Official Pioneer SC-68/67 Thread - Page 43

+1 totally agree. that was one of the 1st things I noticed when I 1st got the SC-68 & was comparing to the SC-09. EZ receiver control has come a long way! I never thought I'd say this about what I once viewed as "gimmicky" but using the i-app was deceptively fun & EZ to use. I wouldn't want to be without it now

^^
yes, need to connect analog...no receiver, past or present switches digital connections into multizones. you could get an ext switcher from monoprice, hdtvsupply, etc to switch 1 source to 2 but probably just as EZ to get out the analogs

check the manual pg 37-38 & 79

however, if you are using the receiver's B speaker terminals to use the receiver to power a 2nd set of speakers in another room, that is just using a pair of amps for a set of stereo speakers, and not the multizone features so this will work with digital connections. but when you put the receiver into multizone mode (page 79) by remote or front panel, this does require the use of analog connections. you might as well connect both analog & digital since you want audio in main room & 2 other rooms since B speakers can only be in 1 room.

I think you'll find it will work then. in putting the receiver into multizone use (pg 79), and you have both digital & analog connections on the squeezebox, you may have to use the audio signal select button on the remote to change the audio input from Auto or Digital to Analog. if it's in Auto, the receiver will select Digital inputs over Analog & you may not get the audio to come thru. the priority of signal selection in Auto is HDMI > Digital > Analog. so you can use the button to deliberately tell the receiver which audio signals to use for that specific input.
Edited by ss9001 - 3/15/13 at 11:26am

which model of Magnepan will suggest which approach to take. for rear highs? unless its the MC1 or MC2 wall panels, not sure what or how you mean for rear highs normal or horizontal mounting?

and rear channel sound is so subtle & so much less robust than main channels, you could connect them to the SC-67 and not skip a beat. what Xover do you intend to use because some on the maggies (wall mount MMG's, CC5, CCR centers, MC2) are very bass limited speakers, only going to 160 to 200 Hz. the MC1 & CC3's, on the other hand, were capable of getting close to ~80hz. you only have 1 global Xover with Pioneer so speaker matching becomes more critical. I've been a maggie owner since 1982 and current speakers are still maggies, but in your case, you may want to look at DT's for your rears also. Also, IME, some of the lower model DT's don't mesh the best with maggies, big tonal difference.

safest & cheapest? an authorized dealer. if you are a careful shopper you should be able to snag a decent discount and the unauthorized internet sellers will offer no real $$ advantage. if you shop wisely & negotiate...15-22% off is not uncommon

you may want to call Value Electronics in Scarsdale, NY for a price, depending on where you're located & whether he can or (ahem) will sell in your area ) - Robert Zohn has taken very good care of many forum members over the years. but it's up to him

I haven't used the phono input as I have a dedicated tube pre from Audio Research so I can't comment.

that said, I fully expect it to be as good or better as anything available on a receiver. since you can spend < $50 to thousands of $ on phono preamps it's hard to draw conclusions on the 68's vs a separate pre

Jarrod, my advice is try it & hear for yourself

and Rgbritt, glad you made the upgrade. I've read a number of posts over last few months where people bought the "wrong" model for their needs so it's not uncommon.

I strongly urge everyone receiver shopping, no matter which brand, to look past the prices to make sure what they think they want will actually do the things they want for a few dollars difference, it can save frustration & disappointment.

the only surround processing that will derive (there is NO native encoded 9.1 content, the BD specs do not support 9.1 discrete channels) are Dolby ProLogic IIz and dts NeoX. that's it. even the 3 Blu-rays that are enchanced for NeoX (Dredd, Expendables 2, and 1 other forgettable title ) have matrixed height and/or wides and require NeoX to decode them.

you can derive heights/wides from any 5.1/7.1, possibly some 2 ch content, the input source is irrelevant.

if you're the person who can't get rears & heights at the same time, I did review all the settings I can think of that you needed. You may still have a setup, connection problem or your receiver is defective. because these receivers are fully capable of doing rear channels & height channels at the same time. as long as your rear speakers are connected correctly, you have selected 9.1 as the speaker setup, do not use B speakers in another room, MCACC sent test tones to both sets of speakers, both are set to Yes in the MCACC speaker setup, and using the remote speaker selector button, set it to FH/FW or FH On, then it should work. if it's not & you are 100% sure you have done the right things & connected it correctly, then contact your dealer for help, call Pioneer for help or return the receiver for a new one.

it works for me, in fact I just listened to a 5.1 dvd this afternoon with PLIIz and got heights + rears.

the only non-standard connection I can see is a single SB. usually, they tell you to connect a single back speaker to the left channel but I really don't know if it makes a difference. if you connected it to the rear right, try moving to the left.

I know you are frustrated & disappointed, but I really can't think of anything else for you to try. It has to work. but the sound from these channels can be very subtle, almost inaudible at times, so make sure you aren't confusing very low sound output with "not working". remember, heights are derived. most of the time you can't tell they are producing any sound at all - it really does depend on the soundtrack. a good one I found, not everyone's cup to T, is Quarantine. it has helicopter sounds going round a building and height speakers does elevate the sound above the plane of the front speakers. any track with rain, storm sounds, etc will also work. most of the time, height speakers just add to the sense of ambience coming from the front. so it will be very subtle....you may be getting rears & heights and not just realize it

if someone else can think of more things for you to check. please post. but this isn't that hard, so you just may have a defective receiver or some connection/setup problem.
Edited by ss9001 - 3/24/13 at 5:05pm

"I believe I've isolated the issue to the SB channel not working while FH or FW is on. If those channels are off, SB will work. I don't understand why SB will not work in conjunction with either FW or FW "

well, there is 1 other thought...

since you've connected 11 speakers, if both are set to Yes in the MCACC speaker settings at the same time, that may be telling the receiver to shut off the rears, regardless of what speaker selector setting you used.

try turning one set of them to No in the MCACC setup. that way, the receiver thinks it's only got FW or FH and not both. try turning wides to No, then speaker selector to FW/FH On, and PLIIz then play something & see if you get rears & hts now.

that just occurred to me. there is nothing in the manual I remember but who knows, this just may be one of those situations that's not covered. you have nothing to lose by trying it. if you have both set to Yes, then there may be a "Bug" that this overrides the speaker selector setting & telling the receiver not to use rears when one pair of the wides/hts is on.
Edited by ss9001 - 3/24/13 at 5:08pm