[Jooce]

I'm not getting any sound from my rear speakers (Small in wall rear surrounds from Phoenix Gold)


My amp, Pioneer VSX-918 seems to be hooked up right. When I manually adjust the speakers, I can get each and every one of them to sound off. Soon as I switch it to whatever source I'm trying to play, they stop working. I dont get it. Xbox 360 should definately be playing at least in 5.1 over one of my many 5.1 enabled dvds.


What gives?



**** STILL NOT FIXED ***** =(

 

[MichaelJHuman]

By rear surrounds, I take it you are not implying a 7.1 setup? Your setup is 5.1?


HDMI connection?


The Pioneer is in Dolby Digital mode?

 

[JOHNnDENVER]

Yes, we would need to know how your audio source(s) is/are connected to start to help.

 

[Jooce]

Okay I waited to make sure it wasnt the source.


I now have Dish Network TurboHD package.


HDMI video to TV

White and Red to the Pioneer receiver


I currently only have 4 speakers (Two front towers and two rear satelites)


When I hit the "channels button" on the amp, it only cycles between Channel 1 & channel 2. I cant get it to pick up the other channels. Again, when I'm in setup mode though, and have it output test tones to each speaker, they all are producing sound.

 

[Jooce]

Oh and everything is on the TV/Sat input on the receiver. *sigh* i dont get it... I know its gotta be some simple stupid setting on the receiver.

 

[BAMAVADER]

You may want to use an HDMI cable from your HD Box to your receiver and then one from the receiver to the TV instead of the Red and white analog cables.

RTR

 

[Jooce]

I don't get it... its seriously making me mad. I spent a decent amount on this system and to not get anything out of it is aggravating.


Its gotta be settings on the amp. I tried running everything out of HDMI but that didn't work. No sound and no video.


I have my Dish Networks HDMI going to the Receiver's HDMI TV/SAT "IN" port. I have another HDMI cable going from the Receiver's HDMI "Out" port into my Kuro's HDMI "Input 4". This resulted in ziltch, nadda, nothing. I must be stupid or something.


HDMI straight through to the TV works fine, but if I pass anything through the receiver, it doesn't take.


But back to my main concern, why my rear speakers are not coming online when playing a source that has 5.1 enabled. ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MichaelJHuman]

You leave out important details. When you say 'nada, nothing', I have no clue what you mean. If you were expecting sound from your TV via HDMI from the receiver you would have to turn on HDMI audio from the receiver. But that's not recommended. You will probably be limited to two channel sound only from the receiver if you do that. It's best to just use your receiver for all audio.


If you are using RW (analog) cables for audio you will only get two channel stereo. While you can apply various processing modes to get surround sound using two channel analog, it's not ideal for most source devices. You need a digital connection to get 5.1. And once again, only some shows are broadcast in 5.1.


This is my advice. Hook up a DVD player using an optical cable for audio. That should give you 5.1 for most movies. That way you will know your 5.1 works. You have not mentioned DVD at all, so maybe you don't have a DVD player?

 

[Jooce]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelJHuman /forum/post/15533799


You leave out important details. When you say 'nada, nothing', I have no clue what you mean. If you were expecting sound from your TV via HDMI from the receiver you would have to turn on HDMI audio from the receiver. But that's not recommended. You will probably be limited to two channel sound only from the receiver if you do that. It's best to just use your receiver for all audio.


If you are using RW (analog) cables for audio you will only get two channel stereo. While you can apply various processing modes to get surround sound using two channel analog, it's not ideal for most source devices. You need a digital connection to get 5.1. And once again, only some shows are broadcast in 5.1.


This is my advice. Hook up a DVD player using an optical cable for audio. That should give you 5.1 for most movies. That way you will know your 5.1 works. You have not mentioned DVD at all, so maybe you don't have a DVD player?

Thanks for the response Mike. That may be my actual problem then. I am using RW (Analog) cables for my audio for everything. I was under the impression that they'd still do 5.1 or 7.1, just not the clarity that optical would give you. I'm not a hardcore audiophile so I didn't think I would hear much of a difference since I've always been plenty happy with using the Red/White cables. I've also had family members with home theater systems that weren't using optical cables so I'm still confused if I indeed need optical or not.



To answer a couple more questions, no I don't have a DVD player. I use my Xbox for that and it too is using RW cables.


So using HDMI as your audio is bad? I don't get it? I thought everyone was moving to this as the standard. When I tried using the HDMI for everything, I just had a blank black screen. No audio, No video. I went into the receiver's setup menu to try and find a setting to force it to HDMI but didn't really find anything. I don't understand why the receiver wouldn't be smart enough to see that it had something plugged into its HDMI source and use it.


If I missed something, let me know.

 

[MichaelJHuman]

There are three ways to get 5.1. Multi-channel analog, S/PDIF (typically optical,) and HDMI.


Sorry if I confused you about HDMI audio. I was specifically referring to people wanting to connect a device to a receiver and then the receiver to the TV and then hearing audio via HDMI. That does work, but likely adds a limitations to your audio such as being restricted to two channel only. Which is why I recommend not turning on HDMI audio out in the receiver's settings.


If you have a device hooked up with HDMI and get no sound from the receiver via HDMI, it's possible your receiver does not support HDMI audio at all. In which case you will have to use analog or optical for your audio.

 

[Foxbat121]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Jooce /forum/post/15533644


I have my Dish Networks HDMI going to the Receiver's HDMI TV/SAT "IN" port. I have another HDMI cable going from the Receiver's HDMI "Out" port into my Kuro's HDMI "Input 4". This resulted in ziltch, nadda, nothing. I must be stupid or something.

You will have to go to your 918's setup menu to assign your HDMI IN port to the specific input name you selected for audio and video. The default settings do not use HDMI. And the HDMI port is assigned to HDMI1, 2 etc. RTFM

Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelJHuman /forum/post/15534388


If you have a device hooked up with HDMI and get no sound from the receiver via HDMI, it's possible your receiver does not support HDMI audio at all. In which case you will have to use analog or optical for your audio.

VSX-918 does support HDMI audio.

 

[Jooce]

Well its last years Pioneer model receiver. It says it does audio/video though HDMI. I'll tinker with it more tonight. What exactly is this multi-channel analog that you're talking about. Do I have mine physically configured incorrectly?

 

[MichaelJHuman]

You don't want to use Multi-channel analog. That requires a source device with multi-channel out, and I assume you don't have anything like that. I mentioned it for completeness, don't worry about it.


You want to use HDMI or optical for your audio where possible, not two channel analog (via RW RCA connectors.)

 

[Jooce]

Here is a link to the front & back of the receiver

CLICK ME PIONEER VSX-918

 

[Foxbat121]

Jooce,


Read your AVR (918)'s manual page 65 about assigning HDMI input.


Here is the link to the manual http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/St...ctions0520.pdf

 

[Jooce]

Well.... Thank you Foxbat... I was able to get the HDMI working.


Still no rear sound coming from my rear surround speakers. Confirmed with my friend that we were watching the same TV show and his setup had sound coming from his rears.


*slams head on keyboard*


o'[aigj'iohj089

 

[funkyman010]

Have you made sure your speakers are plugged into the Surround outputs and not the Surround Back outputs?

 

[Foxbat121]

The Page 35 of the manual, the last setting, HDMI, make sure it says 'AMP'. Otherwise, you will get no sound from AVR.

 

[Jooce]

Foxbat.... I am getting sound. Just none from my two rear speakers. The fronts sound great.

 

[mjconnor10]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Jooce /forum/post/15563877


Foxbat.... I am getting sound. Just none from my two rear speakers. The fronts sound great.

Is this the back of your receiver?
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/St...ck%20Panel.jpg


Where have you been hooking your audio through? Because I have a feeling you've been using your RW cables on those analog inputs labelled "DVD 5.1CH INPUT" (if not, feel free to correct me). This would be wrong - because that's only for multichannel analog (and you probably don't have multichannel analog output).


You need to be using either the digital optical inputs (there are two of them right in the middle), or the "Digital In Coax 1 (DVD/BD) (Assignable)" input. Others who know more about this are saying you can't use the HDMI, so I'll leave that to them.