Official Pioneer SC-68/67 Thread - Page 6

^^

lol
yeah, you're right - too much reading Absolute Sound recently has warped my objectivity, I guess

I'd believe it to be psychooacoustics or just psycho - since we've read about the lower distortion, the new design, no need for feedback loops to make the Ice amp sound good & on & on Once you've read all this, you kind of expect it to sound a little different

But I swore it did just a little - I just know it did

Bottom line is - it doesn't sound worse than the Ice amps in the 09

While its build is not the same as the true flagships of old, like the SC-09, no one is making those kind of receivers anymore. It's still top notch build quality for a current flagship model. Frankly, and I admit this is personal opinion, I like the exterior, knobs, etc much better than the highly praised Denon 4311! Since I was considering a swap to Denon earlier this yr, I took a look at the 4311 and its knobs & door were clearly plastic, looked plastic, worked like plastic & less appealing. The knobs on the 09 were machined alum or really looked like machined alum and the SC-68 has the same metal look in the front. While this means squat to sound & video quality, curb appeal does have some value to nitpicky anal people like me
Edited by ss9001 - 9/7/12 at 10:59am

Stu - you can critique me on this & you did

You can give me a raspberry for this - That's OK, I can take it Maybe I deserve it

I'm just saying what my real world reaction was to physically seeing a normal priced Denon up close @ local Magnolia store. Has nothing to do with my Pioneer brand loyalty or Walkamo or my enthusiasm. This was back when I was seriously looking at a change to Denon, and a few months before I got the SC-68

For the record, once more...I have owned & 2- $4500 Elites, 1 - $7000 Elite and was trying to go for the $7500 AVP Not bragging, just saying - I like to go for the top of the line models if I can afford them and can justify them to myself That's just me - believe me, my WAF sometimes wishes I didn't! And when I added it all up for an AVP, the pos's and the neg's, I couldn't justify this big expense even to myself The 4311 just doesn't have some of the "thingies", as ccotenj called them, I use in the SC-09.

For the record, those models were all metal, all had superb build quality & quirky me - I placed a value on it.

That's a reason, not the main ones, I struggled with selling off the SC-09. Other than the 5308 & AVP, there's nothing remotely "affordable" that exactly replaces it. That may not mean much to your needs, but it did mine. In the end, I decided to keep it, there were 3 major unique features it has that I came to use & built a system around, B surrounds, adding DSP to multichannel analogs for a vintage quad system I have, and in the end, having to ditch my multiple players to go with Denon to get DenonLink which I find out has been replaced so all current players are obsoleted

Also, you may remember, I have the SVS EQ so I already have Multi32 were it counts

I didn't critique you for going to a Denon 4311 & thinking it was better I didn't challenge you one bit not in a thread nor in a PM. I knew where you were coming from.

If it's in good jest & a subtle jab, I'm cool. I know ccotenj is teasing me but I don't know if that's the same with you or you are seriously criticizing me for a choice. I know chris You brought Walkamo into it, so is there more to your tease than teasing?

I'd be happy to take this to a PM or even a phone call if you'd like. We've shared our opinions in PM's so I'd like to finally talk to you Are you game? ccotenj & I have talked a number of times. Shoot me a PM

The quip on keeping Pioneer alive...I won't comment

Steez - we still agree on some things, Stu

I know this subforum has turned into a big Audyssey support group And that's OK, it's a great system but there's still Pioneer people around

and I admit, plastic knobs is not a good reason for 99.999% of buyers. Maybe that was a bit over the top & too much like an Emo fanboy I admit I got carried away, so I'm human
Edited by ss9001 - 9/7/12 at 2:31pm

+1 as always

with the new tech, the 68 is more advanced, no question, just like the 4311 had become compared to the 5308.

And I'm glad you understand. I forgot AC-3 altho most of the Dolby Digital LD's I own have been "replaced" with Blu's

lol!

I had edited my post removing that - thought it was superfluous but here you caught it before my edit and I find out it actually fits!! I love it!

I thought you were teasing so all is cool at least we can poke fun at each other without everyone getting their panties in a wad or getting in the penalty box

I mean chris is always calling me a luddite he's going to add Pio fanboy any day now, I know it
I enjoy a good jest. I get too serious in this forum...need to take more jousting lessons from ccotenj

stu - have a good weekend

yup!

I just discovered another trick feature in the 68 - the Zone 4 HDMI output

For those who want to use the 68 as an HDMI entertainment hub or put together a convoluted 1 room setup , you can do it with a 1 cable solution:

Source>>SC-68>>Zone 4 out>>Receiver in another room (or same room if you're keeping a Susano ) and use the Multizone controls to activate Z4 and select the source. Viola! Video & 7.1 audio gets passed from one AVR to the other, audio processed and on to the display - complicated but geeky cool

What I haven't figured out yet is 1) how to change volume on Z4 in the SC-68 & 2) if the 68's surround processing modes do anything for 2nd zone. For sure, if you want to use the 68 for surround processing & MCACC, you MUST set the 2nd AVR to Pure Direct - otherwise, audio will get processed twice - not 100% sure that's a bad thing but I think it would be.

It does complicate using the SC-68 as a normal AVR to be sure, but no different than any multizone use & it's there as an option. My dilemma is that I'm not trying to setup multi rooms, I'm just trying to use the SC-68 as a prepro into the SC-09 (or vice versa - depending on test reviews of the amps).

The bad news today is that I discovered one of my HDMI feeds to the kuro is not going to work; I have 2- very long HDMI runs to my kuro & unfortunately, the 2nd run is a 45 ft HDMI-DVI cable. I had put an adapter on it. It always worked with cable & with direct player connection but neither the SC-68 or the SC-09 will pass video thru it - even turned off HDMI hi speed & HDMI control - nada - no picture. It syncs OK - all devices make the handshake - but no video. My guess is the AVR is seeing the adapter as a repeater or a break in the connection. Also I found one of my HDMI cables was bad, probably me running over it with the cabinets when I was re-building them last weekend

HDMI giveth & it taketh away

I'm going to bite the bullet & still buy 7.1 analog multichannel audio cables & replace the long run & get it over with - Blue Jeans Cable will be happy to see my order this month But I'm going to also connect up this Z4 HDMI just so I can play with it

A very cool little feature & neat engr trick to pull off - a repeater into a repeater. I don't think that's e6asy to do & have it work reliably.

Plus it's some neat tech the Denon 4311 doesn't have Even i-dorks can appreciate this

Imagine that - Pioneer beats Denon to market with something new
I believe the 4520 will have it but all you 4311 guys can eat my dust
Edited by ss9001 - 9/8/12 at 7:00am

thanks, chris, I'm checking them out. do you mean the $200 extender or the ~$20-25 budget ones?

as far as length, both runs to the kuro were 45 ft + 6 ft extender cables on each end for strain relief since series 1 is heavy. the tot length is ~60 ft but the straight HDMI cable run always worked, 1080p 36 bits, and still does. the run with DVI on 1 end works @ 1080p with direct sources all the way to the TV. The only diff between the runs is the hdmi-dvi adapter.

I'm confused, all I know is it doesn't work thru either AVR. I admit I never had checked it out thru the 09 since I never intended it for that purpose. it was mainly for a backup, just hanging out, nothing to do...until now

should have gotten the right cable to begin with, another early mistake to add to my list
Edited by ss9001 - 9/8/12 at 8:40am

+1 on all counts

and thanks! I didn't know what to expect but yes, it passes the video, from 1 AVR thu the other...surprising the companies can get that to work but it does. No down-rez either. If I read the tentative Denon 4520 specs right, it will also have this capability, at least one site says HDMI to Zone 2. Have to see if they implement it the same way, audio & video. But yes, I can see home entertainment possibilities, not just geeky ones Of course, someone has to pull HDMI or cat6 thru walls & ceilings so from a practical real-world standpoint, it might be just as EZ & cheap to have 2 separate room systems. But it is kind of neat

I *think* there may be matrix switchers or transceivers (Gefen maybe?) that could do repeater hops but I'm not sure & I wouldn't think it'll be a budget one.

yes, I'm interested. and I had no idea how far you had come to a pro HT setup even on the wiring side. I'm impressed

if you want to cover in a PM or even a call, I'm open to your suggestions. going to be tied up for couple days but will be checking in...& we can talk if you think it'll help

and I still have a Pio crt-rptv in a room with nothing connected. moved it there just to get it out of the way when the kuro arrived it uses DVI unfortunately, I bought it 1 year b4 the HDMI models (sigh)

can an HDMI extender work with HDMI on 1 end & DVI on the other? I wonder...it definitely had a distance limitation - 12 meters video no problem, 15 meters, green speckles. The DVI switcher I used acted as a booster to regen the signal but even then max distance was fixed. if I ever got motivated (off my can ) I was going to get a component video distribution amp for cable, then run a comp vid, IR jack & cable & DVI-HDMI cable up to it. even talked to a handyman who was going to measure, cut the wall outlets & fish the cables. but I never did we don't have analog cable anymore at all, Comcast completely removed all analog channels & the TV has no ASTC tuner, so no need for coax - I was going to run it too but now...no point.

can this be part of an overall matrix -extender plan? That would make the whole thing come together.

let's talk! I'm pretty good as this stuff but clearly not as far along the path of integrating all this as you, it's not even a handicapped race

good man
keep us posted when you get the 68 and how you like it...like me you'll have an excellent comparison

thanks, mo - appreciate it. It was starting to get lonely in these parts

got it - reply sent and thanks!