Pioneer VSX-1021 Owners' Thread - Page 58

I can only recommends a 5.1 sat system. I have the MatinLogan MLT-2 which are really good for being sats. I am sure you are looking for the full size speakers which I do not have recommendation but can't go wrong with MartinLogan Motion 12s per this forum.

I would although recommend you to go with VSX-1121 instead of the 1021 if you are looking for a higher end theater system that can play music well. 1121k is a notch above the 1021k as it shares A/V hardware of the Pioneer elite series (VSX-52) and you also get an extra 15W power. Basically you will be more future proof then 1021.
This will cost you about $150 over the 1021k. I highly recommend it.

Ok i am willing to do the 1121 so still need to figure out some speakers. I dont know how to choose what i should get for my size room

since you are open to Sats I highly recommend MartinLogans MLT-2. They can be had around $350 @ Newegg when on sale.

Here is some research done 5.1 sats and MLT fared well.

Anybody know how to manually tweak speaker levels AFTER running MCACC? I want to give my center channel a little bit of a boost but cannot figure out how. Any help is appreciated.

The number 7 key on the remote.

Thanks! I saw another thread that said to set the auto/alc/direct on anything but pure direct. I'm not sure which of the tips fixed it but it's working now.

One last question and I think I'm set with this receiver. I LOVE it by the way.

How do I listen to one source but watch another? For instance, how do I play my Xbox 360 while still listening to HMC audio?

A hard reset seemed to do the trick...

So what's the general consensus for surround modes, auto or direct? Does auto do anything to a digital signal like doby digital or true hd/dts ma that would warrant the use of direct?

I always use direct because I want to hear as it was intended.
But even then, it sometimes switches a Dolby True soundtrack to DLPIIx or something.

I guess optimally, since I have a 7.1 system, I would want direct, but use all my speakers, even with 5.1. No extra processing, just send the same signal.

Is the EQ curve that you set through iConvtrolAV2 (Android version) supposed to persist? Their support page isn't very clear on this.

Mine seems to go away after some period of time. I'm not in "demo" mode in the app, and I can hear the changes being applied when I'm in the app.

Thanks,
-Brett.

I always use auto for movies. I use my PS3 for my bluray player (and DVD player), and the receiver always automatically decodes what the PS3 is sending it.

Hi Robertw11


90% of the time both of my Pioneers (VSX 1020 & Elite VSX 53) is on ALC.
For what it's worth.

Bud B

Isn't ALC essentially Pioneer's "night mode"?

So heres what i bought the vsx 1121 i got 2 infinity p153. 1 elemntal designs a2-300 sub and 1 infinity pc350 hopefully everything arrives quick ok so being as i didnt buy all he speakers now please let me know how i should wire

Obvious he pc350 goes center and the sub goes sub but the 2 p153 speakers where should i hook them up on rhe receiver they are gonna be front i guess until i buy rears so they should go to
Front or surround or front height front wide ? These are he options on my receiver

Hi djm1k0, only available option now is Front. You can't have Surround or Front Height or Front Wide without having "Front" first.

So i figure i will put the PC350 in the center, and the P153 on either side of the center ? and place the sub next to the tv.

Then eventually will buy another pair of P153 and use those on the rear wall, take the existing pair of P153 and put those on left and right of front wall, and buy a pair of P362 to put on either side of the center as the "front"..... ? What are your thoughts on this set up once complete ?

Here is the 1121 thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1330154

Does anyone use the android control app or the bluetooth? I It seems you could play your phones music remotely from another room? Someone said you can't on the 1121 forum's it just seems someone said u can

Great choice of speakers. I'm running P362s as fronts, PC351 center & P162s as surrounds. Love the setup.

Yes, center the PC350 either below of above the tv. The P153s should go on either side of the tv, pointing at the prime listening position at about a 25 to 30 degree angle. The sub on the floor, experiment with positions until you get the sound you like.

I would go for the P362s next to complete your 5.1 system. Move your P152s to either side of your listening position as surrounds. If you get another pair of P153s, you can use them as rears (7.1) or front hights.

perfect thank you soo much !!

I have the Pioneer VSX-1021 hooked to DirectTV with HDMI but I occasionally notice distortion in the voices. It seems to be on shows like the 6:00 oclock news or J Leno. I have tried three HDMI cables (some very expensive), exchanged the reciever, had new electronics in the DirectTV antenna, a new DirectTV splitter, and and new DirectTV DVR. Software wise I have set the receiver up in full auto MCACC, tried forcing the speakers to small and the crossover to 100 HZ then recalibrated, tried all settings of LFE, and set the EQ Pro using 50-70, and nothing seems to get rid of it. It is just a little buzz or respy occasionally when people talk. My previous Onkyo worked fine until the HDMI ports failed so I replaced it with this receiver. My speakers are about 10 year old Polk and have worked fine.

Any suggestions what I can try next??

Sounds like you have swapped out everything in the middle so all's left is either the signal from DirectTV or your speakers. Since it happens only occasionally my guess would be DirectTV, either the feed or the cable from the antenna to the box. Check all connectors from the dish to the receiver.

IMO, you may be simply hearing limitations in the sources. Material recorded live, with people wearing body packs (wireless lavalier microphones), is subject to all sorts of heavy signal processing -- particularly compression, limiting and noise reduction -- to compensate for the fact that there is little or no post-production, and the audio crew can't call for re-takes. If the news anchor speaks while turning away from the lapel the mic is clipped to, the audio level will drop significantly unless there is a lot of level compression.

All this processing makes for a dirty signal. That you're hearing it means you have very acute and analytical hearing. A blessing, and a curse.

I would be more concerned if you're hearing this distortion on content like movies.

Been using the receiver for couple of weeks now. First had everything going through receiver then to tv.

Had to change that because for whatever reason my cable box would reset itself and default to a 480p setting every time I set the receiver to that input. Not sure why and couldn't fix other than getting up and manually changing it at the box each time.

So Then i decided to switch everything to run through tv with coax audio out to receiver (which is how I had it with my old Onkyo receiver with no probs). All worked and gave added benefit of being able to adjust picture settings on each input.

Problem I noticed the other day is that I could not get my ps3 to output surround when playing a blu ray while connected this way. Changed all sorts of settings and no luck.

So I decided to move the PS3 to input to the receiver first, and that worked perfectly, now getting signal sent via PCM.

Now here is something weird I have noticed though. When playing around with all the PS3 setting to get things to work (when it was still set through tv first), I ended up losing all audio. I figured I selected an incompatible audio format. But what was weird, Even when I changed inputs on tv and receiver, and even when I powered down/up everything i still had no audio on any input except for the HMG when using AirPlay. I thought perhaps I fried my receiver somehow.

I unplugged everything then powered back up and all was restored. That's when I switched the PS3 input to receiver first and got it all working. Then last night I'm playing Halo Anniversary. The Xbox is still running through the tv first then to receiver via coax. I switched the game and tv to 3D mode and boom, lost all audio again, even on other inputs. Had to unplug everything like last time to get audio working again.

Now the common denominator in these 2 instances where I lost audio was when the input of the device was running through the tv then coax out to receiver. But even if when switching to 3d mode it fried something, why would I lose audio on other inputs and have to unplug to restore?

Could this be because of the coax connection from tv to receiver somehow? I never had any problems like this with my Onkyo, so its very frustrating.

This receiver is great and has more features than my 5 year old entry level Onkyo but I never had any problems at all with my old set up. This one on the other hand is causing me some headaches.

Anyone else have this or similar issues? You think my receiver might be bad? It could be I'm having an issue with the TV since it is that coax input that was on when I "fried" my receiver both times but that would be a strange coincidence to have the problem at the same time I switch receivers.

So What ya think? Could my receiver be bad? The tv perhaps?

Btw I have a Mitsubishi 82-738 DLP, x360, ps3, apple tv, and Comcast dx3400 stb/ all connected. PS3 and Apple TV direct to receiver via hdmi then to tv via hdmi. Cable box and Xbox have their own input to tv then the tv does audio out via coax to receiver.

I'm debating if I should sell my SC05 for the 1021.

Anyone here thinks its worth doing so?

Not from an audio standpoint. What are you looking to gain, the network stuff?

Thats about it
I know I would loose the ice-amp and higher output in watts though
I am considering going pre-amp if I was to go to a 1021 (love the price point, btw).

If it was me, I wouldn't even consider it. There are lots of inexpensive outboard solutions for networked/streaming audio (and video). And for cheap HDMI switchers that can be easily integrated into a universal remote's programming. You have a modern AVR that's much better than the 1021 in most ways. I would consider this a downgrade.

I just bought this receiver last month and am having a couple of serious issues:

My connections are exclusively HDMI by the way.

1. LIMITED or CRUSHED DYNAMIC RANGE. I have gone through the manual at least a dozen times with a fine-tooth comb and after turning off the Dynamic Range Control and the ALC option, the output is still being compressed. DTS-Master Audio and Dolby True HD have a huge amount of headroom when it comes to dynamic range and I'm just not getting it at all. Very frustrating since I've got a hungry set of Klipsch Reference Speakers that are prepared for more volume.

2. DISPLAY ALWAYS SHOWS PCM AUDIO. No matter what Bluray I play, or what the audio format is (DTS Master, DOLBY True) the large front display always reads PCM. (Only on the Cable Box HDMI do I see "Dolby Digital" displayed on the HD channels. But Bluray, Nope!) I switched from "AUTO" to "DIRECT". No dice. The smaller format display that is supposed to show the logo/format -- shows nothing. This begs the question, is the receiver even READING the proper audio stream or is it not???

Any help on this would be appreciated. I'm literally a few days away from taking this back and exchanging it for a Denon or something else.