does this thing have a powered zone 2?

Sorry for the "newb" question but how do I "use" ARC. My AVR monitor out HDMI is in the arc slot and my tv's "IN" HDMI port is also marked ARC, so I believe they should be compatible. Is there a setting I need to change on the devices?

Yes, you need to enable HDMI Control on both devices. The specific settings for HDMI Control and ARC will be described in the manuals.

I just noticed that my receiver transformer is humming when the unit is powered off in standby mode. I woke up at 03:30am this morning and was wondering where this humming noise was coming from.
It winds up being this new STR-DN 1040 emanating a faint 60hz hum coupled to its thin metal top case resonating it louder into the room. Looks like I got a lemon with a noisey power transformer or
something in the circuitry is loading down the transformer causing it to hum under load sitting there.

I tried turning off networking when in standby options to make sure nothing is on even when you power it off to standby. But it still hums!

Anyone else can you tell us if your new STR-DN1040 hums like mine? It is not real loud and you can't hear it in a noisey room. But at night when it is real quiet, you can hear the humming buzz across the room.
I don't want this now. So going to ask buy.com to RMA it.

All my other receivers and amps are dead quiet when turned off in standby. So I don't want to keep this new receiver if it is going to hum like this all the time. It definitely won't be in my bedroom with this noise.

Anyone else please let me know if your new receiver has a low level transformer hum that you can hear. I need to get to the bottom of this and see if I got a lemon or Sony's using a bad batch of transformers and power supply capacitors or not.

I need to find out an answer quick to determine if I need to return this new receiver or not so posting a separate topic thread on it.
I noticed that my brand new Sony STR-DN1040 receiver emits a low level mechanical 60hz hum quite audible when my room is quiet at night.
Since I use this in my bedroom, I find it annoying and unacceptable to have transformer hum when the unit is powered off in standby mode.
The unit seems to be performing fine otherwise. Just plagued by that humming transformer noise. I hate that.

Can all the STR-DN1040 owners please check their receiver to see if it hums like this also?
I need to know if I should return this unit ASAP.

Thank You!

Totally in love with the DN1040 so far Super fast, switching also for me and what a sound!
The only thing i dont understand is that the subwoofer does not seem to be used/go on when playing music over airplay/dlna and radio.
With movies and stuff it works fine though, anyone else know how to fix that?

Greets!

I just checked this for you and i hear a very very soft hum which so far does not seem to be that loud even when everything is quiet in the room for me.

Hi, make sure you have your sound mode set to A.F.D. Auto mode and not 2 CH STR mode. The subwoofer should play as it does on mine for those input sources.

Thanks for checking your receiver for humming transformer. Sounds like you have similar low level mechanical transformer hum as mine. I wonder if others have this too or did
Sony release some with bad batch of transformers with loose vibrating windings or core laminations. Sux.

Even if it hums on other people's Sony would you keep it?

You already said it is unacceptable so take it back.

I have one other question hoping someone could help me out with.
I have the following configuration right now:

Center speaker, Canton 505.2:
Frequency response 32...40.000 Hz
Crossover frequency 350 / 3.000 Hz
Woofer 1 x 160 mm (6''), Aluminum (Wave surround)
Midrange 1 x 160 mm (6''), Aluminum (Wave surround)
Tweeter 1 x 25 mm (1''), aluminum-manganese

Right now set to Crossover Frequency of 80Hz on the Sony STR-DN1040 (since i heard a bit to much bass from center before).

Then big main speakers on Left and Right also Canton 507.2 DC:
Frequency response 25...40.000 Hz
Crossover frequency 300 / 3.000 Hz
Woofer 1 x 160 mm (6''), Aluminum (Wave surround)
Midrange 1 x 160 mm (6''), Aluminum (Wave surround)
Tweeter 1 x 25 mm (1''), aluminum-manganese

And surround speakers are small Bose speakers (cubes) who i have also set to 80Hz Crossover freq.

The subwoofer itself is a Canton Sub12 with the following specs:
Nominal/musical output 200 / 350 watts
Frequency response 20...200 Hz
Crossover frequency 50...200 Hz (adjustable)

Right now I have the sub set to 80Hz Crossover aswell.

Does this look good to you all or does anyone know what i should best set the Cubes and Center to (Crossover) and sub itself?

Well if it hums on all the other str-dn1040 receivers then I can at least be assured that my particular unit is not defective from the norm.
The hum is not so loud that it is audible during the hustle bustle ambient day time noise level of my room. But I can hear the hum sound when it is dead quiet at night.

the receiver works fine other than this humming transformer issue I report to the public on this forum. The purpose of my posting is two fold, it is also to inform consumers so they can make a smarter buying decision.
It is not to knock Sony. It is to help Sony so that they can be aware of this and maybe (just maybe) remedy their bad batch of humming transformers in future released receivers.

Anyway, in reviewing buy.com's return policy, it sounds to me like they might give me a hard time after I send it back and they will say item is not defective, so they can deny the return. I just know that they will say no problem found and reject my RMA for credit or replacement. I just don't want to deal with the BS.

VERY excited to see this glowing review of the 1040!!

http://www.whathifi.com/review/sony-str-dn1040

"But when it comes to multichannel soundtracks, this AV receiver is one of the best we’ve heard at this price thanks to its engaging detail, soaring dynamics and punchy effects.

The STR-DN1040 is well worth an audition if you’re looking to drive your home cinema system, and sure to be in contention for top honours in 2013."

Look like we made the right choice.

I got my 7.1 up and running (front highs, rear surrounds, front, left, center, sub) and the surround decoding was AWESOME. Very happy with the quality of sound. I think I'm going to move my front highs out further towards the corners for a bit more separation though.

Is there an advantage to setting the crossover points manually? When you do the auto-cal feature with the microphone, it doesn't do this? The instructions say to have the subwoofer at full range and that the AVR will tell where to cut it off...

I also listened to my receiver when off and it does have a super super light humming resonance. I can't hear it until I'm closer than 3 feet, certainly not from my bedroom in a quiet house.

Thanks for checking and reporting about the condition and level of transformer hum emanatinvg from your receiver. I guess this is the norm then.
The receiver is indeed an fantastic performing and great bargain for this price range. I guess I will just keep this one and not hassle with a return or replacement from buy.com
I suspect that they would have rejected my return anyway for this hum issue since they would probably call it normal... (which it should not be). Even my older Sony DE945 and Sony DN1000 receivers do not emanate a transformer hum. So these newer ones should not either.

80hz crossover is the THX recommended setting. That said, what did the auto setup set everything at? Maybe try experimenting with different crossovers for the front three. The Bose cubes need to be crossed over as high as the AVR will allow since they don't produce much of anything below 200hz.

There is no "crossover" for the sub (LFE) channel. On most subs you set the filter (crossover) as high as it can go or to bypass when using the LFE input on the sub.

Does anyone know what type of upscaling video chip is used in these, im leaning toward the pioneer due to the qdeo as i would like an avr with decent upscaling for tv sources, but i dont see anything listed for this one.

The 1040 uses Faroudja DCDi edge video processing.

I finally got a little more time to spend with the receiver and so far, have been very happy with it. Great sound. The self-configuration worked really well.

I also downloaded the app on my phone, so I can completely control the receiver no matter where I am in my house (or outside in the yard)

I also had no problem with the volume showing up on the TV, which an earlier poster was concerned about.

It's amazing how digital music sources have changed so dramatically since i bought my last receiver about 10 years ago and with easy access to tons of internet radio stations, pandora and my itunes library via airplay or bluetooth, the radio and CDs are all but dead.

So you are saying that when you turn the volume up/down then you get a volume setting that shows on the screen like almost every other AVR? I'm not talking about hitting a menu button and seeing what the volume is set at.

Quick question about the 2 hdmi outputs. If I hook my PS3 up to the receiver, and have the output go to 2 different TVs in 2 different rooms, I imagine I can play in both rooms. But here is the question:

My living room TV is 3D, the bedroom isn't.
Will I be able to watch 3D movies and play 3D games in one room, and not the other, or will the receiver only put out 2D in both rooms? I was going to buy a splitter, but it seemed I would have had to keep plugging and unplugging due to handshake issues.

Hoping the receiver can help on that front.

Thanks.

Yes...that is correct.

Thanks.....Damn, wish I would have known that before I took my 1040 back to BB.

The Bose Cubes probably need to be set higher than 80z. they have really small drivers inside.

Doesn't that receiver have some type of room calibration software? Have you plugged in the mic and run it yet? What were the results?

Yes i ran the auto calibration but it put my center speaker with way to much bass and had to put it down to 100Hz crossover and now that seems fine, it put the bose cubes to 120hz.
The subwoofer i have now set (itself, button) to the full crossover freq which seems to be 200hz.

If the calibration set your Bose speakers to 120hz, you should not change it to 80hz as those Bose cubes cannot reach that low. Leave it at 120z.

It is okay to set your speakers higher than the calibration setting but not lower.

I have the exact same issue with a 3d tv and a 2d projector. Would like to know as well how this works with the dual HDMI.

Thanks

Is anyone using Bravia Sync? Everytime I change the input for example going from TV to Game I also have to change then TV settings. I go from Cinema to Game mode but I have to do that in the TV. Is there an auto setting
For the picture mode to switch as well? Hope this makes sence. Otherwise the receiver is great!

This Sony receiver DOES NOT display overlaying of the volume control level status when you are watching a movie. It only will display a volume status bar when you are inside its own GUI interface.
farbnj, you either have a unique situation or you misunderstood D Bone's question. There is no overlay of the volume level when watching a movie.
No matter what I tried on my receiver connected to an LG 3D 47" TV, it never shows the volume level indication when I go to change volume levels.

Let's make it clear and keep it factual for all those looking for these details.

The missing volume onscreen overlay does not bother me personally but apparently many other A/V enthusiasts do want that feature. This receiver does not have it.
Other than that, I recommend this receiver whole heartedly for those looking to get a new receiver in this price range. I think nothing else can touch it at this time!
I kept mine even though I detected that the transformer hums a bit on mine.
It has been kicking out fantastic audio ever since I installed it. It sounds even way better once I ran the auto calibration which seems to be pretty damn accurate.
No need for overly fancy Audyssey or whatever here! The Sony method is simple, fast and does a really excellent job. I cannot believe I stumbled upon this receiver at the sale price and have no regrets.
It sounds fantastic easily matching my high-end receivers (Sony STR-DA4600ES, Onkyo TX-NR905 and Pioneer Elite VSX-49TXi)! ... and it has more up to date features to boot! and was way cheaper to buy!
Holy cow! What a winner.

farbnj is right, this Sony receiver displays overlaying of the volume control level status when you are watching a bluray or other connected device via HDMI at least with my TV - Samsung UN D8000 supporting Anynet. Same bar shows up when I am watching TV. Take a look at the attached image #1 where TV remote was used to control the sound. Check out my receiver's HDMI settings, image #2.

image 1 - sound bar when controlling sound with TV remote:


image 2 - receiver HDMI settings:

image 1 - sound bar when controlling sound with TV remote:


Anynet+ is the Samsung's volume display, not Sony's.