New owner Yamaha DSP-AX863SE - Help?

MonkeyJug

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i have just bought the above mentioned amp, along with a set of q-acoustics 1010i 5.1 surround sound speakers...

i have a panasonic 50" TX-P50G10B, ps3, xbox elite, htpc (with hdmi out and asus xonar d2 soundcard) and a normal sky+ plus (SD)...

to say i am overwhelmed would be an understatement. i couldn't believe the instruction manual for the amp was only in english!

i consider myself to be a pretty intelligent and tech-savvy person, but this has made me rethink just how competent i am.

i thought i would enjoy setting it all up, and i knew it would be difficult, BUT alot of fun doing it...

however, i would just like some guidance on a quick-start setup to get me going, and then i can tweak as i learn more and more about the sheer power of what i'm looking at!

i'm looking for tips on amp settings and whether to use optical (spdif???) leads coming from my plasma to the amp? or from my sky+ box to the amp??? basic things like that would be great!

at the minute, the speakers are all wired up correctly, and i have hdmi cables going to the amp from my ps3, xbox elite, and my htpc.

i then have a hdmi going from my amp to the plasma. i'm really unsure which is the best default hdmi in for which device on the amp, so any guidance here would be good...

i also thought i could run the optical digital audio cable from the plasma to the back of the amp and get the sound through my 1010i's, but i'm unable to work out how to do this - again a pointer or tip here would be great...

thanks in advance guys!

mark
 
I'm looking for tips on amp settings and whether to use optical (spdif???) leads coming from my plasma to the amp? or from my sky+ box to the amp??? basic things like that would be great!

In order to get Dolby Digital from BBC HD etc. on Freesat you need an optical connection between TV and amp. To get Dolby Digital from selected programming and movies etc. on Sky, again, you will need an optical connection between sky+ box and amp. You need to change the settings in the sound setup on the sky box to activate the optical output.

At the minute, the speakers are all wired up correctly, and i have hdmi cables going to the amp from my ps3, xbox elite, and my htpc.

You will need to change the settings on the PS3 to HDMI audio and also LPCM. There is a sticky post in the Onkyo owner's forum which applies to all amps that will help you out here. I am not familar with the Xbox Elite but I would imagine there might be a setting within the setup for changing to HDMI audio but it might be on by default. You would quickly realise once a game or DVD is inserted if you see Dolby Digital on the amp's screen anyway.

I then have a hdmi going from my amp to the plasma. i'm really unsure which is the best default hdmi in for which device on the amp, so any guidance here would be good...

It doesn't matter. You can rename the inputs anyway but obviously PS3 could be bluray etc. but if they're HDMI 1, 2 and 3 don't worry about it.

I also thought i could run the optical digital audio cable from the plasma to the back of the amp and get the sound through my 1010i's, but i'm unable to work out how to do this - again a pointer or tip here would be great...

Are you selecting this input on the amp? Did you assign it to the TV input etc.? There might be a setting on the TV but I don't think so. I'm pretty sure the optical output is active by default. It certainly is on my TV, which is the older model of yours. I don't use optical on my TV as I never use Freesat (nothing on!) as I have Sky HD and the only time I use it is for ITV-HD football matches.

I appreciate that the amp's manual might appear daunting but if you follow it step by step by connecting up speakers, set speakers to small, sub crossover to 80hz, run the auto calibration, connect sources to the amp, assign inputs, rename inputs etc. and perhaps finish by making some manual tweaks to settings, you will get there in the end.
 
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davepuma, thanks for taking the time to reply in such detail...

i had a look last night on the sound settings for my sky+ box, and couldn't see an option for digital audio out. i will have another look tonight when i get home...

even when it was connected to my plasma, i tried running via the various different sound input options, but couldn't hear anything from my speakers.

again, i will have another play tonight...

i'm suprised there is no 863 owners thread in here though - now THAT is what i'm seeking! :)

cheers for the help so far, mate...
 
If you go to Services, 4, 2. Change the Optical Output option to "DOLBY D" then save. That should be it.

I take it you connected the Plasma to the DTV/CBL input? If that is already taken up by the Sky+ and you used another input, presumably you selected MD/CD-R or DVD? Remember you have to assign inputs, which will be in the setup as perhaps one was assigned to a digi-coax input by default?

There may well be a 763/863 owners thread. Search the first 5 or 6 pages and something should turn up or conduct a search.
 
I was wondering when someone would ask!! :D

me too!

i can't remember the name of the shop, but it was online. i rang about the yamaha 1700 (i think), and he said he didn't have any, but asked if i'd be interested in the 863 cos they had just taken delivery of 8 and had 4 left to sell!

i will find out the name when i get home from work later this evening and let you know... not much good, i know, but you might get lucky, like me!
 
i've made a bit of progress with this little beauty!

i am however stumped by this little problem:

from my htpc (lanparty jr 790gx m2rs mobo), using hdmi via the amp, the display during the bios is 420p (flashes up in to left corner), then when it boots to windows, it shows 1080i...

if i run the htpc directly into the back of the plasma, it boots via the bios and then to windows at a constant 1080p.

i can't seem to figure out how to get it 1080p via the amp...
 

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