9.1 set ups, I hadn't read anything prior to buying that lead me to believe it would do front height or width, while it can do both(possibly at the same time if I'm not mistaken). FYI I've heard front width is better, but it's not an option for me because of the size of my screen. The front height is a subtle effect, but I can attest it makes a difference, particularly with concerts, really adds to the largness of the sound. I only bothered because a friend had a pair of Klipsch RB-61's he wasn't using anymore and gave them to me, so happens they were the perfect speakers for the job. Settings are easy on the speaker set up you simply specify height or width. For watching stuff you'll want to have the reciever on front height mode, which is selectable on the advances surround buttons I believe. Feel free to ask any questions, good luck!

I have sad news. my 1120 died last night. not 16 months after I had purchased it, I noticed my display on the HU go out. So I took it to an approved Pioneer service center and they stated it needed 2 boards replaced in it, costing about $300. But the odd thing was other than the display being out, and it seeming to run a bit hotter than normal, I didn't have it in me at the time so I took he unit back home. managed to get 3-4 months out of it but now its officially dead. Can't change the input , no sound, and only way to power it off is to pull the plug out of the back..
I'll be honest., I bought this thing strait out of the box new, and have always been conscious of wiring and ground issues. I have stuck with Pioneer for over 25 years and... out of spite.. I don't know if I want to even spend the money to have it looked at or change to a different brand. only cuz quality gets a big 0% review for me on my 1120.

Recently my 1120 has been acting strange. After it is switched on, it takes a couple of seconds for the sound to come on. It's somewhere about 15-20 seconds after it is switched on that the sound comes on. This does not happen all the time but I have noticed it more and more often. I hope this is not a bad sign. Has anyone else encountered this problem? I have had this unit since they first came out and have been very happy with it. Anyone's input would be appreciated.

Once it comes on does it also take time to switch inputs from the remote (or even the dial). Also does it delay at all in responding to shutting off?

No, no problems with switching inputs or shutting off. Responds well to everything else. Just has that delay every once in a while. I am using banana clips. I wonder if they could be causing problems. I checked them out and they seemed firmly in place.

I have no idea on that one then. Sorry

ok so some followup venting.... I thought I would humor myself and contact Pioneer on my recently diseased 1120 and give them my opinion of their past reliability (which has been great for me) and their current 1 year warranty and quality, (at least by my luck of the draw.)... so 15 min in to my explanation of my environment which hasn't changed for 10 years, surge protector setup, speakers etc... ....I get a response from Pioneer warranty department person that may be the customer support comment of the decade... now I'm not quoting this exactly but this is more or less what was said. " Well, understand Sir that though your older Pioneer is still working great, understand that the technology was much simpler in those models, and thus less things to go wrong". "with the current models, there is more hardware and reasons it can fail."..... ok so at first.... this sounds like a valid response... right? then again, what that also sounds like to me is.... we race to stay with today's technology... but are not confident that it's going to work as long...

After they told me that, it was clear that my next choice in a receiver is going to be based on who wants to backup this "cutting edge" technology that we call an AV receiver with a good warranty. Any suggestions? jk... no idea what I want to do right now.
Now, I'm not wet behind the ears with this sort of stuff, I'm of the age where I actually consider myself lucky that I haven't had to debate many "off warranty" issues in my life with electronics, and I understand that its probably just bad luck I got the unit I did off the rack, but when I have been an exclusive Pioneer owner my whole life , and that meant nothing to Pioneer support, then I told them I had no choice but to ban all their products and spread the word as it is. Not bashing Pioneer... just letting their "face" show to a dedicated returning customer, which obviously meant nothing. Wow this sounds like real life... minus $800.

I'm going to post this in the thread, but it seems you may be able to give me advice based on what you've done so far and how you described your usage:
I recently hooked up a turntable to my system which connects using only the Red/White Inputs. Since I'm playing vinyl (new and old), the volume output is understandably lower than most digital signals. My "sound profile" is based MCACC set up that ran through my 9.1 speaker configuration. So my Stereo speakers are broadcasting that profile which I don't think is ideal for Stereo listening. I went in the Speaker Setup to see if I could run an MCACC for just the Stereo speakers and couldn't figure it out for the life of me. So I created a new profile and just upped the volume for the front right and left which is decent, but not ideal. I know there are a bunch of EQ settings, but not really sure how to adjust these properly. Any guidance on setting this up? The records sound great, but I know I'm not getting the full experience or quality that this system is capable of. Thanks (and happy holidays!)

I recently hooked up a turntable to my system which connects using only the Red/White Inputs. Since I'm playing vinyl (new and old), the volume output is understandably lower than most digital signals. My "sound profile" is based MCACC set up that ran through my 9.1 speaker configuration. So my Stereo speakers are broadcasting that profile which I don't think is ideal for Stereo listening. I went in the Speaker Setup to see if I could run an MCACC for just the Stereo speakers and couldn't figure it out for the life of me. So I created a new profile and just upped the volume for the front right and left which is decent, but not ideal. I know there are a bunch of EQ settings, but not really sure how to adjust these properly. Any guidance on setting this up? The records sound great, but I know I'm not getting the full experience or quality that this system is capable of. Thanks (and happy holidays!)

What mode were you on for processing? Auto Surround, direct, etc...? I will assume that your setup has your r fronts listed as "small" to allow for control of a sub?, Does it seem like the low end is missing more than anything?
I wanted to setup a better 2 ch. listening experience as well. I found one of the "flaws" with this receiver IMO, is that when setting up the fronts as large, it shuts off the assumed usage of a Sub. SO, the only way to get around this was to tell MCACC that my fronts were Bi-amp. And yes I tore back in to my speakers and separated out the woofers on their own channel and ran those leads based on what the manual told me to, which I think was 2nd zone outputs , (don't worry, I built the speakers in the first place) When doing this, the sub was still available. Now, I don't have the situation of using a turntable but I can tell you that when listening to 2ch music, it was much better and acted as expected, for my listening. If anything it was what I had to do to make it easy (and lazy) on my part to use just one MCACC config. BUT, I don't have my unit any longer to check but I believe if you go in to MCACC and setup memory slot 2 with a new config, it will hold the large / small speakers settings for each memory...?? might want to look. if that's the case and you can set your fronts to large, you wouldn't have to go bi-amp but maybe in there you could just set the other speakers to off? (again,not 100% on that statement).

Maybe that helps? Sorry as you may have seen above, my 1120 is RIP now.. or I would try it out for you.

Happy Holidays back at ya!

Paul.

went through the threads as much as I can , used search option..could not find out what I need

1. Any cheap alternate option available other than Pioneer Bluetooth Adapter ?

2. Any android app to play from phone through receiver? - Receiver is connected to the network..

This looks like an alternate though I haven't used it. As far as I know there isn't a way to stream audio via the network on the 1120 (You can only play internet radio)
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10827&cs_id=1082704&p_id=7364&seq=1&format=2

I have searched this thread to find the answer but i cant seem to find the answer i am looking for. I want to use my ps3 for video and my iphone for audio. I have a 5.1 setup want to listen to music while playing video games or watching tv. I saw some posts about using zone 2 features but i cant figure it out. All I want to do is to pass the video signal on to my panasonic tv but use a different audio source. I was able to do this with my old onkyo but cant figure it out on the pioneer. Has this issue been resolved or is just not a feature on the 1120?

I apologize if there is another post already about this but i couldnt find what i was after...Thanks for any help or guidance.

I don't have an iPhone but here goes you can set the an input where it picks up the Video via HDMI (assuming you are connecting your PS3 via HDMI) and select the audio input from another source like optical 1,2 or 3.

Hey guys I'm having trouble with my 1120-K.
After a long weekend we came home wanting to watch some tv only to realize my receiver won't output any audio. I have tried all the things on the manual and even checked for wires touching each other and nothing.
Las night I performed a factory reset and nothing, I'm actually starting to worry.
What can it be?

Thank you.

I just wanted to update my situation.
I ended up disconnecting everything from the receiver and giving it a quick dust off before trying it again with only the 3 front speakers connected. And it magically worked!
Now, after turning it back off to plug the 2 remaining speakers, ethernet, and HDMI cables, I turned it back on and it did the same thing. So there I am disconnecting everything but the speakers and trying again, and finally it stopped doing it.
I'm worried this could be a warning sign of a bigger problem that's yet to come, but what could it be?

Maybe an intermittent short in one of the speaker wires?

I have banana plugs o them, and I did also checked for that. I love the receiver I just hate the fact he seems to be too darn finicky.

i have had the 1120 for a few years now and loved it until the other night. My son turned on the unit to watch tv and got a small shock from the unit. Now the unit says there are headphones plugged in and there's no sound. Is there anything I can do to fix this or is this a repair issue? I had the BB extended warranty on it but that expired in November of last year.

You can try and do a master reset.
The process is described on page 60 of the manual in detail.
I hope this works for you.

yeah I tried to do that several times and its not working. I'm thinking the system might be fried ;(

Sorry to hear that if that's the case I would bite the bullet and make peace with the 1120 biting the dust as it will be cost prohibitive to have it fixed I assume.
Have you tried plugging in a headphone? what happens then.
I would suggest just unplugging it for a while but I assume you have done that already.

When you pug in headphones sound works great. I did unplug the machine for probably 1 -3 minutes. I am going to unplug it today for a few hours and see if that doesn't do anything.

We are not in a position to replace the receiver any time soon so I'm hoping something works

I need some advice on the center channel sound from my 1120.

I've tried two completely different center speakers, a Polk CS-10, and a Magnepan MMGC. With either speaker in a 3.1 HT setup my center sounds harsh, tinny, and shrill. I've tried streaming 5.1 from Netflix as well as BluRay DVD's and both sound equally bad.

Thinking that the MMGC might be overloading the 1120 amp, I connected it through an external Halfer amp and it sounded exactly the same. I tried calibrating the receiver with MCACC and still the center speaker never sounds right. Using a virtual center sounds better but that isn't what I want. The system is up against a bare wall, no wall treatments or carpeting, which could be partially responsible.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts or ideas on what could be wrong with my setup that could cause this problem. With center alone it is really hard to listen too.

1. in the manual, on page 79 under Manual SP setup menu, where the "placement of the surround speakers", says: "in a 7.1 channel surround system with surround speakers placed directly at the sides of the listening position, the surround sound of 5.1 channel source is heard from the side. This function mixes the sound of the surround speaker with the surround back speakers so that the surround sound is heard from diagonally to the rear as it should be." and then this function gives two options of "on side", or "in rear" for the surround side speaker.

i am wondering, when choosing "on side" in this option menu, does MCACC upmixes the 5.1 surround signal and distributes it across side surround and rear surround speaker? and does "in rear" retain the original 5.1 surround signal to the side surround speaker and does no distribution?

i would like some clarification on this subject before i start drilling bunch of wholes on my wall then come to find out the placement of the speakers is not ideal.

2. on page 17 of the manual for VSX 1120K, under "Placing The Speakers", it says "place the surround speakers at 120 degree from the center if you, (1) use the surround back speaker, and, (2) don't use the front height speakers / front wide speakers, we recommend placing the surround speaker right beside you."

does this mean MCACC recommends placing surround side speakers on the side at 90 degree angle when setting up 7.1? or does this mean it recommends placing the side surround speakers at 120 degree angle when setting up 7.1. the wording of the manual is confusing because it mentioned "surround back speaker", but fails to mention which surround back speaker(s) it is talking about, since a singular surround back speaker would be referring to 6.1 setup, while multiple surround back speakers would be referring to a 7.1 setup, both are two very different configurations. so which is it referring to? is it talking about Surround back "speaker" as in singular 6.1 configuration? or is it talking about surround back "speaker(s)" as in 7.1 configuration.

^^^^^ can someone with a 7.1 and 1120/1121 receiver do a quick A/B test for me between "On side" and "in rear" option.

right now my suspicion has me believe that "on side" option upmixes the 5.1 surround signal to the rear surround creating a diagonal surround signal, while "in rear" retains the side surround signal to itself and doesn't upmix any 5.1 surround signal to the rear.

it'll really solve the riddle and save me the trouble of getting yelled at by the wife if someone can just do a quick A/B test.

don't have your speakers up against the wall, they should be at least a few feet away. and don't have it boxed inside a cabinet also. best place for a center speaker is to have it sit openly away from the wall with the face of the speaker overhanging the ledge of the cabinet top.

my guess is your center is colored to begin with. if your main L/R are less colored, you can tell MCACC to calibrate according to FRONTS. there're three options of auto calibration. "all channel", "FRONTS", or "opposites". in this case if your fronts are less colored, i would calibrate to the fronts. all channel in this case will just make your fronts sound tinier and more shrilling.

try that and report back.