getting center channel on headphones

[gholt]

Not sure the right form where this should go, but at nights, I sometimes watch a movie while either on my bike trainer or on a rowing machine. So, when I do this the trainer or rowing machine create quite a bit of noise so that I have to turn the volume up.

Then the thought occured to me to listen via headphones so that I don't disturb the family while they are sleeping. So, I bought a headphone extension and hooked it up. The sound is OK for headphones, but once I plug in the headphones the AVR switches to stero, and I can't hear the center channel. So, what do I need to do to make this work.

My AVR is the Onkoy 805, and the BR is the panasonic 60k, I think 2nd generation. I have RCAs plugged from the BR to the AVR. So, do I have to change the settings back and forth on the BR every time I want to listen to a movie this way?

I was hoping to just plug them in and listen that way instead of having to change the settings every time.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[highfigh]

Not sure the right form where this should go, but at nights, I sometimes watch a movie while either on my bike trainer or on a rowing machine. So, when I do this the trainer or rowing machine create quite a bit of noise so that I have to turn the volume up.

Then the thought occured to me to listen via headphones so that I don't disturb the family while they are sleeping. So, I bought a headphone extension and hooked it up. The sound is OK for headphones, but once I plug in the headphones the AVR switches to stero, and I can't hear the center channel. So, what do I need to do to make this work.

My AVR is the Onkoy 805, and the BR is the panasonic 60k, I think 2nd generation. I have RCAs plugged from the BR to the AVR. So, do I have to change the settings back and forth on the BR every time I want to listen to a movie this way?

I was hoping to just plug them in and listen that way instead of having to change the settings every time.

Any help would be appreciated.

If the receiver has a Direct button, use that. It's a lot more simple than Menu, Speaker set up, Left- Large/small, Right Large/small, Center, etc.

 

[gholt]

Thanks.

I will try it when I get home.

 

[gholt]

Tried both methods. Neither worked. As a side note, when I plug in the headphones, the AVR show Stero on the display, and the dialogue is echoey (sp) and really quiet.

Any other thoughts?

 

[gholt]

I also called Onkyo and they suggested to reset the AVR. I hope there is an easier method than having to reprogram it.

 

[Zuhkov]

That's certainly a perplexing problem. I have an Onkyo 607 and a 3008 and I've used headphones with both many times without a problem.

Might I ask why you are outputting audio from the panasonic via rca instead of hdmi?

I'm not familiar with your model, but a quick check on amazon made it appear that it has an HDMI output.

 

[markw]

If you have any control over the sound fields with the headphones, check for some sort of "phantom center" mode. That sometimes works "OK" with two speakers that have good imaging.

If the receiver sends everything out of the headphones in stereo (which does make sense), you might be screwed. Can you set it to mono?

 

[gholt]

The output on the panny is via the hdmi. I also have the rca hooked up for whole house audio. I will see if I can change the listening mode on the headphones to mono. that sounds like it would work, or to ty the phantom mode.

Thanks for all the suggestions.