Marantz AV8801 Preamp/Processor Official Owner's thread - Page 188

A Source-Select how-to for you 8801 gurus:

Daughter is graduating and we are having a open house party for her. Wife wants me to play a slideshow on the projection screen and play music as well.

Problem is slideshow will come from one HDMI source (media player "playing" jpg files from NAS), and sound will come from a different HDMI source (e.g. cable box music channel). I use the 8801 as my HDMI switch so all inputs go into it, then out to my Lumagen XS and then to the projector.

Is there a way I can have the 8801 send video out from one HDMI source and play audio from a different HDMI source. I could reroute the video HDMI to the Lumagen direct and switch it's input, but I don't want to pull the rack and rewire.

Didn't think I could, but thought one of you might know a workaround...

Thanks, Scott

Zone 4 HDMI?

If that's for me, pls elaborate.

I was going to suggest the same thing: zone 4 HDMI out can be set independent of main HDMI outs so I think that might work: worth a try...

Video source input goes to Zone 4 HDMI. Zone 4 HDMI to projector.

Sound source input goes to regular speakers in main zone.

Hmmm. read the manual. Looks like a pain to control it with Zone4 and there are some limits on video functionality which may not be an issue. May be simpler to temp rewire my Dune to a spare input on the lumagen.

Thanks for the suggestions.

My Onkyo SC-PR886 pre/pro will leave the video source alone if you switch to an audio only source. For example. Input is set to CBL/SAT and then I switch to the CD input the TV or projector will continue showing the video from the CBL/SAT input but the audio will now be from the CD input. I use this feature all the time as my squeezebox is attached to the CD input.

Hope the AV8801 works the same as I am thinking of upgrading and would really miss that feature.

Yes this is a great feature on all the Onkyo and Integra's . Important to know if it works for the 8801.

The limitation applies more so when the same HDMI source is passed to both the main zone and Zone 4 (TV/PJ).

Audyseey question....

when i am running the setup i am noticing that the test tones from my left front speaker are not as loud as the rest of the speakers....

and when first beginning the room correction it tells me that the sub level is too LOW but when i go into the setup for the sub level it is at the highest level while still remaining in the green...


ideas?

Bill

Audyseey question....

when i am running the setup i am noticing that the test tones from my left front speaker are not as loud as the rest of the speakers....

and when first beginning the room correction it tells me that the sub level is too LOW but when i go into the setup for the sub level it is at the highest level while still remaining in the green...




ideas?

Bill

when i checked the speaker levels it set my left.front to + 3.5 and set my.right front to -9.5

my center to -6.5

As long as the Audyssey results don't come back and the sub trim is at -12, don't worry about adjusting the subs.

As far as the left and right speaker issue, that is indeed strange. Are your left and right speakers equidistant from your main mic position?

Ya equal distance... Did the audyssey again..... its set the same now....

does the "main plus sub" work all the time? like during movie play back?

there is the large vs. small speaker setting.....

Then the crossover setting for each speaker....

then the lfe crossover setting

then the main plus sub setting.

i can't imagine that they all work at the same time, but when you choose any of them they do not "brown out" the other choices.

Bill.

You may be heaving modal issues assosiated with your speaker position relative to your room geometry and major obstacle such as couch and the the couch material.

Try following Sumiko Master Speaker set up without running room corrections in order to determine widest possible sweet spot. According to the document, your entire room shoud be the sweet sport regardless of your seating location. I can only get 4 feet with this setup... I hope to imorove my sweet spot by running a 20Hz-400Hz log swept sine wave tone and observe peak and valleys on the RTA application in the RoomEQ Wizard.

Good luck.

I thought i was pretty savy.... but i have not heard of this speaker placement system. i am quite limited in my speakers placement due to the size of my speakers and screen size.

Also go into the audio menu and check the level settings for each speaker relative to the source being used. It could be that one or more of those settings was inadvertently changed at some point and you just weren't aware of it? (Of course this is assuming your FL & FR speakers are the same...).
The AV8801 does have this nice feature by where you can adjust each speaker's output independantly for each source (I boosted my center for CBL/Sat source for example, but left the others as per Audyssey).

You might simply try resetting factory defaults for everything, then check that ALL level settings for ALL sources are set at 0db, then re-run Audyssey and see if it still seems like the test tones are too low from your FL.
Good luck, and please let us know how/if you solve this.

I feel your pain. My general (wife) dictates the room cosmetics rules in our house. And I refuse to sleep with my dog downstairs.

You could be surprised with 1/8" to 1/4" adjustments. It takes about 1-2 hours to make noticeable improvements.

FYI, Pink Noise test signal does not have the most leveled response. Try to use CW tone at 80 Hz +/- 4 additional tones that are spaced 1/3 octave apart.
Edited by AlxG - Yesterday at 9:28 am

All i can think now is that there was a mess up in audyssey the last time i used it. i re ran audyssey and it is fine now.... i had run audyssey a few times with my other front speakers and it was fine as well....

now i just need to know what the changes to some of the speaker settings do.... i have the day off so i will check out the manual andp play....

also ..... i was reading how THX recommends putting the single sub in the middle of the front wall.... has anyone done this? i only use one sub currently, been looking for another to run two.

Bill

There is no need to use the Main+LFE setting if you use Audyssey and bass management. (It does nothing when bass management is enabled.) Set all speakers to Small. It's a poor choice of wording. It really means "enable bass management". It's usually appropriate to raise crossovers which are less than 80 Hz to 80 Hz. That offloads your speaker amps (thus providing more headroom) and shifts the low frequency load to the subwoofer where it belongs. Even the best floor standing speakers can't provide as good a low frequency response as a quality subwoofer which has been placed properly in the room. However, do not lower any crossovers which were set to higher values. Audyssey does not EQ the speaker response much below the crossover frequency set by the receiver. That's a Low Pass Filter setting, not crossover. It normally should be set to 120 Hz. The LFE channel is allowed to contain frequencies up to 120 Hz. The filter is not a "brick wall", though. Some people like the sound better when they've lowered it to 80 Hz. It does nothing when bass management is enabled. It's primarily used by people who don't like Audyssey and use Direct (or Pure Direct) instead. However, it results in bloated bass in the frequency range where the sub's response overlaps the bass output of the main speakers. (But if you don't like Audyssey, why did you get an 8801? The availability of Audyssey XT32 is one of its major selling points.) They do work together. See above.

Please take the time to read through the Audyssey 101 FAQ and setup guide. It discusses these features and how to get the best calibration. The instructions in the manual are overly simplified. http://www.avsforum.com/t/795421/official-audyssey-thread-faq-in-post-1/51750#post_21782993

The best placement of a subwoofer depends on the shape of the room and its contents. You should consider doing a "sub crawl" to locate the best placement. See http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/speaker-setup-guidelines/crawling-for-bass-subwoofer-placement

Thank you for response. My confusion was that, even though I set the speakers to small and had Audyssey on, the Audyssey settings for my C, L & R were still showing large. So, I presumed they were still large. All is well! Thanks again.

You are correct, they show the original settings but your manual changes are in effect until you change them back so no worry, just enjoy..

Note that after running Audyssey, the original settings will always be saved under "Audyssey Setup" so that you can more easily return back to them by using the "Restore" feature (p. 42 OM) if you have done any tweaking using "Manual Setup" which as noted above would then be the current "active" settings.

Hi all. I have a question about my 8801. I have to confess that I did not look in the 200 page owners manual to try and answer my question, and I have not read this whole huge thread looking for an answer, so forgive me if it has been asked and answered. But I figure that I could get a pretty quick answer on this forum from all you guys that know this unit thoroughly. I ran the Audyssey setup and everything sounds balanced and great. But sometimes in movies the actors are speaking very softly or just whispering to each other. My 66 year old ears have a little trouble making out what they are saying when they do this. My question is that is there a way to manually raise just the center channel volume temporarily that does not change the Audyssey volume channel balance settings. Most of the time it sounds fine but sometimes I would like to increase the center channel volume just temporarily. How do I do that, and then, how would I return it to the volume that Audyssey programmed in, or would it do that automatically when the unit is returned to the standby mode?

Thanks so much, Don..

Just use the Dialog enhancer in Audio settings while the movie is playing, as it will bump it up without affecting Audyssey ! I assume your using Dynamic EQ which can bump the sub and surrounds but sometimes leave dialog a little behind on some passages depending on the overall listening level.

Do most here use Dialog Enhancer? Or do you all leave it off?