Pioneer VSX-1021 Owners' Thread - Page 66

Answering my own question: I was able to get by this by unplugging my Ethernet cable and then plugging it back in. Doesn't make any sense to me, but I am able to start HMG now. Perhaps this will help other people who have experienced this issue.

I have been able to get my VSX-1021-K talking with a DLNA server (Twonky running on an HpMediaVault 2010) that has indexed my library of Apple Lossless files. When I start up HMG, I am able to browse through those files with no issues. However, when I try to play an Apple Lossless file, I get a File Format Error. One of the reasons I bought the receiver was its ability to play ALAC files.

I have verified that there are no issues with the files themselves. Any ideas how I can get the VSX-1021-K to play Apple Lossless Files over DLNA?

This happens to mine and every now and then it is a bit annoying. I may call tech support unless Anyone has any Ideas.

Howdy Folks!

Figured I’d just do a little “me too” contribution.

Finally decided to score a VSX-1021 after seeing them on sale month after month. $299 delivered a _steal_ for this component!

I had an old Yamaha V870 (now migrated to my office), which didn’t have any HDMI IO, so I tried using a Monoprice HDMI switch box. It was a little wonky, not a negative toward MP (love their other products), I just think that’s indicative of a $50 switcher (plus one of the 4 ports was on the front, and the LEDs were retina burning). They did take it back and issue me a credit after 3 months use.

Anyway, figured vs. a more expensive switch, converters, etc., just get a new AVR.

So far it’s terrific. We’re using it with a Panasonic 54” 54G25 plasma, and some Phase Tech speakers that I just recently put in new drivers (mids in the sats and sub).

I turned on HDMI Control on the 1021, and I’m getting the OSD volume on the TV, generated from the AVR. I was vaguely aware there was some kind of bidirectional HDMI protocol for more modern components, but this is my first hands on with it.

The “pass-through” I understand is sketchy because of inconsistent implementation at the source component, no biggie so far, we’re pretty much running the AVR all the time.

I networked it up (see my semi off-topic rambling below ), and got the iPad remote working, plus Airplay. Very slick. Changed a few input labels, messed around with the advanced tuning, I’ll probably do a little more with that later. I did a little focused listening yesterday, and the VSX sounds pretty dang good, in fact, it seems substantially better than the Yamaha I replaced.

(Keeping in mind “better” is sometimes just the subjective sound particulars)

Either:

1) It is
2) The Yamaha is going pear shaped
3) The speakers are breaking in (recall, I put new mid drivers and a new sub driver)
4) Airplay directly to the AVR vs. the Apple TV makes a big difference (my previous test with the Yamaha was through the Apple TV, converter, etc.)

I used the same music, AIC acoustic/unplugged, some Floyd (ripped myself with a really high sample rate), some John Williams soundtrack, a little Billy Joel live. re, #4, it’s pretty decent, album art, the front panel scrolls the song info (if you don’t have a display on), not as “purty” as the ATV interface, but then again, what is?

re, networking: I scored an 8 port 10/100/1000 switch from Monoprice with my credit. They sell their own brand (I suspect it’s probably a TrendNet or some such internally) for $25.00 Nice exterior design, auto-switching, etc.

Funny enough, I used **7** ports wiring everything up on the AV rack Why not WiFi? Latency, sketchy N at that corner of the house (router upstairs), have a GB drop in place (a few components are GB, plus the 100MBs are still faster ... I have internal network considerations too, not just routed/external/internet).

I would like to retract my comment from a few pages back about the volume level of this receiver. I had compared it to my Yamaha RX N600 with a different set of speakers. Now that I have everything connected the levels are very similar at lower volumes. However at higher volumes, say -15 or so, this receiver is blowing away that Yamaha. The difference is tremendous in terms of volume and to a lesser extent quality. However, the Pioneer is really shining now with Blu Rays and HDMI; something the Yamaha could not do.

Currently I have a 6.1 setup (because that's what my old system was). I have this information entered correctly into the receiver and speaker connections are made appropriately. I have HDMI from PS3 to receiver and HDMI out to tv. I'm not an electronics novice and have had "home theater" setups since the mid 90's. This decoding thing is throwing me for a loop though. I keep hearing about PCM and bitstream, etc. I'm using a PS3 as my blu ray drive and the receiver is showing PCM. Once, I was able to get it to show DTS, but never have I seen it play Digital HD or DTS Master. I've tried reading about the settings and differences between PCM and bitsream, etc. From what I understand there's something about whether the sound is decoded by the unit playing the disc or the receiver itself. Could someone explain this in slow English or provide a link with common language so it doesn't read like a tech manual? Thanks

I'm a new owner of the vsx-1021 and I have a quick question for all of you. Is there any way to check to see and possibly edit what power is being put out to the individual speakers? Four out of the five speakers in my setup are 8 ohms while my center channel is 6 ohms. Would there be a way to see if the receiver is pushing 8 ohms through all channels?

I am not sure where you can see it but I read somewhere that there may be a setting to change on the AVR if you use anything other than the 8 ohms speaker. I could not find and had a need as all my speakers are 8 ohms.

By the 8 ohms is impedance of the speakers and it is the current that is pushed(or drawn) to the speakers based on the impedance of the speakers. Lower the impedance the higher the current required to run the speakers. That is why more power is normally required for 6 or 4 ohms speakers.

Well, I finally got around to hooking up my new VSX-1021 today,more than a month after I purchased it, so it's too late for a return to the seller.

The receiver appears to receive HDMI from the Comcast STB OK -- I get audio out from my speakers, DD indication, and so on. But the TV just says check cable . I'm using a high performance HDMI cable that works fine between the STB and the same TV HDMI input. I tried wiggling the cable on the back of the AVR to no avail.

I've noticed that the HDMI connectors don't seat very deeply on this AVR. Do I need to push really hard to seat them deeper, or is this normal? Otherwise, I can't think of anything else to try. Either the AVR isn't outputting the HDMI signal properly, or there is some incompatibility with my 5 year old Samsung HL-S6767W. Anyone out there using this TV with this AVR?

Any help would be most appreciated.

I posted earlier about trying to stream ALAC files via Twonky installed on an HPMediaVault, but figured I'd try to simplify the problem by removing Twonky from the equation. So, here's the situation:

I have my iTunes library stored on an HPMediaVault mv2010. The entire library consists of Apple Lossless (.m4a) files, no DRM, ripped from CDs.

I am trying to stream the music to a Pioneer VSX-1021-K receiver over DLNA. This works great for .mp3 and .wav files, but when I try to play an Apple Lossless file, I get a File Format Error or a Server Disconnected error. The receiver then searches for the next playable file and plays that.

I'm pretty sure it's not the files themselves as they work great over a Sonos. I have tried renaming one to .mp4 as was suggested in some other forums, but that didn't seem to do the trick. The .mp4 file shows up under the videos folder, but gave the same File Format or Server Disconnected errors.

I'm also reasonably sure that it's not the receiver since Pioneer advertises it as being able to handle Apple Lossless files, which is one of the reasons I got it. I am able to successfully play ALAC files from an iPod hooked directly up to the receiver's USB connection.

Finally, I'm quite sure that it's not the network as I have everything hooked up via Ethernet to eliminate wifi flakiness. Plus, I'm able to browse the library, but just can't actually play an ALAC file.

I have tried installing Twonky using Lee Devlin's excellent instructions at http://k0lee.com/hpmediavault/twonky/index.html, but get the same results.

Any assistance with getting ALAC files streaming from my mv2010 would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I have my cable box hooked into the HDMI IN 1 slot and the receiver is hooked up to my Samsung UN55D7000 into the HDMI 2 slot on the TV which is ARC compatible. The only speakers I have hooked to the VSX-1021-K are two ceiling speakers which I wanted to use to enhance the sound of the internal TV speakers however now the TV speakers are not emitting audio. Is it possible to use the two ceiling speakers along with the internal TV speakers? If so how do I accomplish this?

Interestingly, it doesn't look like this receiver supports that directly. You can set the receiver to pass through audio over HDMI or play it back itself, but not both (like the Sony receivers allow).

One option may be to connect the component directly to the TV, and then let the TV pass it back through the ARC (if it supports an Amp+TV mode, mine doesn't). Or pass it back through a optical audio cable.

No guarantees though. The most likely way to make it work is have a receiver that supports TV+Amp output instead of Through/Amp switching like the Pioneer.

I guess I may have to send it back then. That seems like a basic feature a receiver should have. I was trying to avoid putting a center speaker on the mantle as I'm not fond of the looks of them.

Hi all -

I need some help from whoever is using wireless bridge and airplay successfully.

My receiver is with me for about 3 months now and today I tried to set it up.

I have cisco e3000 flashed with tomato firmware and another netgear router.

Netgear router is my primary and cisco is my wireless bridge or client.

Now i tried to set the cisco router in wireless client mode and then used wired connection from it to the avr.

I could not get airplay working this method.

Then I changed the e3000 to wireless ethernet bridge mode.

Now i could see the AVR on iphone under aiplay option but could not play any songs.

On my Macbook I see AVR under airplay but again when I try to connect to it I just see "connecting to ...." for a long time and nothing happens...

Can someone help me on this setup?

If you hook an optical cable from the tv to the avr and turn pass through off you can have your tv speakers on and still hear audio through the avr.

My current setup is still purely analog (one piece at a time, ya know), but I have optical to the receiver and RCA to the TV coming from my DVD player so I can use either the TV speakers for most discs, or my receiver for those that deserve it. I'm hoping I can continue do this when my ancient CRT set is replaced by a 21st century viewing solution that has decent built-in sound.

i don't believe you will find any avr that will allow the display to be used as a center speaker the way you want... to start with, it'll never sync up right... secondly, the center channel in a soundtrack is a unique channel, and if you passed all the audio through to the tv, it will contain all of the info...

sorry... you'll either have to put a speaker on the mantle, or live with what you got...

You are right that you can't use a TV as a center, but wrong on the rest.

The STR-DH8xx will allow output on both at the same time. I even used it to get a decent reading on the lag on my TV by syncing the two up manually. But you do only get left/right, which if you want dialogue separation, is the wrong way to do it.

^^^

then it doesn't "work right", does it?????

my statement still stands... just because it'll send it to two places, does NOT mean he can do what he want...

doing what you are doing is completely pointless... you aren't creating a center channel, you are merely duplicating your l/r...

That does assume he is trying to create a center channel, which I don't think he is. With in-ceiling speakers, your dialogue is coming from above. Which isn't exactly ideal. You want the dialogue coming from the screen itself in an ideal case.

That's one thing a center speaker helps with, that duplicating the L/R would also help with to an extent. It would also avoid having to use a center speaker. The one thing duplicating L/R doesn't help with is dialogue separation, which may not even be a goal/requirement for this guy.

The only other option would be bi-wiring up a second set of L/R speakers, which is actually worse than just getting a center in the situation he describes.

Don't look for the modern flat panel TV's to have better sound. Your old CRT probably has better speakers than the majority of new TV's these days. Can't say I'm surprised though, considering how thin these displays are these days. I just wish that the TV manufacturers would start selling monitors (no built in tuners or audio section) so I don't have to spend the extra money on things that I don't need or want. Best to start saving your money for new speakers.

Guys,

Trying to understand all this new stereo stuff. I purchased a set of PSB T6 speakers for my home media center and am wondering what I need to do in order to make this set-up sound the best that I can. Seems like I need to hook it up to the TV in order to be able to access the receiver's menus and from there run the MCACC program to get the sound characteristics of the room and speakers know to the receiver. I do not have a subwoofer as of yet, but I do plan on getting one in April. Should I watch out for any potential issues with the way the receiver tries to correct for the room sound? I understand that I need to tell the receiver what speakers are hooked up.

Question...... Is there a way to correct the center channel sound if I find it to be too treble biased?

Thanks!

Right. My 32" bedroom LCD has a set of Logitech powered computer speaker that use the headphone jack. Sound is much better than the tinny little ones in the panel, but I can't mute them. No biggie. Now I'm wondering if my eventual LR setup will have to have smaller speakers that can be used as an alternative to the Polk towers I use for music and the occasional DVD; I really don't want to have to use them for the 6 o'clock news and such. Sigh. Nothing is easy...

^^^

sure it is, if you don't overcomplicate it needlessly... why would you not want to use the speakers you have, you aren't gonna wear them out...

Well, our LR is a spacious, high ceiling, hardwood floor room. Sound in there now just bounces around. It's one of the reasons I was glad I could still use the speakers in my CRT for general watching. But, we'll see. Perhaps the 1021 will give let me use them as I couldn't before.

I didn't receive any responses but...nevermind. The issue I was having may have been related to a cable seating prob on one of the HDMI inputs. It's all sorted now.The monoprice unit I have is "1X2 PRO Series Powered HDMI® Splitter with 3D support".

I came pretty close to returning the unit because of the earlier prob but I am glad I kept it. The channel separation is outstanding on 5.1 and 7.1. I haven't fully explored the other capabilities yet but I am looking forward to doing so.

^^^

glad you got it working...

fwiw, "channel separation" is a measure of crosstalk in circuits... it's unlikely you are hearing any difference in that...

Any help?

That cheapo amazon fan I bought works flawlessly with the 1021 usb port. I just set the speed I wanted on the fan, fan has a manual dial for speed, and plugged it into the usb port on the receiver. Now the fan turns on when the receiver is turned on, and off when the receiver is shut down.

I had to read the post about 3 times before I realized what is going on.

The Pioneer doesn't support IPv6 (correctly). You probably have IPv6 enabled on the MacBook and it's trying to connect when the receiver can't respond.

The work-around is to turn off IPv6 which is kinda lame.

Sorry if this was already covered. I tried search but got loads of unrelated stuff.

I just picked up the 1021 and loving it. The only problem is Zone 2 appears to have reverb or delay applied to it. I have zone 2 hooked up in my kitchen adjacent to the living room and when you're listening to the same source there's an obvious and annoying delay, not to mention it sounds really thin regardless of listening source (I had a previous A/B receiver set up and the kitchen speakers sounded full and wonderful, so I know it's not the speakers themselves). Is there a way to remove the surround effect from zone 2 and just have it play the main stereo signal? Admittedly, when I first unboxed the unit I ran MCACC and zone 2 was set as a surround channel, but I've since changed the speaker settings per instructions for a 2 zone system, but the surround effect stuck to it. I'm baffled.