funny problem

[singhal2]

<font color='#000000'>hi guys , i haven't posted in a long time but have been following up on the forum regularly and have enjoyed it as always, for this post i didn't know where to post it but thought i'll do it here as this seems to be the most active forum,so here goes.....
Today i setup &nbsp;a HT for a friend,Harman Kardon amp( AVR 3550) with JBL speakers,and a philips DVD, i liked the speakers,nice sound....but encountered a strange problem, here's what the scenario went like:

1. connected the dvd to the dvd input (audio with an optical cable)....first there was no sound from the right main speaker, the others were working fine,checked all the connections and all were ok, then i spoke to the salesman and he said that the golden &nbsp;plate which came with that main speakers which connects the two speaker terminals(kinda short circuits the pairs of &nbsp;left and right terminals) has to be connected at all times even if i am not using both set of terminals i.e biwiring them ( i had removed the plate)....and lo behold the speaker worked fine.........what confused me was that i had done a similar connection with the left main and it worked fine, then why the prob with the right main......so the question is what exactly is the function of that gold plate ?

2. Then we tried playing a vcd, there was picture but no sound,(the dvd and audio cd were working fine) i had selected the input as optical on the amp,then i connected the analog cable for the sound from the dvd to the analog jack on the amp and selected the input as analog, and there was sound !!!! &nbsp;i don't need to do all these stunts on my yamaha, the amplifier recognises whatever signal it gets wether a digital type from a dvd or analog &nbsp;from a vcd ( i presume that &nbsp;audio &nbsp;signal from a vcd is analog) so the question is----------

a) does it mean that the amp does not have an analog to digital converter thereby asking us to specify what type of signal it is being given, but then an audio cd plays fine even if the signal selected is analog,why?

b) is the signal &nbsp;from a vcd analog,if so then what type of signal comes from a cd ?

please help....as always,

take care

singhal2</font>

 

[zipper]

<font color='#000000'>I've read this a number of times trying to figure out the problem &amp; all I can figure is what you're calling a VCD is actually a DVD-A. If that is the case you will only get a signal from the analog outputs of the DVD player. The DVD player will convert the audio from digital to analog, then to be plugged into the 6 multi-chan inputs on the back of the receiver for 5.1 sound from the DVD-A.
&nbsp;Or perhaps the DVD player does not play SACD or DVA-A. Also, I'm not aware of receivers that would convert analog to digital, only vice-versa.</font>

 

[zumbo]

<font color='#000000'>The speakers have seperate terminals. Not sure about the speakers you have, but on mine the mid &amp; tweet are on one terminal &amp; the mid-bass is on the other. The connector piece is to use when only using one set of wires to make connection. This connects both sets of terminals so all speakers (mids &amp; tweets, or high &amp; low freq.) get the signal.
As for your receiver question, I am also not quiet understanding?</font>

 

[Wabbit_Swayer]

<font color='#000F22'>My guess is that your dvd player will not output sound from a vcd or svcd in digital form. Depending on which program the vcd was encoded, what type of burner you used, and the media. Ive experienced similar problems on a few occasions. But i think it is the dvd player not outputting through the digital domain, on purpose. &nbsp;I bet if you did the same thing on a, as i like to say, more pirater friendly player. chances are it would work through either connection.</font>

 

[singhal2]

<font color='#0000FF'>thanks all for the replies, i guess my post wasn't clear enough,the function of the gold plate seems clearer,but then if the terminals were for different sound ranges( mids,tweets etc) then even if the two terminals are not short circuited with the gold plate,then there should be some sound but why no sound?

and the vcd i refer to stands for &quot;video compact disc&quot; i don't know wether it is the same as a dvd-a, i am not exactly aware what a dvd-a is either, but this vcd i refer to was indeed a &nbsp;pirated version bought off the grey market and had a movie on it.....hope this helps..and i guess the suggestion of having a more &quot;pirater friendly&quot; dvd player( this was a philips progressive scan) seems quite plausible, will definitely try playing thru one of the more unknown brands and will let u know if it worked

thanks again

singhal2</font>

 

[zumbo]

<font color='#000000'>Please post speaker brand &amp; model. Will try to answer your question on speakers.</font>

 

[House de Kris]

<font color='#000000'>A VCD has its audio encoded as an MPEG stream. &nbsp;Fortunately, I think you've supplied a nice amount of detail to allow us to make a guess as to your troubles.

YOU SAID that DVDs play fine. &nbsp;I assume this to mean that the audio is played back via the digital connection.

YOU SAID that CDs play fine. &nbsp;I assume that this is on the DVD player and the connection is via digital.

THEREFORE (assuming my assumptions are correct) you have no trouble with AC-3 or SPDIF communications. &nbsp;Not all processors can handle an MPEG stream. &nbsp;Just guessing here, but if you were to go into your DVD's audio setup screen, I think the section for &quot;output&quot; or &quot;digital&quot; is something like &quot;raw&quot; meaning it will pass along whatever form the digital audio is in without manipulation. &nbsp;Instead, change &quot;raw&quot; to something like &quot;PCM/DD/DTS&quot; or some such. &nbsp;Whatever your options are, you need to make them match the capability of your processor.</font>

 

[singhal2]

<font color='#0000FF'>thanks for the reply zumbo, the speakers that i was talking of
are JBL E80(northridge series)...hope that helps

singhal2</font>

 

[zumbo]

<font color='#000000'>Checked out your speakers at JBL's website. Don't say much about the crossover network in the speaker. My only guess is that a wire came loose inside your cabinet. Either on the crossover network or on the speaker itself. Does every speaker in the cabinet work when plates are in?</font>

 

[singhal2]

<font color='#0000FF'>well, i tried keeping the digital menu on the dvd player on &quot;pcm&quot; and the vcd's started playing when the audio source was selected as optical,but now with dvd's even 5 channel dolby recordings are getting played as 2 channel dolby !!!!God, will these probs never end......
Zumbo, thanks for checking out the jbl website, i too had a look and did mail jbl with the speaker problem,but like all good manufacturers they have not bothered to reply and frankly i don't expect them to 'cos around here jbl has a terrible after sales record and i guess they are keeping up to their reputation....

thanks

singhal2</font>

 

[zumbo]

<font color='#000000'>MB Quart will answer questions very quickly! Yamaha is a little slower, but they will get back to you.

Good Luck!

</font>

 

[zumbo]

<font color='#000000'>Look for some type of change of input on receiver. It should have a function to set to multi-channel-input.</font>