The **OFFICIAL** Denon AVR-XX13 Model Owner's Thread & FAQ - Page 194

I just bought a refurbished AVR-1913. I hooked it up to the tv and went through the setup assistant procedure. I had no problem and hooked up my cable box and apple tv. Both worked. I turned everything off. When I went back to watch Netflix on the Apple TV, nothing worked. I fiddled around a bit, did a microprocessor reset, then did an HDMI HDCP reset as suggested here. It worked. I ran through the setup procedure again and watched Netflix for a while, then watched cable, then turned it off. Sure enough, when I turned it back on, I got nothing. Now when I say nothing I mean I was not even able to bring up the avr's gui. I decided to eliminate both the cable box and the Apple TV. I reset the microprocessor and did another HDMI HDCP reset. Basically, my only goal now is to display the avr's gui on the television (a Sony Bravia kdl46v5100). I was successful in doing this and I went through the speaker calibration again. I did not put either the cable box or the Apple TV back on the avr. I turned off the tv and the avr, then turned them on again in 5 minutes. No gui. I suspect I could bring it back after another reset, but that would hardly solve my problem. Any ideas? The tv is an older model and it predates arc.

Save yourself some headache and return it!

raggedymike,

Return the receiver for a replacement. It's broken.

Please include a written description of the problem on paper in the box (maybe taped to the receiver) so when it gets to the repair center they'll know what to fix. They obviously didn't do all the repairs needed when it was returned by the original purchaser

I think I might, I'll turn it off and see how that goes!
What about Dynamic Volume, off, light, medium or heavy?

The Dynamic Volume says it has to do with compression, do I want the volume compressed? It seems louder with the Heavy and Medium and soft with the light or off.

What is a typical setting?


Thanks.
Edited by chrisjmccord - 2/25/13 at 4:30pm

I'm curious about the hangar used to support the microphone. Do you mean a wire hanger like those used to hang clothes? Do you have one end of the hanger just stuck up into the mounting hole of the microphone, such that if you touched the mic, you could cause it to move?

I'm wondering if this is the problem. Perhaps the test tones are causing the microphone/hanger joint to vibrate ever so slightly, causing interference with the reception of the test tones.

It may be worth picking up a simple camera tripod and see if that improves things. A microphone boom/stand would be better, but a camera tripod has the advantage of a mounting bolt that will fit the microphone base.

I used a camera tripod and got what I consider very good results. Certainly they followed the expected results I read about in the Audyssey FAQ.

Good luck.

Thanks to batpig and jdssmoothie for the replies and assistance.

1. Yes. Factory default is Zone 2 and the correct setting for a 5.1 setup.
2. Something is amiss with those large floor standers being set to 250Hz, although the wire hanger isn't helping. Review the Audssey 101/FAQ Guide linked in my sig and then purchase either a camera tripod or mic boom stand.

Dynamic Volume attempts to normalize the volume .. compressing the highs and increasing the low dialog. Use whichever setting works best for you.

Have the "cargo people" replace it for a new unit using their insurance as they were the ones that damaged it.

1. As reference volume is set to 80/0db when using Dyn EQ, average TV volume level will be roughly 50-60/-30db to -20db and movie/music listening a bit higher.

2. In most cases you'll want to focus around the main listening position (ie. #1), so all remaining mic positions will be within 2'-3' radius around that #1 mic position and not where people actually sit.

3. This is the Dolby Digital "Dialogue Normalization" function (p. 122 OM) which is embedded in the audio track and cannot be adjusted. However, for Dolby TrueHD sources only, this function can be disabled if desired by setting the "Loudness Management" setting (p. 99 OM) to OFF.

I know this isn't really on topic for this thread, but can you either explain this a bit more or point me in the right direction as far as reading? I'm not really understanding it and I'm trying to explain it to some people in the subwoofer forum. Everything I'm reading seems to be blaming the bug on the receiver. Does the receiver somehow know if the soundtrack is already boosted +10db and some (like my Onkyo) ignore this and boost again regardless?

Thanks for the replies, I figured I'd be playing with fire with that wire hanger (yes the other end is stuck in a styrofoam box), it seems fine, but maybe there is some vibration effects... I'm going to pick up a tripod at BB today and see how the results change. Sometimes breaking the rules aint all it's cracked up to be.

^^^^ if you don't feel like making a a trip to BB today you can use a table lamp - unscrew the nut on top of the lamp shade and the mic should screw right in. I was in a time crunch and too cheap to buy a tripod... worked fine for me and it placed the mic at ear level too.

I have mine set to off so that I get the full range of volumes. Some people like to have it on so that they don't have sudden segments of high volumes, especially with sleeping kids in the house.

Interesting... I might try that just for the hell of it. But there's a Walmart close by with a tripod for $17, so I'm just gonna go pick that up.

On a side note, I've noticed that when my center speaker is going through the sweeps, it has a much more of a bassy tone to it than all my other speakers, more "punch" if you will, more like a "whomp whomp" than a "weep weep"... This produces a fair amount more echo in my room than my other speakers. Wondering why this may be. I hope there isn't a problem with some of my speakers as the L/R speakers should theoretically have more punch than my center.

A mic boom is actually a better tool for the job, it's more flexible and isolating than a tripod, but a tripod will work almost as well...probably better than a hanger or a lamp.

I've noticed this exact same phenomenon.

I've just sat the mic on top of a stack of pillows. Got the mic at ear level along with something that would mimic a body sitting at the location.

Ok... why?

+1, I would hold it in my hand over the stack of pillows . As everyone else said if you want proper calibration you need a tripod or boom mic. I don't think I have ever heard of a 250 crossover before. Didn't know it was possible

Purchased a 1913 in mid January to replace a 5 year old Pioneer that eventually would shut down during big bangs in movies, etc.

I am not at all happy with this Denon, it is very under powered in my book. First time it really disappointed me was at the halftime show of the superbowl with a bunch of people over, it shut down twice.

Also, seems to clip out (video and audio goes black) while watching normal TV at normal sound levels then seems to return to where it was before.

Unfortunately, I didn't return it right away for something with more power...

I am running it as 5.1 with big front speakers including the center.
Is what I'm experiencing "normal" for this receiver to drive acceptable volumes in a large open house layout?
Is it defective or just underpowered for my requirements? (even though total power rated much higher then my old Pioneer).

Thanks much.

PM me any recommendations to replace it with, because can't live with this.

I have an AVR-1913, an XBOX, a Blu-Ray player, a Verizon Fios box and a Panasonic 42PZ700u plasma. I'm trying to get this all set up with a pair of Turtle Beach XF-4 wireless headphones for gaming or movie watching late at night.

Right now, the XBOX, the Blu-Ray, and the Fios box are all connected to the AVR-1913 HDMI inputs. The Panasonic plasma is connected to the AVR-1913 HDMI output.

The XF-4 basestation has an optical input, an optical output, and RCA (left/right) inputs.

Ideally, I'd like to run a signal optical line out from the AVR-1913 to the XF-4 basestation. I figure that way the wireless headphones will work with all my audio signals coming into the AVR-1913. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any outputs on the AVR-1913 that aren't HDMI. What am I missing? Is there a way to do this?

My backup plan is to use the optical output on the Panasonic plasma and hook that directly into the XF-4 basestation. If all the components are going into the AVR-1913 with HDMI with ARC and there's an HDMI with ARC going from the AVR-1913 to the Panasonic plasma, doesn't that mean that all the audio going into the receiver is also being sent up to the TV? If that's the case, will an optical out from the TV to the headphones work?

Obviously, I'd prefer to have all signals going into the receiver fed to the headphones with an optical output, but like I said, I just can't seem to find ANY outputs on the AVR-1913 that aren't HDMI.

Any help would be much appreciated!

what TS steps have you taken?

what kind of speakers? everything hooked up correctly? is the AVR getting proper ventilation?

I ran Audyssey on my Onkyo 607 on some pillows, and I've never been disappointed with the sound. I guess I could borrow my Dad's tripod and run it again.

Well... have to admit to not doing much trouble shooting, as not sure what I should trouble shoot.
I removed wire by wire from my Pioneer into the Denon, all AV systems (PS3, Popcorn Hour, Dishnetwork preform as they should) via my Harmony 900 remote.
I did run the setup, and the system seems to balance out well.

It sits by itself on a bottom shelf of an open on all sides stand (so short of blowing a separate fan on it, not sure what I could do)

I mean, there is just not much of a volume increase from 50% to 80% it just seems to top out early, and then eventually crap out.
The video clipping happens at low volume levels, during SAT viewing... (Maybe this could be Dish Network, but never observed this with the old reciever)

Speakers:
Front: Infinity BETA 50 (rated at 250 watts)
Center: Infinity Beta C360 (rated at 200 watts)
Surrounds: Infinity BETA ES250 (rated at up to 150 watts)
Subwoofer: Elemental Designs (Guess they disappeared in 2012...)
Edited by Nuttygambler - 2/26/13 at 10:24am

The indication that the receiver has tripped off due to overheating is the standby light blinking slowly: once every two seconds.

How much room is there above it? Hot air rises. If there's limited space above it, the hot air can't escape easily and the unit will overheat unless you provide an external fan.

Just about all modern audio equipment uses a logarithmic volume control, which works as you describe. Except for the last step! Tripping off at high audio levels with a fast blink of the standby light (twice per second) means that the amps in the receiver can't deliver the power needed to provide the desired sound level and are drawing too much current.

This can be caused by faulty amps, faulty cabling, incompatible speakers, or a listening environment that requires unusually high power to produce the desired sound level.

If the amps are faulty, you'll need to return the unit for replacement or repair. Faulty cabling can be fine strands of wire shorting adjacent binding posts at the receiver or the speaker or damage due to chewing by pets or rodents (or pet rodents ). As best I can tell from their bench tests(*), the speakers should be OK: 6 Ohms nominal impedance and 89-90dB sensitivity. However, if the room is unusually large and/or "dead" (highly absorbent walls, etc) the amps+speakers might be unable to produce the sound levels you want. In the latter case, much more powerful amps might be needed (e.g. 2x-3x as powerful) and/or replacing the speakers with ones which are significantly more efficient (greater than 90dB sensitivity).
What you describe in your initial post is what's called "dropouts", not clipping, which is quite different. HDMI dropouts have two primary causes:
1. trying to send too high a bitrate through a cable that's not designed for it.
2. HDMI handshake problems caused by protocol incompatibilities. Sadly, many satellite and cable decoder boxes are incompatible with the types of HDMI repeaters used by many receivers. I suspect this is the cause here. The workaround is to connect the cable box directly to the TV using HDMI (to get the best video) and to the receiver using S/PDIF digital audio (coax or optical).


I hope these comments help a little.

---

* -- See http://www.hometheater.com/content/infinity-beta-series-surround-speaker-system-measurements

Hi all,

I have seen various posts that talk about looking at the post-calibration Audyssey filters. I don't see a way to get a graph/raw-data from the AVR-1613/MultEQ, can it be done? Or from the AVR-2113/MultEQ XT which I am planning on getting (wondering if this is something the web interface provides, which 1613 does not have)? Or, are people doing off-board spectrum analysis?

Thanks,
Shash

Selden Ball: Help a little? NO! They help a lot... Yes the room is on a large loft area of the second floor with open ceiling and a large great room beside it to the lower level.
It is a large area, but I didn't think my old Pioneer was rated much higher... maybe 110 watts... and you could "ROCK THE HOUSE" with movies and dance music.

Using the calculators the amp "should" have enough power to "fill the room" to ear damaging levels with these front speakers.

1) First order of business is to get it to shutoff which won't be hard, and check out that light.

2)Then recheck my cabling... maybe there is a little short somewhere.
My HDMI cables "should" all be from mono and high quality, but maybe in haste a cheapo got used in the line.

3) Then rerun the setup... I may have used Large for front speakers

4) Test it again...

5) Try to determine if the amp is just too small for the room or if it is faulty...

So what is the difference in the Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume? If I have Dynamic EQ Off, does it matter what the Dynamic Volume is set at?

What is a normal setting, or the majority of people, what do they do? If one is off, should the other be off? Etc...

I think right now I have Dynamic EQ off, and Dynamic Volume at Med or High.
Edited by chrisjmccord - 2/27/13 at 6:20am