Onkyo 875 problem

Kashkai

My Onkyo 875 is acting up on me (I'm cursed, I know I am :mad:). Over the weekend it:

1. started to put itself into standby mode when I was using my ps3 controller to pause/restart blu ray movies (this was an intermittent fault but annoying nonetheless. Is there a frequency cross over between the PS3 controller and the Onkyo remote?

2. it lost the speaker settings when (1) above happened and when I tried to run the automatic speaker set up to recalibrate the speakers, it gave me an error message stating that it couldn't detect one of the rear speakers even though there is sound coming out of it. I even ran a spare speaker cable to the "faulty" speaker in case the existing speaker wire was faulty (even though it can't be as like I said I am getting sound out of the speaker and it was fine up to last Saturday), but it failed the auto set up each time I tried it. Now I'm not getting surround sound as none of the speakers is properly calibrated and what was a brilliant sound set up is a mess as pointed out by family and friends that I had over on Sunday :mad:

Has anyone else experienced this and if so please help as I spent a small fortune on this equipment. BTW, I have monitor audio speakers in a 5.1 set up (although the auto speaker calibration looks for a 7.1 set up - is this the problem?? - grasping at straws here I know)

The Ritz

Dave,

1. Going into standby - the PS3 controller is bluetooth, there should be no crossover issues with the remote for the Onkyo. Check your Onkyo menu settings with the manual to hand, you may have some kind of "auto standby" function turned on and a blip in the HDMI signal by restarting the bluray movie could be causing it to go into standby.

2. The 7.1 settings with 5.1 speakers connected could be an issue - check which terminal you have the reaars connected to, go as per manual for 5.1.

I assume you have powered it down completely, i.e. plugged it out of the wall and powered it up again to see if it will straighten itself out ?

Last resort, check the manual, there should be a setting to restore to factory defaults - this should clear it back to out-of-the-box settings, if you still have the same issues then send it back as faulty.



Ritz.

Kashkai

Thanks for the quick reply Ritz.

I'll give your advice a go tonight although I'm fairly sure I have it connected up right, i.e. the rear speakers are conected to the terminals marked "Surround rear L & R" as opposed to the terminals marked "surround" which I assumed are for speakers that you'd place at your sides in a 7.1 set up.

Yeah I knew the ps3 is bluetooth but when I started up the movie from pause, the 875 would shut itself off into standby mode (this occured on 5 occasions). I then did a complete power down and restart which seemed to clear this but I'd love to know why it happened in the first place.

aaf

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I'll give your advice a go tonight although I'm fairly sure I have it connected up right, i.e. the rear speakers are conected to the terminals marked "Surround rear L & R" as opposed to the terminals marked "surround" which I assumed are for speakers that you'd place at your sides in a 7.1 set up.

I think you might have these connected to the wrong terminals. It's definitel in the manual but I'm too lazy to walk downstairs I think for 5.1 sound, you connect the rear cables to 'Surround L/R' and not 'Surround Rears L/R'. Check the manual.

Kashkai

I read the manual cover to cover last night (well it was better than watching RTE ) but there was no mention of how to connect speakers in a 5.1 set up as opposed to a 7.1 set up. I think Onkyo just assume I have a 7.1 set up. Now when I did run the auto speaker calibration I got the following results:

Found left front
Found centre
Found right front
No right surround (which I don't have in my 5.1 set up)
Found rear right surround
Error speaker not detected (i.e. for the rear left surround)

It stopped then and did not go on to look for the left surround (which I don't have anyway) and the sub woofer.

I've emailed the guys in Richersounds but no response yet so I'm hoping a Boardsie can help me out.

eddiem74

You should not be using the "REAR/BACK" L/R Surround channels in a 5.1 set-up. See the "Number of Speakers" table on page 21 of the manual.

Kashkai

eddiem74 wrote: »

You should not be using the "REAR/BACK" L/R Surround channels in a 5.1 set-up. See the "Number of Speakers" table on page 21 of the manual.

Well hit me over the head with a shovel :eek:

Jeez I was staring right at that table last night and I didn't realise the answer was staring me in the bloody face . Thanks a bunch Eddie. I do believe the problem is now sorted when I reconnect the rear speakers to the right terminals tonight (I hope)

eddiem74

Lets hope thats it ! :pac:

Kashkai

I moved the rear speaker wires from "rear surround" to "surround" and the auto calibration found them and ran the test. Yippee I thought until it then stated that it couldn't find the subwoofer. Sh!te I thought so I checked the subwoofer manual and it said I should adjust the volume and frequency of the sub which concurred with the amp's manual. So this I did for 2 hours and nothing, nada, zip.

So the current state of play is that nothing is going to the sub as the auto calibration couldn't find it so the bass sounds are going to the centre speaker and so drown out some of the dialogue in action sequences with the bangs, booms etc.

So can anyone please tell me how I get the amp to find, test and send the low frequency effects (LFE) to the sub. Its a Monitor Audio 360 sub btw.

eddiem74

Page 59/86 of manual any help?

aaf

Well, you might have the sub connected to the wrong terminal too! If memory serves, I had mine connected to wrong terminal and the audussy setup obviuosly couldn't detect the sub. Switched it over to the other sub terminal and hey presto. Check it out. I can't remember off-hand what the correct terminal is called but take a look at the back of your amp!

The Ritz

Dave,

Check p. 21 of your manual......... my bet is that you've got the sub connected to the sub socket on the multi-channel in sockets - move it to the sub socket on the pre-outs - to the right as you look at the back of the amp.

Ritz

Kashkai

Thanks for the advice lads.

I had the thing set up wrong (yup I'm an idiot who was used to an 'out of the box' home theatre system designed for the likes of me) and now that its connected correctly, its running perfectly.

One question though, it runs very very hot and even though it currently sits in an unit that's open on all four sides, its cooking my ps3 above it. Can anyone point me in the direction of a place that would sell a tv unit/cabinet that would hold this amp and allow good airflow around it. The wife hates the glass/chrome stands that usually come with a/v systems and she wants a wooden unit. I just can't find one so if anyone knows where I can get one, it'd be appreciated.

johnnyflav

I keep mine outside of the rack altogether, thing just gets too hot to handle and don't like the idea of frying it itself or any of teh other equipment.

Kashkai

You'd think that at the price of this amp, Onkyo would have sorted the cooling problems. If pc manufacturers can keep high end pcs cool, why can't Onkyo install some kind of fan to circulate air around and out of the case. I still can't believe how hot this amp gets even after just a couple of hours use. Surely running this hot must shorten its lifespan?

gman2k

you can get cooling solutions for amps and the likes - a plug in unit with fans. that you put over it.... looking for links now, but I think I saw them in a mag before...