Zone 2 Not working

[Bryce_H]

Ok Audioholic Gurus - hopefully you can help me out.

I have a Denon 4310 in the basement in a 7.1 setup (with front height) and am trying to run a zone 2 to the new speakers I installed on the deck. I have verified the sound is good to the speakers through a direct connection to the back of the 4310. However, I cannot get the zone 2 to work through my Yamaha DSP-A3090, which I would like to use as an external amp.

So here is what I have tried:

1) from 4310 Zone 2 pre-out to analog input on A3090 (tried Tuner and CD)
2) from 4310 Zone 2 pre-out to Main In after removing the jumpers

Also tried each on Zone 3 pre-out

Nadda on all accounts. I have made sure that I set the amp assignement to Front Height so I know it is not trying to power Zone 2.

I have followed the directions (the little there were) in the manual and made sure that everything was followed (i.e. zone 2 on, input set correctly, volume up - on both the Denon and Yamaha).

Has anyone run the Yamaha DSP-A3090 as an external amp?

Anyone gotten the Denon 4310 to successfully use Zone 2 through an external amp?

Anyone have any ideas on what I should be doing differently?

 

[AVRat]

Option 2 should work with the jumper in place. I'm assuming the Yammie powers the speakers fine on its own, and you're getting sound from the tuner? You're connected to the main speaker connections on the Yam?

 

[Bryce_H]

AVRat - the setup of the back of the yamaha doesn't allow you to leave the jumpers in place and use the Main-In. There is a jumper from pre-out to main-in. This is how the setup needs to be to use the internal amps when used alone. I figured if I took the jumper out and and ran the RCA cable in from the pre-out on the Denon I would be all good. However, nadda...

Hence my plea to the forums.

Also to preempt the future suggestions - I am not looking to buy a dedciated external amp.

Thanks.

 

[AVRat]

I thought that may be the case. It seems that the front 3 -channels are routed from the pre-amps through those jumpers back to the amp channels. You really shouldn't need the jumpers since you're using the 4310 as the processor. The manual's a little confusing regarding the connections.

Could you verify that the Yammie powers the speakers on its own. It would help for us to know that the Main-ins are working ok.

To test the Zone outs, you could run them to your sub/mains.

Wish I could come up and lend a hand, but I can't even do my own physical configuring.

 

[Bryce_H]

So I verifed the Yamaha wil power the speakers. I hooked up my iPod to the Tuner input and it worked fine. So then I took the 4310 Zone 2 pre-out and connected it to the Tuner input - nadda.

So it has to be a setting in the 4310 or something with how I am hooking it up.

Any ideas?

 

[AVRat]

I'm at a loss here. You're doing everything I would do. Since you get output using the internal amps, just hooking up to the zone outs shouldn't make a difference unless there's a problem with them internally. I'd try the L/R pre-outs to the Main-ins to see if that even works.

Have you ever done a microprocessor reset?

 

[highfigh]

So I verifed the Yamaha wil power the speakers. I hooked up my iPod to the Tuner input and it worked fine. So then I took the 4310 Zone 2 pre-out and connected it to the Tuner input - nadda.

So it has to be a setting in the 4310 or something with how I am hooking it up.

Any ideas?

You may need to send analog audio to the inputs on the Denon. If you only connected digitally, it won't convert to analog.

 

[TLS Guy]

How are you using the zone outs?

No output will appear from the zone 2 out from an HDMI source.

Only analog and PCM, but not bitstream, sources will appear at the zone 2 outputs. So only PCM sources from optical Toslink or RCA digital sources appear on the zone 2 outputs.

In addition if it is a digital source then that input, toslink or RCA digital SPDIF must be assigned to Zone 2 in the set up menu.

These restrictions are for DRM reasons. We have a lot of confusion in posts on this issue.

This is all in the fine print note on page 89 of your manual.

 

[Bryce_H]

I will work through some of these, but I was trying to use the HD Radio (which is built in). Thanks for the additinal info.

 

[TLS Guy]

I will work through some of these, but I was trying to use the HD Radio (which is built in). Thanks for the additinal info.

That is a digital source, so likely does not pass.

I would set the FM tuner to analog, which is far better anyway. That HD iBiquity/IBOC system is a lousy rough sounding POS anyway. It has far too low a streaming bit rate.

 

[Bryce_H]

Interesting - I will try that and see what I get.

 

[Bryce_H]

I got it to work - it was a mismapped input. I finally ended up with the Denon pre-outs going directly to Yamaha main-ins.

Thanks everyone.