The **OFFICIAL** Denon AVR-XX12 Model Owner's Thread - Page 11

Help needed with AVR-1912 - No Sound from the surround speakers

Just installed my new 1912 and everything worked like a champ until I tried to get the surrounds to work with a movie on directv! Tried everything in the manual. Re-ran the auto setup several times and the speakers responded with the test sound so I am very confused. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Being a yamaha man myself I'm looking to upgrade my receiver to denon. Forgive me for asking but since I am not familiar with denon what do you mean there is no 43xx model? There will not be any high end models like 4312? The 3312 based on looks and power rating looks like a low to mid end model to me.

^^
The 3312CI is considered Denon's upper "mid range" AVR while the 43XX series is the bottom of their "high end" models, the 4810 and 5308 being the upper high end but not expected to have any replacements in the near future, although the 5308 is due to receive a major upgrade ($1200) in October. The 43XX series will (for the next several years) be the highest "new" model to be released; however, due likely to the recent issues in Japan, the 4312CI is being delayed until sometime around spring of next year and therefore will likely be released as the 4313CI. No details have been released yet on the 4313CI other than it will have the new Audyssey Low Frequency Containment (LFC).

Sounds like either would fit my needs just fine, so this will probably come down to what deals I can find.

Thanks for the prompt replies, I appreciate it!

Batpig, thanks for the feedback - I was a bit fried out after a day of messing with this yesterday. Everything on the input and output modes checked out. After working on it until the late hours I discovered that sound was coming out but it was so low I couldn't hear it until I turned the volume way up. I assuming there is a simple fix for this. If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Digging into the "nice" user manual now.

I did hear that they were putting the squeeze on but I just recently ordered the Denon D2000 headphones from one of those retailers for $190 shipped to CA which was a massive savings over their list price.

Pretty sure you just have to "call in".

Have you run AUTO SETUP yet to enable Dyn EQ as this will beef up the surrounds? Otherwise you can always just bump them up a few db to suit your preference. Also note that unless you are using the Multi CH Stereo mode, the surrounds often don't get much sent to them.

Is it possible that the surrounds are out of phase? AUTO SETUP should be able to detect that.

He should be able to detect that ... just look at the wiring connections.

Just wondering if that might be joeyd's problem. I have been playing with AUTO SETUP since I installed my AVR-1612, and it keeps warning me that my right surround is out of phase. I know for a fact that the wire is connected on the 1612 "correctly" because I had them marked with p-touch labels. But now it makes me wonder if my on-wall surround speaker is connected correctly. Listening to The Beatles in Mono the other day and was not completely satisfied.

This will be my mission after work today.

They don't appear to be out of phase. I don't recall seeing the DYN EQ option when i ran setup. The only thing I saw was MultEQ. Hating the user manual. Where do you set up the individual speakers to increase the DB's?

Well, I kind of don't like the manual either, but on a receiver such as this, reading it (and with the knowledgable people on this forum) has helped me understand the built-in tecnology better. The Auto Setup feature is really very cool and gets good results.

That being said, the manual speaker setup process is described starting on page 59 of the manual and is pretty straight-forward starting at the System Setup menu item.

Oh, and this caveat from page 54 of the manual:

"f you have not performed Auto Setup, or if you change the speaker settings after performing Auto Setup,
you may not be able to select Dynamic EQ®/Dynamic Volume®."

jdsmoothie thanks for the prompt reply. Accurate info like that is hard to come by. I'd have to reconsider my passage to denon. The plastic faceplate/knobs and two fans in the 4311 have definately put me off. I was hoping the new 4312 would be better build.

Thx. Jimklo. I ran the auto setup at least 2 times again today and the results are still the same. Low volume on the surrounds. I have read the manual probably 10 times as well and frankly my head is swimming. Thanks for pointing me to the correct page for setting up the speakers volume manually - I missed it the first 10 times I will give this a try!

After running AUTO SETUP, Dyn EQ is automatically set to ON and Dyn Vol (tames commercials) is set to OFF. Most prefer Dyn EQ to be left ON for all sources, while Dyn Vol (set to Evening) is generally best only for TV/cable/sat viewing.

The easiest way to change the speaker levels is to use the "CH Level" button on the right side of the remote.

As long as the wire connections at both the AVR and speaker are visually confirmed to be connected correctly (ie. +/+ and -/-) then you're good to go. Simply ignore the warning and press SKIP to move on as the manual indicates. Some speakers are intentionally wired out of phase.


Just an FYI here .. by "change" it means to add additional speakers to the setup as changing the channel level (volume), speaker size (LARGE to SMALL which should be done for all speakers the AVR sets to LARGE if there is a subwoofer present), or increasing a speaker's crossover up to 80hz can all be done without impacting the Audyssey filters (as these settings are made by the AVR and not Audyssey).

The Onkyo 3008 and 5008 are both 9.2 AVRs as well which both include the same Audyssey MultEQ XT 32 as does the 4311CI.

Tried this. Still, under network info, the AVR gives me my gateways address when DHCP is off and no address when it is on. The advice to manually enter an IP address from a different device was over my head so for now I'm still stuck.

Thanks for that, call me weird but I never liked the onkyos plus they don't have airplay one of those must have features once you've tried it.
I only have a 5.1 setup (fronts and center currently bi-wired) and would love a 9.2 receiver which would allow me to bi-amp both the front and center channels. I am not sure if any receivers allow this (I don't use any of the zone functions). In theory an 11.2 receiver would allow me to bi-amp the rears as well but I don't think anyone would create such a receiver since people have already moved away from 5.1 setups.

Sounds like your router is not allowing new devices onto your network.. Try resetting your router.. Unplug it wait 1 min plug it back in and the. Check the denon.. Make sure the denon is set to dhcp on..

To each their own. Keep in mind that the Airplay feature in the Denon AVRs only passes "audio" and if you should ever decide to add a Zone 2/3, you would be limited to playing Airplay across all zones including the main zone (ie no independent Zone 2/3 while listening to another source in the main zone). The better option is the ATV 2 ($99) which can play audio AND video as well as independently to Zones 2/3. Denon AVRs will only let you bi-amp the FL/FR speakers although as is often discussed in these threads, is arguably not that effective as a "passive" bi-amping feature. On a side note, the 4311CI can expand to 11.2 with a 2CH external amp.

Why not just get an amp? The receiver has only 1 power supply so biamping by using the extra channels of a receiver does not increase power. I have tried it before and I ran audyssey before and after. The levels were the same both times. If the fronts were getting more power then you would have to turn them down to even out with the center and surrounds but that didn't happen. In my opinion, biamping with the extra channels of a receiver is a waste of wire.

Let me take this moment to express how much I hate UPS. They tried to deliver my 2112CI at 9:30am on a Tuesday morning. Obviously, in order to afford new AVRs, I have a JOB. So, now I get the glorious experience of going to UPS after 8pm tonight to pick up what should have been delivered to me by a delivery company. What am I paying these people for again?

Ok, I'm done.

Thanks jdsmoothie. That nifty CH Level button was very handy. Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem. Cranked up the DB's to max but still got less than stellar volume - it only bumped it up a minor amount. Back to the drawing board.......

thanks for the response, jdsmoothie!

^^
What kind of audio are you listening to? What does the front panel display read? Set the surround mode to "Multi CH Stereo" just to check what they can sound like with a full signal being received.

I tried it on several different audio types - music, movies, bd, etc. I tried the Multi CH Stereo setting - no difference. I know it must be a setting somewhere as when I ran the auto setup again the volume of the test sounds were substantially louder.

jdsmoothie I agree the atv2 sounds appealing at that price but since I'm not looking into zone control and used the denon implementation of Airplay I liked it alot. I already have a media player for my 1080p blu-ray 1:1 rips something the atv2 will never do. I prefer to have airplay built-in in the receiver rather than a separate box. Although I'm sure denon will eventually add airplay video as well but probably not until a couple of years.

mjpearce023 I have already wasted my wire when I bi-wired my speakers. I'd like to bi-amp them instead. I know its a single amp in the receiver and I won't pretend I understand how power is spread to the speakers but I know this. My current amp is rated at:
130w x 7 = 910w (dreamland figure)
When tested it did:
138w x 1 = 138w
116w x 2 = 232w
38w x 5 = 190w
Therefore in my simple mind I conclude that bi-amping must somehow make a difference even if your valid test says otherwise. Then there is also the controversial matter of it "sounding better" mainly due to claims of cleaner power to the hights as separate from the lows which are power hungry, etc.
I know it sounds pointless but my theater is one of my hobbies and the more tickering/playing available the better I say.
As an additional note my rears are lower in volume than my fronts/center, must be because of the bi-wiring of the former