Panasonic XR55 7.1 Digital Receiver - Page 114

I think he meant: you won't find anything better than the Panasonic for the price.

exacto-mundo!

I am reasonably satisfied with the Panny and am running it with bose fronts, onkyo center and surrounds, and a Sony sa-wm250 sub. However, I do miss bass when playing ordinary DVDs and CDs that are not Dolby or DTS encoded. Previously I only used a Bose multimedia setup (speakers were connected to the sub unit), and the bass was great/perfect for ordinary/old CDs, vcds etc.

When playing non Dolby/DTS dvds, only the front speakers are currently active. The sub has no contribution (going by the Panny's LCD reading). Is there something I can do to improve sound for this situation?

Thanks.

New Berlin - Do you have your front speakers set to large or small? If you have them set to large, when playing two channel material the sub won't be utilized. You might want to make sure you have them set to small and the xover set to 80Hz.

I don't know what I have the fronts set at. But great to hear this -- will go home and check, and follow your instructions. Thanks a bunch...just wish I had asked the question months ago! I will post the results of trying your suggestion later.

One more question -- does this setting you are suggesting only apply for 2-channel materials (i.e. do I have to keep changing between Dolby/DTS and 2-ch dvds?)

If you set it up per Willds suggestions, you can leave it that way & it will work for you
for either 2 channel or multi-channel source material.

New Berlin, if you use small Bose satellite speakers, 80Hz will not be high enough for the subwoofer to cover midbass. Try 150 or 200Hz.

Is there anyway to get the sub to play when using the DVD6CH analog connections from a 2 channel source. I can't get my computer to output a sub channel for mp3's and flac's.

Willd, Christoofar, Jay_WJ

Thanks for the info. I set the fronts to small and experimented with various crossover freqs including 80, 100, 150, 200. First off -- right away I could tell there was a huge improvement. I could immediately hear the difference. Second-- for my setup 80Hz crossover seems to work best...the bass is perfect. When I go higher, the fronts sound a bit flat (unless I am imagining it). Just wish I had posted my question a few months ago!

THANKS again.

Is anyone using a standalone headphone amplifier with their XR55? I am thinking about getting one, and the instructions say to connect to the tape inputs to the XR55. I am unsure how the XR55 will recognize the new device.

Don't understand your question. If you want to use an headphone amplifier, you need a CD/SACD player with a decent DAC inside. I don't think the XR57 has a good low-level DAC. If you simply need to use average quality headphones, use headphone jack on the XR. Otherwise, you need a CD/SACD player whose analog output can be used with your headphone amplifier.

Jay_WJ,

The instructions for the headphone amplifier(Pro-Ject Headbox 2) say to connect the device to the receiver's tape monitor input/output via regular audio interconnect cables. I was wondering how the XR55 would recognize the headphone amplifier when it is plugged into the tape input.

If I remember correctly, when the input is digital, there will not be any output at the Tape Out jacks. That is only for Analog input. If you will be using XR55 with Analog input only, it defeats the purpose of having a Digital Amplifier.

Also don`t forget, these amps are not amps rather power D/A converters....

Digitally drvien/controlled Class D (our case) itself is a DAC built of power components(switching power supply, processors and audio optimized MOS-FET valves)....that`s it....

I have one of these on the way from Amazon. I was a previous owner of a XR25. I upgraded to a Pioneer 1014tx for it's 7.1 .

I a bit annoyed I will have to hit a button to get it to switch to PLII mode. Should the 55 be an upgrade for me? Or should I deny shipment?

Sorry, I will provide more detail about my setup....

Athenas + Klipsch 12" sub

Fronts = AS-F2s
Center = AS-C1
Surrounds = AS-B1s
Surround Backs = AS-F1s

These are all 8 Ohm compatible. I rarely turn the 1014tx over 0 volume setting This would be for a party environment. For Dolby surround I run somewhere around -10. For DTS sources I stay around -15. So, I don't think I am using much of the amp.

I know, I know The AS-F1s should be used as the surrounds and not back speakers. My room is too narrow to have them next to my couch.

Give me some input please?

You do not need to switch to PLII mode every time. Once you switch it, it will remember on that input

So, what if I play a DTS source on that input? I presume I have to switch manually to DTS and when I am finished switch it back to PLII?

Thanks!

Sorry, I don't know the answer to that question. Since I bought the unit, I did not need to use DTS once (Over a year)

Nevermind guys. I have received the XR55 and it blows the Pioneer 1014 away. Surprisingly enough it is much much louder than the Pio. It was is so clear I can see why people would call it bright. The Pio was a stick in the mud compared to this Panny.

I just wish the IR was as sensitive as the Pio was. I have to do some ghetto riggin to get it to accept commands without pointing directly at the unit.

It is automatic. If there is DTS is will take priority over PLII.

xnappo

Anyone had a viable work around for the IR receiver sensitivity of the XR55? Currently I am using tin foil to bring in signals better. I feel bad having such a nice new receiver and having to resort to this. The receiver is behind me and it is annoying to have to point the remote directly at it to get response.

I have attempted to use my MCE remote IR blasters without success.

Help a brova out.

Apologies if someone has mentioned this in the past - I read the last few pages and haven't seen this mentioned.

I've been loving the Panasonic SA-XR55 for several months, however there's one quirk that I'm wondering about - if I'm listening to the FM tuner, and a CD is playing, I'll hear both the FM station and the CD at the same time. Highly irritating. Not sure if the other inputs cause issues as well.

Wonder if this is a defect or 'feature'?

That is not normal, get a new unit

Haven't experienced that. Get it repaired or a new unit.

Has anyone used the XR55 with Orb audio Mod2 speakers?

Wondering how suitable this receiver would be.

Thanks for any insights.

Thanks for the responses. I'm on the phone with Panasonic tech support right now and they're saying I shouldn't be playing a CD while listening to the tuner.



This is like pulling teeth ... I don't suppose anyone can verify that they can not hear a CD playing while listening to an FM station? Obviously, the CD player would have to be playing while you're on the Tuner input.

EDIT: Looks like she might have me here:

Page 22, bottom left of the manual (which I tried linking to here and can't ... it's found on Amazon's SA-XR55S page.)

"DVD players can interfere with radio reception. Turn the DVD player off or move it further away from the antennas if this occurs."

I am actually using a DVD player. Oh well... warranty claim denied. I hope this doesn't happen with any other inputs!

Thanks again for the insight.

This is the most lame answer I heard...

Does the XR55 have a mode where you can send it a digital input, have it do absolutely nothing with the digital input, and have that input be sent again via one of its outputs to another DAC?

The problem is this: I'm looking to get an XR-55. I currently I have a DAC, a headphone amp, and a soundcard. I would like to have the soundcard output digital to the XR-55. Then, the XR-55 would power my speakers or it would continue sending the digital signal to my DAC, which would then go to my headphone amp, and to my headphones. Of course, the key element here is simplicity. I would like to be able to adjust this on a switch or some kind of toggle.

Thanks,

(I've read through 22 pages of this thread but I'm not sure if my question has been covered yet)

Edit: Also, if this possible, I'm curious to know which jack this unaltered digital signal would come out of (from the XR55) and whether it's a toslink or RCA coax.

In the worse case... if what I'm trying to do above is not possible, I will have to settle with using an RCA Y-splitter to split the digital signal from my soundcard.

It does not. But if your input is coax digital, you should be able to use a Y splitter or a simple switch (at the input)

I'm sending dolby digital to the XR55 via spdif to coax1. From the AVIA 6 channel sweep test, it looks like the reciever is not applying the appropriate 10dB boost to the LFE channel. Does anyone know anything about this?

Thanks.