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Official Pioneer SC-68/67 Thread - Page 11

post #301 of 1454
10/8/12 at 11:08am
A nice 5 star review of the 68:
http://www.hometheater.com/content/pioneer-elite-sc-68-av-receiver
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post #302 of 1454
10/8/12 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
^^
5 stars are nice cool.gif
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post #303 of 1454
10/8/12 at 5:05pm
I'm staying with my SC-57 until a true Pioneer 11 channel model is out. Have a 4311 for my living room for TV and the SC-57 for my HT room.
MCACC SQ is better for me then Audyssey.
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post #304 of 1454
10/8/12 at 5:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bsoko2 View Post

I'm staying with my SC-57 until a true Pioneer 11 channel model is out. Have a 4311 for my living room for TV and the SC-57 for my HT room.
MCACC SQ is better for me then Audyssey.

Same here also waiting for MDA from SRS now DTS supposedly coming to an AV receiver near you in 2013!
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post #305 of 1454
10/8/12 at 5:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wse View Post

Same here also waiting for MDA from SRS now DTS supposedly coming to an AV receiver near you in 2013!
I still have my Denon Pre-amp with SRS Circle Surround II from about 10 years ago. It took two channels and completely synthesized 5.1 channels.
I really like it!

In comparison never been much impressed with and of Dolby and DTS 1-6 channels formats.
The has finally changed with the DTS Wide Surround Movie and Music mode in the SC-61.
The SC65-68 add the Surround Sound back which is nice, but the Front Height carries a higher priority for me.
** I want it all too**

I think of MDA as the follow-on to Circle Surround allowing any number of channels.
If i was in charge why not use the measured speaker distance information in the surround sound processing?
The more precise the larger the instruments become!tongue.gif
The bottom line is MDA should make DTS stock shoot up in price.
Now only if Pioneer can be aggressive enough to take the gauntlet away from Onkyo.
As an experienced engineer, if they need a coordinator to lead the charge to revolutionize the surround sound industry, just ask!
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post #306 of 1454
10/8/12 at 5:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiFiFun View Post

Now only if Pioneer can be aggressive enough to take the gauntlet away from Onkyo. As an experienced engineer, if they need a coordinator to lead the charge to revolutionize the surround sound industry, just ask!

Agree. I think there are several things Pioneer can & should do to deal with the Audyssey juggernaut. Some are obvious engineering features but some are on the marketing side. Like you, I'm available for consultations wink.gif

And MDA in '13 would be an excellent reason to change receivers wink.gif Hope we see content using it - always that!
Edited by ss9001 - 10/9/12 at 4:18am
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post #307 of 1454
10/9/12 at 5:34am
Thread Starter 
For the poster asking about multizone on last page -
I just re-confirmed that you can have 1 HDMI source for main room and another HDMI source for Zone 4. It does work like a matrix switcher in this regard.
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post #308 of 1454
10/10/12 at 10:56pm
Hello everyone, couple of questions, I hope you can help me out:

1) When playing music from USB or DLNA/network, is the track change gapless?
(e.g. track 2 ends, and track 3 starts immediately, without any delay)

Other AVRs have issues with this, and have a horrible gap (3 seconds and more) between tracks, making it impossible to enjoy a live performance.

And am I OK to guess the same answer should apply to the rest of the current Pioneer Elite line?



2) Is 24p video working as it should? (23.976 and not 24.0)
Has anyone detected any frame drops every 40 seconds or so?



=-=
I'm thinking on a SC-65 or SC-67 after reading the many issues with other known brands in the same price range.
Don't want to mention names to avoid getting ppl mad, but between gapless, HDMI lag, 24p issues, nerfed new models and quality control of other brands, I'm glad to hear very good things about Pioneer Elites smile.gif
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post #309 of 1454
10/12/12 at 3:09pm
Hello again, well I finally got pandora; then spent tons of time getting DLNA off my computers (everything now wired through outlet jack type ethernet adapters)

So, one thing driving my bonkers; the "net" settings lock up and say please wait , with just a few pushes of buttons to navigate folders off my DNLA linked computers.

Anyone else getting lockups? Anyone know if there have been semi recent updates/downloads? thanks. Oh finally where do I find airplay to connect to i tunes?
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post #310 of 1454
10/12/12 at 5:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ss9001 View Post

^^
I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I have listened to the Tritons, excellent speaker. And who can't but respect Mr. Gross' contributions to the speaker industry. His business acumen & millions vs an audio enthusiast like me. No contest.
But..always a but wink.gif IMO, when a company publishes specs, the product ought to at least come close to meeting them. Other than more recent reviews in Home Theater Mag & the Sound & VIsion one Stu linked to, all the glowing reviews I ever found for the Supercubes NEVER posted test measurements, and DefTech NEVER published - 3 dB or even -6 db limits on freq response. Never.
That 13 Hz for the Supercube I is probably -20 or 30 db because I have a CD with test tones all the way down to 16 Hz, and < about 27 Hz, I heard or felt NOTHING with my ears & hand right next to my Supercube I. That is definitely NOT the case with the Velodyne. You can easily hear & feel lots of output all the way down to its rated low end, ~15 Hz IIRC. The 2 are not anywhere close in price but that's not the point - if DefTech published 28 Hz, I'd have no beef. But they chose to significantly inflate their published specs, so the buyer thinks he's getting something he's not & that's what I object to - false advertising. And their "out" is they don't publish the - dB number so even if it's -80 dB down they technically haven't "lied" tongue.gif That's why I will never buy another DefTech product again. As much as I can say the GE Tritons sounded very nice, I wouldn't buy one of their subs. But that's me.
While the Golden Ear Tritons are highly acclaimed, On the Forcefield, this is the same type of reviews you'd read for the Supercubes:
http://hometheaterreview.com/goldenear-technology-forcefield-4-subwoofer-reviewed/
a lot of glowing remarks, regurgitating the spec'd low end performance but no tests, no proof how well it meets those specs. Dedicated, respected subwoofer companies like Velodyne, SVS, etc. submit their subs for rigorous testing by review sites, including not just freq response but also tot harmonic distortion and how well they meet the published distortion specs. You won't find specs for distortion numbers either on a DefTech web site or manual. But Velodyne publishes them & mostly meets them with their servo models. Same for SVS.
There's a real world thread on HiDefJunkies forum about someone's experience with the FF. I wish I could link to it but AVS Forum doesn't allow links to other forums. I tried redface.gif
In this thread, a guy buys the Tritons & FF4 sub from a GE dealer but after using the sub, decides its rather weak for his room and wasn't happy with it. His dealer allowed the owner to return the FF sub and got him into a REL sub. REL is a very highly respected sub company for "musical" subs. They are decidedly not cheap but are another example of the real deal.
All this is to say....many speaker companies are not the best choices for the highest performing subs. It doesn't matter if its Golden Ear, DefTech, Paradigm, Klipsch, or (name the brand). If you want top performance, you are usually better off buying a sub from a company that's known for subs.

Steve,

I got SVS SB12-NSD and it fits as expected, budget and space vice.

Now that my 5.1 setup is complete and re-ran MCACC calibration, setup sounds good but not great. Looks like I am missing something like choosing right option for watching movie (Action). Was watching Miami Vice DVD with DD. Did not like the sound at all.

I am sure, my setup is not good but not sure where to start. Any ideas?

TIA,
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post #311 of 1454
10/13/12 at 3:43am
Thread Starter 
^^
are you saying you didn't like Action on top of Dolby Digital or that you didn't like plain Dolby Digital by itself?
'cause I can explain what "action", "scifi" etc modes are doing and you may not want that.
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post #312 of 1454
10/14/12 at 12:20pm
Graat Thread!

I'm looking into Onkyo 3009/8 or Pioneers sc-lx86 (euro 68).

I play with Triangle Genese speakers which are open, up front and lots of fun. They went well with a onkyo tx-nr709 but i do need more power for convincing 80-90db.

I measured my room and can see a mode for the fronts at 33 hz and a hige dip at around 60 hz. With the onkyo/ adsy XT the bass was fine, really very wel controlled. BUT it also gave a lift to the high mids which I hated for music and meliorated with movies with THX.

I now play wit an older amp which has no usefull calibration (sony 1200es) but I manualy got things going pretty well with a cross of 80hz.

I read pioneers systmen is very good but will not act below 63 hz, which is were all my room modes are from the fronts. Is that correct?
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post #313 of 1454
10/15/12 at 4:32am
Would the 67 and 68 have similar audio performance?
Edited by Raikirik - 10/15/12 at 4:37am
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post #314 of 1454
10/15/12 at 5:55am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoldarLE40A552 View Post

I read pioneers systmen is very good but will not act below 63 hz, which is were all my room modes are from the fronts. Is that correct?

yes smile.gif

my advice is to consider the excellent Velodyne SMS-1 ext parametric equalizer or the Anti-mode DSP 8033. I personally can vouch for the Velodyne since I have one of their DD subs with the same onboard EQ'r. SVS had an audyssey-based sub EQ'r but it's discontinued, also an excellent choice if you can find one used.

a "huge" dip at 60 Hz sounds like a true null to me wink.gif and as such, will be impacted to a much lesser degree by any type of equalization. Pioneer's standing wave filters can possibly help since one of the choices is 63 hz and even though standing wave filters are part of the auto-calibration, can be manually tweaked as well.
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post #315 of 1454
10/15/12 at 5:56am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raikirik View Post

Would the 67 and 68 have similar audio performance?

can you be more specific? what are you looking for? power? amp specs? calibration? file compatibility?
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post #316 of 1454
10/15/12 at 10:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ss9001 View Post

can you be more specific? what are you looking for? power? amp specs? calibration? file compatibility?

My apologies, I guess all of the above! Also, would the overall sound quality be the same between the two? I actually have the 67 and after reading the review on the 68 I'm left wondering where the 67 would stand In comparison. Basically I'm wondering if I should have gone with the 68 but I should note that I'm not really concerned with additional features. The 67 sounds great to me but would the 68 sound that much better? I hope I don't get full blown buyer's remorse.eek.gif
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post #317 of 1454
10/15/12 at 11:52am
Thread Starter 
^^

I think you're fine unless you have some hard-to-drive speakers or a pretty big room smile.gif

68 has more power & because of that gets the THX Ultra 2 certification instead of the THX Select 2 cert on the 67. But in spec'd terms, the power difference is ~10 watts per channel which is not much. Unless you have inefficient, 4 ohm, or both in speakers or you start to hear signs of distortion @ hi volume with loud, dynamic peaks, you would not be able to tell that minor difference in power audibly.

So it comes back to how the 67 sounds to you with your speakers & room size. Ultra 2 is being able to reproduce reference levels with room size 3000 cu ft. Select 2 is reference levels at 2000 cu ft room size.

As far as other contributions to audio quality, they both have the same MCACC, the same surround processing, & I'm pretty sure identical audio file playback capability. Same inputs & outputs and both have zone 4 HDMI output. The only input the 67 does not have is the 68's unique USB-DAC input with asynchronous transfer.

I understand the desire to have the "best", believe me I do smile.gif But if you got yourself a nice deal on the 67, and have relatively easy to drive speakers, I wouldn't sweat it.

For the record, what speakers do you have & room size?
Edited by ss9001 - 10/15/12 at 1:29pm
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post #318 of 1454
10/15/12 at 1:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ss9001 View Post

^^
I think you're fine unless you have some hard-to-drive speakers or a pretty big room smile.gif
68 has a bit more power & because of that gets the THX Ultra 2 certification instead of the THX Select 2 cert on the 67. But in spec'd terms, the power difference is ~10 watts per channel which is not much. Unless you have inefficient, 4 ohm, or both in speakers or you start to hear signs of distortion @ hi volume with loud, dynamic peaks, you would not be able to tell that minor difference in power audibly.
So it comes back to how the 67 sounds to you with your speakers & room size. Ultra 2 is being able to reproduce reference levels with room size 3000 cu ft. Select 2 is reference levels at 2000 cu ft room size.
As far as other contributions to audio quality, they both have the same MCACC, the same surround processing, & I'm pretty sure identical audio file playback capability. Same inputs & outputs and both have zone 4 HDMI output. The only input the 67 does not have is the 68's unique USB-DAC input with asynchronous transfer.
I understand the desire to have the "best", believe me I do smile.gif But if you got yourself a nice deal on the 67, and have relatively easy to drive speakers, I wouldn't sweat it.
For the record, what speakers do you have & room size?

Thanks for the information! I have some peace of mind now biggrin.gif

I have Polk Rti4s as my main left and right as well as my surround backs. I have FxiA4s as my surrounds and my center is a CsiA4. All except the Fx speakers are 89db efficiency. The Fx speakers are 88db efficiency. I hope to get a pair of towers at some point as well or just upgrade all the speakers, in which case I would wait much longer. My sub is a SVS PB12 NSD and I hope to add a second one at some point. Everything is in a section of an open basement so my 'room' would be rather large. I can't remember the exact measurements off the top of my head. The 67 does play very loud and sounds great with the way things are set up right now. I've never had to go past -18db while watching movies, which is what I use my system for primarily. I can definitely go past that with no audible distortion but I'd rather not listen at those levels for extended periods. I think I could get it to sound better, though I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to room acoustics. I don't really think my current 'room' is acoustically optimal but if I can make improvements I would.
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post #319 of 1454
10/17/12 at 7:41am
Just curious if anyone has any screenshots of the OSD (volume, surround modes, etc..
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post #320 of 1454
10/18/12 at 3:29pm
Thread Starter 
^^
sorry, Film for delay in a reply....but I haven't taken any yet, just too involved to think of it. I can tho, if an iphone pic is good enough.

My real camera with real lenses has almost no available memory left. I have a lot housekeeping to do getting 1000+ shots onto my hard drive for editing, both jpg & raw files. And I don't want to tackle that now just for a screenshot or 2 so let me see how the phone works out.

I just didn't think someone would care that much to see what a bordered box with 2 lines of text in it for vol, source & surround mode looks like wink.gif It does display changes in audio & video parameters too.
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post #321 of 1454
10/19/12 at 1:40pm
What's the best authorized/cheapest place to purchase a SC-68?
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post #322 of 1454
10/19/12 at 2:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vivatech View Post

What's the best authorized/cheapest place to purchase a SC-68?

Best buy prices matched my SC61 yesterday with Amazon.com's price.
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post #323 of 1454
10/19/12 at 3:39pm
Has anyone tried playing music files (flac, mp3, etc) from usb or DLNA?

Any idea if the transition from track to track is seamless?
Many AVRs seem to add a gap or silence between tracks.
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post #324 of 1454
10/20/12 at 12:18am
watched madagascar 3 last night must say volume not blowing me away; had an old onkyo 90 watt sounded "louder". 7.1 system. current settings are large front 3, small back and rear, sw. almost sounds compressed, I let the receiver pick the mode, it says "optimum". Is there a better or louder perceived mode? I also couldnt even tell my sub was on. xover set to 80. Maybe I should try small up front send more bass to the sub. got no rumble at all. room about 13 x 20 x 11 foot ceilings bit open onone side.

With cd's the house can blow up, with movies Im not getting that volume, certainly all speakers arent being used most of the time, I should still be getting massive volume from the front 3. Now Im debating if I need something like the optima a3 power amp for the front 3, which is crazy cause I was trying to step up from the onkyo!

also anyone have any idea how to use airplay (apple itunes?)
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post #325 of 1454
10/20/12 at 4:04am
How come te sc68 output figures are less than the sc57. Lesser power supply?
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post #326 of 1454
10/20/12 at 5:38am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by symphx View Post

watched madagascar 3 last night must say volume not blowing me away...

there are 4 parts to your post - perceived volume, sub output, compression & airplay.

before I comment on volume & impressions of sound, let's try to tackle the sub issue 1st. I'd like to ask what speakers are you using for all channels. what sub? what's the low freq rating for your fronts and...

if you truly heard nothing from your sub, are you sure you plugged it into the correct jack? wink.gif at least 2 posters with new SC models plugged the sub into the wrong jack, the one on the left side for Zone 2. the correct one(s) are in the middle of the rear panel in the "preamp out" section.

in general, unless your fronts truly are capable of reproducing bass down to ~20 Hz or mid 20's, you should set them to Small & let the sub do the work. Almost everyone in this forum will tell you that. Even if they are that capable and that's rare, you are still probably better off setting them to Small for HT use.

plus, maybe there isn't that much LFE (low freq effect) channel activity in that title...did you try an action/scifi movie known for robust bass effects & ultra low bass? or only this 1?

post back & we'll go from there
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post #327 of 1454
10/20/12 at 5:51am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joost80 View Post

How come te sc68 output figures are less than the sc57.

good question...one I hope to get some insight on in the next week...trying to reach Walkamo for some questions & this is one of them. it's possible an anomaly with specific unit reviewed or variance in test method...I'm curious as well. Same amp chip, same design, looks like same total pwr capability. could also be something added for 4 ohm protection for all 9 channels...I have no idea at this point smile.gif

will let you know if I find out anything specific.
Edited by ss9001 - 10/20/12 at 6:58am
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post #328 of 1454
10/20/12 at 6:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CHASLS2 View Post

Best buy prices matched my SC61 yesterday with Amazon.com's price.

You lucked out. Amazon is no longer a Pioneer authorized Internet dealer.

Also note about Elite products:
Pioneer does NOT authorize any dealers to sell Elite-branded products on the Internet (only in-store sales are permitted). Therefore, any Elite-branded product purchased on the Internet is NOT authorized, which means that it does NOT carry the manufacturer's limited warranty and does not qualify for any manufacturer's rebate.

Pioneer Authorized Internet Dealers
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post #329 of 1454
10/20/12 at 7:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vivatech View Post

You lucked out. Amazon is no longer a Pioneer authorized Internet dealer.
Also note about Elite products:
Pioneer does NOT authorize any dealers to sell Elite-branded products on the Internet (only in-store sales are permitted). Therefore, any Elite-branded product purchased on the Internet is NOT authorized, which means that it does NOT carry the manufacturer's limited warranty and does not qualify for any manufacturer's rebate.
Pioneer Authorized Internet Dealers

I knew that before hand when i bought my SC35 from Amazon.com and it went poof this last week. So now i have a SC35 just sitting around and i guess i will try to sell it for $50 and maybe someone handy with fixing stuff like AVR's can get it up and running. I replaced it with a SC61. Just did not want to take a chance and pay to repair the SC35 that has no warranty.
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post #330 of 1454
10/20/12 at 8:38am
error
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