Marantz NR1606 pre-outs, volume, stumped

[Paul1234]

I recently bought a home with a SpeakerCraft Big Bang Amp (BB865) in the basement powering various in-ceiling speakers in several rooms. I have a Marantz NR1606 receiver. The amp is in the basement, receiver in living room. Maybe a 40' run. I'd like to connect the Zone 2 pre-outs to the the amp and am stumped by the very low volume I'm getting. I'm a novice. If I connect the aux. jack of my iPhone directly to the RCA cables in the living room that would otherwise connect to Marantz, no problem, sounds great (to me). When the RCAs are connected to the Marantz pre-outs I get very low volume and feedback even with the gain turned up. I tried a line level booster (i800), which helped but still not very good. I'm not sure what makes the direct connection to the iPhone 6 work fine but not when run through the Marantz.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

What are your sources? Check the Marantz manual - many receivers only send analog audio signals to Zone 2. So if your sources are only connected via digital (e.g. optical, coax, HDMI), you won’t get anything to the second zone.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Paul1234]

All digital sources. I'm getting some sound out of Zone 2 just not very much and with a lot of feedback. Manual doesn't say anything about digital v. analog sources for Zone 2.

 

[adk highlander]

Have you connected the amp in the same room to your main speakers to verify there is nothing wrong with the amp?

I would first try the tuner to see if want kind of sound you get.

Next verify the amp is working correctly either with that system or another.

Third I would check the cable.

Your receiver has volume limiters as well that will stop how far the dial goes but at the default of -10 it should still be fairly loud unless those speakers are outside or in a cavern.

Also you say it is connected "to several pairs of in ceiling speakers". How does it get from 1 RCA connection to the other zones? Are you using a splitter to connect the other channels. Some pics may help us see exactly how you are trying to do this.

Here is a link to Zone 2 setup. http://manuals.marantz.com/NR1606/EU/EN/GFNFSYvffiuorq.php

Another bit of info and the important one is last:

Multi-room Audio:

• dual-room/dual-source output
  • power amp assign function lets you use the surround back speaker outputs for a second room while enjoying 5.2-channel sound in the main room
• line-level stereo audio output for 2nd room (additional receiver, amplifier, or powered speakers required)
• optical/coaxial digital and HDMI audio sources cannot be output to Zone 2

 

[Paul1234]

I did verify the amp was fine. Helpful stuff. Will check it out. The single set of RCA's go to a bus connection on the 8 channel Big Bang amp. Then there is switch on the amp for each channel to utilize the signal from the bus input. I couldn't find that multi-room audio stuff on the online manual.

 

[TLS Guy]

I think your problem is that your unbalanced connection is far too long. 15' is the recommended maximum length for an unbalanced connection. With very high quality cables you can under optimal circumstances get away with up to 25'.

You say you have feedback, but that is impossible with your arrangement. I suspect you mean noise.

The modern home is now a very noisy electrical environment because of the huge rise in switching power supplies, for instance LEDs and multifarious switching power supplies.

I think you have severe signal degradation and noise swamping. A signal booster will not help you as it adds more noise than signal.

I think you have two choices, convert to a balanced signal at the receiver and convert to unbalanced at the distribution amp.

Better buy a high grade optical cable like this one.

You will need an audio digital converter at your receiver and a digital to audio converter at your distribution amp.

This latter solution is the best as this will give the best data transfer, and best of all optical cables are immune from interference such as RF.

In the modern home your connection is not correct and inadequate.