Pioneer 920 Setup with Kef 3005 Wireless

surfymark

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I am having some issues setting up a Pioneer 920 with a set of Kef 3005 Speakers (with Wireless Sub).

When I first set it up, I tried it with a Blu-Ray of Hurt Locker and it sounded good, particularly the initial explosion which sounded great through the new Sub.

Once I had the speakers where I wanted them I ran the Advanced MCACC on Full Auto. I then watched Transporter 3 on Sky Movies HD. Near the end of the film is a big explosion and I suddenly noticed that the Sub was in Standby. When I finished watching the film I put Hurt Locker back in and sure enough there was nothing coming out of the Sub.

I reran the Full Auto MCACC and verified that the Sub was working and the same was true of Hurt Locker. Then I tried turning the Sub up a little in the System Setup with the same result.

If I switch over to a different MCACC Preset I get the Sub back.

How on earth do I set it up so that I can feel the Sub?

Many thanks
Mark
 
I thought I would just post with some more findings from a bit of Googling and searching on here.

It appears the problem may be down to my inputs.

I have Sky HD and a Fat Original PS3, both connected solely by HDMI.

It looks like Sky HD will only give 5.1 audio via the Optical output and only 2 channel audio through the HDMI. As Optical cannot carry full HD audio, I assume then that Sky does not transmit full HD audio. So I guess I need to plug an Optical lead in here and then possibly program the amp (and the Sky box?) to get Video only from the HDMI and Audio from the Optical.

PS3 seems to only output 5.1 sound through the HDMI and not through the Optical. It looks like it cannot transmit full HD but will instead process it onboard and send the signal as a PCM signal (meaning I will get full HD audio but the amp will say it is PCM or MultiChannel).

Does anyone have any other information on how to best set up these inputs and outputs on the Sky HD, PS3 and amp so that I will get the best sound quality?

Many thanks
Mark
 
It looks like you're most of the way there.

With the Sky+HD box you need to go to Services > Settings > Sound and check that it's set to DOLBY D under digital audio output. Save your settings.

The setup for the PS3 can be found HERE

Follow the manual step-by-step and don't be afraid to make manual adjustments if it doesn't sound right. The guide HERE should enable you to correctly set up your speakers and subwoofer.
 
Your subsequent research is spot-on.

You need the optical cable for sky audio...this will give you DD 5.1 and your PS3 (FAT version) can only output decoded PCM hence the display on your AVR.

The newer slim PS3's do allow the submission of Bitstream over HDMI, allowing your AVR to do the decoding....Some say this can give slightly better sound quality, due (in theory) to some sort of post-decoding processing.

This is just what I've read and having gone from a fat PS3 to a dedicated BDP that can bitstream over HMDI... I personally did not notice any audible difference in SQ......It was just nice to A) tidy up my AV stand with the mega-slim and discrete Sony S370 and B) see the display on my AVR say "Dolby True HD" or "DTS-HD audio";)

All the best
Darren

EDIT: Apologies to davepuma, your post was not there when I started writing my reply...an absolute age ago:blush:
 
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