Official Marantz NR1602 Owner and Buyer Thread - Page 5

yes the subwoofer needs to be connected to the SW preout

hmm i tried switching to optical and it still has the same issue with not locking to the signal. tried 44.1/16 as well, same deal.
i also played around with switching inputs (eg. using SAT w/hdmi assigned). it still refuses to see the signal until the TV is turned on.
i can't realistically turn them on in a certain order, since the coax/optical is coming from a PC soundcard that is always on.
if I turn the TV off while its locked & playing, wait a couple minutes, then toggle input from CD->DVD/BD/SAT->CD it does the same thing and PCM/DIG start flashing with no signal detected.
of course turning the TV back on allows it to lock to the PCM signal again.

This model is a 7.1 AVR. The pre-outs are for the FL/FR speakers only. Your only option for Zone 2 would be to drop down to 5.1 in the main zone and connect the Zone 2 speakers to the SBL/SBR speaker posts.

Thanks.

anyone using optical/coax from a CD or similar? does it detect the pcm stream without having your TV on?
thanks,
-matt

^^I don't have a problem with my cd player. Connected via optical and assigned to CD input. Works like a charm, TV or not. Have you updated your firmware? If so, maybe try resetting the unit and starting from scratch.

Now that I think about it, try going into the input settings and the video assignments and see whats going on in there. The menus in this thing aren't the greatest. For instance, I wanted to watch tv (football) and listen to my media server at the same time. I only had HDMI running from cable box and to tv. After being flustered for an hour, I had to also hook up component video from cable box to AVR, and then it worked.

You may be experincing something similar in reverse. Check if there is some kind of video assignment for the CD input, as stupid as it sounds.

Funny enough, and unfortunately for you, this unit's pre-outs are only for the main zone. Now the funny part is that pretty much all the other entry level AVR's (check the Denon's) have pre-outs for zone 2 but not the main zone. It's the reason I picked this one, as my future plans involve a separate amp in my zone one, and seems to be the reason you should have purchased one of the others...

yep i'm on the latest firmware. tried several hard resets to default, still no dice.
things i tried today: switching soundcards; assigning all manner of video inputs to 'CD" rather than 'Source'.; 44.1/192khz; switching from 5.0 to 5.1 and to 7.1; assigning the optical to another interface (while still using Coax on CD).
i've confirmed that when it works (eg. tv on/off), that with music paused its proper 'PCM Zero'.
i logged into the web interface to check the status without using the OSD. i could see it showing these : instead of:
i've found it's not even necessary to turn the tv on. simply unplugging the HDMI cable will allow it to lock to the digital in. if i plug the HDMI back in (again, with the tv off), the pcm/dig starts flashing again and the signal cuts out. pulling the power plug on the TV had the same effect (coax locked).

replacing the TV isn't an option. the tv is HDMI 1.3 (sharp LC-32LE700UN)

thanks,
-matt

Hi, I'm thinking of buying an NR1602 to power my harmon kardon HKTS20 speakers.

I noticed that on amazon the NR1602 and NR1403 (this years update of the lower model) are both $400, so I was wondering whether the NR1602 or the NR1403 would be better.

Also I guess generally is this a good set up, or is the receiver overkill for those speakers?

Thanks for any help.

the 1602 is a much better AVR and it's currently heavily discounted so....

As the 1403 is Marantz's lowest level 2012 model, the 1602 is a level above that even though it is last year's model and would be the better choice. Neither is overkill for your speakers.
Edited by jdsmoothie - 12/18/12 at 5:49pm

i called up marantz today and they weren't much help. kind of aggressive really, and blamed my tv. but really, why should a tv interfere with the *audio only* function of an avr? perhaps the TV doesn't follow some part of the HDMI standard, but i think the AVR should be designed around cases like that. i did request they forward the issue to an engineer that might better shed some light on the issue, though they're in japan, so it'll probably take a while if it even reaches them.

my thinking is that the receiver is failing to negotiate the hotplug/edid read with the tv in standby. maybe a voltage is off somewhere. and as a result the receiver gets stuck in a loop trying to negotiate the hotplug with the tv, leaving it without the resources to lock & play the digital pcm stream. even after establishing a link with the TV, it seems to time out after a while; toggling sources will cause the issue to recur a few minutes after turning the TV off.

i tried taping some pins on the hdmi cable; 19 (hotplug) worked, but then i got no video when i needed it for the other sources. taping the CEC pin had no effect.

i see there are fixer devices like ehd's new superdad that address issues with both hotplug voltages and edid. likely cost-prohibitive, though. i'll probably try an active cable like the redmere (or ehd's new cable if i can find it).

-matt

edit: the tv's EDID appears to be read just fine with the power off. i tested this by connecting it directly to an htpc (nvidia) and polling the i2c/ddc bus. also, the failure to lock onto the signal is not limited to coax/optical; hdmi audio also shows a nearly identical issue, except that setting "PURE DIRECT" doesn't allow it to lock in this case.
Edited by tofurky - 12/19/12 at 12:04am

Have you tried a new hdmi cable? I've seen them go bad before.

Has anyone teamed this unit up with a rotel amp to get some more punch in stereo mode?

i did try three different hdmi cables, all displayed the same issue. i will have a couple new cables to test with, too, so if the cables alone fix the issue i'll be elated. but i doubt it :/
ordered an Atlona AT-HDSYNC edid/hotplug "fixer". i spoke with a tech at ethereal (brent, very helpful btw) who agreed it was likely that the hotplug voltage coming from the sharp was out of spec, preventing a proper handshake with the receiver.
if this doesn't fix the issue, i'll probably end up returning both the receiver and the at-hdsync :|
out of curiousity, do any makes of receiver have a reputation for being the least problematic in terms of hdmi function?
thanks,
-matt

AFAIK .... no.

My 1602 outputs to an Emotiva power amp power maggies for music. I also use the 1602 to power my normal polk RTI 5.1 speakers for movies.

I use mine with a Parasound amp. It should work fine but you may need to adjust the gain (the Parasound has gain adjustment as do many other brands).

Have mine connected to an Adcom - no issues. Only source it has run on in my set-up thus far is analog CD (from an Ipod... blah), and even then the analog source didn't add any dirty noise to the signal - didn't expect it to, but still worth mentioning I suppose.

I do plan to run Audyssey once I get it into my theater set-up, but I'm assuming this receiver will have the same option my Denon AVR-887 has for Pure Direct - to run with or without room correction settings made by Audyssey. For surround applications the front's will have Audyssey corrections, but for music they won't.
Edited by hopeles117 - 12/19/12 at 11:41pm

the hd-sync seems to have fixed issue with the digital audio (with a hardcoded edid, learning mode did not fix it...), but unfortunately introduced other issues . now, when i switch between hdmi inputs, i get a green screen for a moment, distorted colors, or in the instance of the marantz menu on the cd input, static for several seconds until it locks to the new signal. switching from 60hz->24hz also blanks out the screen a couple times now.
so, i'm seriously considering ditching the marantz for a higher end onkyo or yamaha.
-matt

thanks, the hdsync is what introduced the issues, though. if i remove it and do a direct connect, the hdmi switching is flawless.
i will call atlona tomorrow but i doubt they have a solution.
-matt

I bought an NR1602 1-2 months ago. It was at a price I couldn't refuse. It sounded great, and was set up in a bedroom. It was plenty loud for a bedroom. I wanted a receiver in the bedroom that was strong on audio quality. I had a DVDO iScan Duo laying around, so video inputs or processing wasn't a concern. It did the job very nicely.

Unfortunately, it suddenly stopped producing any audio or video a couple of days ago. I even did a reset of the unit. I tried a new HDMI cable (even though the old one was still ok with another tv/receiver combo), and even took the unit out of the rack and tried it on a different tv. No luck.

I will have to send it in for repair. I am a bit disappointed to tell you the truth. I wasn't expecting this kind of quality. This is my first Marantz product. With Boxing Day coming up, I could have probably gotten a great deal on a full size receiver. Kind of wishing that I had waited.

My receiver does not allow the satellite signal to pass through when I shut off the receiver. My television will play, but says "no signal" when I shut off the receiver.

I have a blu-ray DVD player hooked in to Marantz BD, which works fine. I have my DirecTv satellite box hooked in to Marantz SAT. I have my television hooked in to the Marantz "HDMI out". All cables are high speed HDMI.

Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong?
Edited by tstape - 12/27/12 at 2:18pm

Why would you turn off the receiver and want the satellite signal? Isn't the sound from your satellite box going to the speakers from your receiver? Anytime, at least as far as I know, if your passing video through a receiver and using the tv as a monitor, the picture will always go by by when you shut the receiver off.

I would like sound through the receiver for movies and such, but not for day to day television watching.

You have to configure your receiver for Standby Pass Through. You can designate which HDMI input to use in Standby. Look on page 90 of your manual under HDMI control, Standby Source and P.Off Control.

If you don't have the manual you can get it here.
http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchfield.com/Manuals/642/642NR1602.PDF

Thanks, it worked great. I just needed to set it to HDMI 3 (for satellite). I was going crazy switching the cables around.

I have a Marantz 1602 and some very old bookshelf speakers running from them along with hook up to my TV, TiVo and Blu Ray player. The unit works well enough and got passed some of the quirks associated with any AVR.

Presently, I am looking into getting new speakers and am curious as to what anyone here uses and recommends.

I am starting off with 3.0 or 3.1 with a budget of 1500.00 (Next year, I can add to the system). The concern I have is that the 1602 is low wattage and want to be sure I can match this AVR to the right type of speakers. I have read about the Def Tech Studio Monitor 65, GoldenEar AON 3 and the Sierra 1 bookshelfs. Are these a fair match to the AVR?

Look forward to seeing what speakers you folks all use.