[JohnSteam]

Thank you, Morgan71 and matman.
AirPlay opens up lot of possibilities, that's true. But native support still would be a nice plus since no iDevice is needed...

JS

[Log1k]

Quick question. Which is better to use. I am streaming stuff from my PC via 1.4a HDMI ti the amp and then pass through the picture to the tv. On the properties of the HDMI on PC you can choose ho you want the sound to come out eg. stereo, 5.1 (my setup on the amp), 7.1 etc.

If i use stereo setting, i can decode the source on the amp to 5.1 by using dolby digital or Neo 6 matrix but

if i use 5.1 the amp forces the PCM state on and i can just select auto ( so as is) or stereo.

I think the latter gives the better sound quality, but it disables almost all the other enhancements too. So what do you suggest?

- L

[Marc]

if you're setting your pc to stereo then everything you send to your amp is being sent in two channels which the amp can then upmix using one of its pseudo surround modes, but you won't be hearing the discrete mix as encoded in the video. You're best off setting your pc to the correct number of speakers and then sending that to the receiver.

i currently have my video player (daum potplayer) sending dd, dts, dts-hd, truehd via bitstream to the receiver and re-encoding pcm stereo signals into prologic and sending those to the amp as bitstream as well

[killabeez]

Hi ,

Just a quick ask ?
Does anybody else have >volume< issues with this amp ?
Upgraded from a Pioneer 814 to the 921 and the volume of the new Amp seams far lower than my previous Amp ?
Tried the Macc setup a good few times but not much improvment all my channels are now turned up, well into the +'s
Generally I have to have the Amp at -20db to -14db to listen to normal TV,
Doesn't seam right to me ?

[Jonny3979]

Originally Posted by killabeez

Hi ,

Just a quick ask ?
Does anybody else have >volume< issues with this amp ?
Upgraded from a Pioneer 814 to the 921 and the volume of the new Amp seams far lower than my previous Amp ?
Tried the Macc setup a good few times but not much improvment all my channels are now turned up, well into the +'s
Generally I have to have the Amp at -20db to -14db to listen to normal TV,
Doesn't seam right to me ?

I also find this amp much quieter than my old arcam avr100. I'm running much bigger better speakers too.

[killabeez]

Thanks Jonny,
Was starting to think my Amp was faulty

Just can not believe that 150 watts into 6 ohm speakers can be that quiet

[Morgan71]

Power specs of 814 and 921 are more or less the same.
Level from optical output of a TV could be lower than line level output.
It happens on my PDP-LX5090H.

[killabeez]

Level from optical output of a TV could be lower than line level output.

Tried the audio using HDMI through the ARC and the volume was about the same as the optical
Tivo to Amp to TV, then back through the HDMI ( ARC ) to the Amp, no improvment

When I play an Mp3 using a USB memory stick the volume does seam higher ?

[Woody26]

Just got this amp. Have sky via hdmi in input one and the optical into optical 2. It's setup in the menu and has put the hdmi and optical together so I have picture and sound. Problem is, it doesn't give dolby digital output! The sky box is set to output this, what could it be?

[Woody26]

I've worked it out, it's still taking the sound from hdmi and not optical, how do you change this?

[Jonny3979]

I have my sky hd box hdmi going directly to my tv then the optical going to the amp!
Works fine except for the normal lip sync issues which the hd box seems to suffer from.

[Speedluvver]

You have to change the signal select from auto to manual so it always uses optical...

[matman]

Originally Posted by killabeez

Tried the audio using HDMI through the ARC and the volume was about the same as the optical
Tivo to Amp to TV, then back through the HDMI ( ARC ) to the Amp, no improvment

When I play an Mp3 using a USB memory stick the volume does seam higher ?

When watching sky I usually have mine set at -30 to -40db. What speakers do you have?

[killabeez]

Originally Posted by matman

When watching sky I usually have mine set at -30 to -40db. What speakers do you have?

Orginally MS302/MS304 fronts and MS904 at the back but just replaced with Dali Zensor1 and Vokal at the front, ( MS904 ) still at the rear, the sound level was the same for both speaker set up's though

[bobbybuilder]

Are there any good apps for Android for streaming music to 921, have tried Bubble upnp but get sound drops can't seem to get double twist to work, any ideas?

[empedocles]

Originally Posted by Purplefrodo

I purchased this unit last week, and for the three hours it was working it was awesome. However, it suddenly went into a shut down and is now not functioning at all. When I plug power back in all I get is a red flashing MCACC LED on the front panel. The store I purchased it from will replace it when they have more in stock, hopefully next week. But I'm now concerned, have I just been unlucky or does the VSX-921 have a problem?

Has anyone else come across this?

Yes, same problem - amp currently being repaired: just wondered if you got any feedback from the store?

[maturestudent]

Hi everyone,

just joined the forums, i set up my amp today and like jonny and killa have noticed that theres no loudness/kick. i have pioneer speakers, the cheap shs100 set but when i had them hooked up to an Onkyo they were loud so i feel its not the speakers but the amp. i can't believe that i have to go from -80db to -14db to get some decent sound out of it, this was not the case with the onkyo and still isn't as its set up in the other room. is there something i could not have set up correctly?
btw i adjusted the speaker volumes manually to +6db each and that improved things, i get decent sound at about -40db which is a little better

[Marc]

i've calibrated mine with mcacc twice since i've moved house. The first time, i had to put the receiver at -20 or so for a decent volume level, but the second time -35 is just as loud. Perhaps try doing mcacc again and see if it is any different.

[killabeez]

Originally Posted by Marc

i've calibrated mine with mcacc twice since i've moved house. The first time, i had to put the receiver at -20 or so for a decent volume level, but the second time -35 is just as loud. Perhaps try doing mcacc again and see if it is any different.

Watched a move last night and had it up to -9db or so, just about had enough and will be returning this to Sevenoaks unless there is a solution soon well miffed off.....

ps, got a 'silver' 814 in the attic that kicked the pants off this amp !!

[DaiGriff]

Originally Posted by killabeez

Watched a move last night and had it up to -9db or so, just about had enough and will be returning this to Sevenoaks unless there is a solution soon well miffed off.....

ps, got a 'silver' 814 in the attic that kicked the pants off this amp !!

Have you tried changing the channel levels as per Mature Students suggestion?

What level are your channels at?

[killabeez]

Originally Posted by DaiGriff

Have you tried changing the channel levels as per Mature Students suggestion?

What level are your channels at?

Hi, ta for the advice, upped the channel levels to about the +5 to 7's its a little better but is this the right way to go ? still have the master volume up to the _10's or so

Ps , am I going deaf ?

[bobbybuilder]

Originally Posted by killabeez

Watched a move last night and had it up to -9db or so, just about had enough and will be returning this to Sevenoaks unless there is a solution soon well miffed off.....

ps, got a 'silver' 814 in the attic that kicked the pants off this amp !!

Hi do you mean pioneer 814? Because if so I to have just upgraded from that model also. Sorry to hear your having problems but all I can say I couldn't be more happy with the sound, volume levels are much higher than old model. Music via direct is wonderful put new life in my speakers. You must have a bad one so would return pronto.

[killabeez]

Originally Posted by bobbybuilder

Hi do you mean pioneer 814? Because if so I to have just upgraded from that model also. Sorry to hear your having problems but all I can say I couldn't be more happy with the sound, volume levels are much higher than old model. Music via direct is wonderful put new life in my speakers. You must have a bad one so would return pronto.

Yep I did mean Pioneer 814, was a great amp, just the colour was silver and no HMDI inputs, so it had to go

Does anybody know if when you set up the amp with the Mcacc setup the volume is 'set' by the amp, so possibly restricting the max volume ?

[Marc]

i think the mcacc definitely sets the overall volume, as shown by me running it twice, a week apart and having much different results in that department but i don't know what affects it. The first time i ran the setup i did turn the volume down from 0 to -10 because the buzz of my speakers at 0 was causing the setup to say "too much ambient noise" but it turned out that was due to putting the mic on a cushion instead of something solid anyway.

[potshot]

I am setting this amp up for a mate and can honestly say the manual is the worst I have ever come across, a lack of detail and the most basic smallest manual I have come across.

I am in the process of bi-amping the front speakers and its not the best diagram I have come across. We have had problems where the amp won't respond to the remote and we have needed to turn the amp off and on at the mains to get it work properly. Speaker volume is quite low but I am hoping when I have set the speakers to bi-amp the volume will improve.

[Marc]

the printed manual is just a quick start but there's a pretty detailed manual on the cd/website. I occasionally have an issue where i can't get the amp to turn on, if i've turned my tv on first (some sort of dumb hdmi-cec issue), but that is fixed by turning the tv back off then turning on the amp.

[DaiGriff]

Originally Posted by Marc

the printed manual is just a quick start but there's a pretty detailed manual on the cd/website. I occasionally have an issue where i can't get the amp to turn on, if i've turned my tv on first (some sort of dumb hdmi-cec issue), but that is fixed by turning the tv back off then turning on the amp.

I get this problem too. Irritating!

[potshot]

Originally Posted by Marc

the printed manual is just a quick start but there's a pretty detailed manual on the cd/website. I occasionally have an issue where i can't get the amp to turn on, if i've turned my tv on first (some sort of dumb hdmi-cec issue), but that is fixed by turning the tv back off then turning on the amp.

You would think they would fix the problem via a firmware update. Thanks I will look on line for the manual.

[Marc]

they haven't released any firmware updates in the few months i've owned it, was hoping it'd be one of those regularly updated things, adding features and fixes every month or so..

my biggest annoyance with this receiver, which may or may not be fixable with a firmware update is the advertised "6 hd inputs" is sort of a lie. Yes there are 6 inputs, but you can only use 4 of them at any one time If you have something plugged into the DVD or BDR/DVR HDMI inputs, you lose access to the component inputs with the same names, and you can't reassign them to anything other than another HDMI input. I've actually had to resort to plugging the V+ box and Wii into my TV and using the ARC to the receiver instead of plugging them into the receiver as there's no space for them

[Tiggerbear]

Can anyone help, I bought the amp a few weeks ago still can't decide on a sub. I've been looking at some on Ebay but then realised I don't know if I need passive or active? As I understand it I could use either, but they get wired differently, but is one better than the other?

Thanks.