Onkyo TX-SR606 Setup Issue

[sholling]

I got what seems like a good deal on a factory refurbished TX-SR606 for my bedroom but I'm having an issue. I installed it in place of an old pioneer on Friday but ran into an issue running the Audyessy setup. It found all of my speakers but gave an error (that's all it said) on my center. I knew it was connected correctly but swapped the leads just to be sure and sure enough it returned "error" on the center the next time I ran Audyessy. I swapped the wires back and then broke out my tape measure and ratshack SPL meter and set everything up manually and it sounds fantastic - including the center. It's a huge improvement over my aging VSX-814 and I'm really-really-really jumping for joy happy with it otherwise.

Anyway I called Onkyo support about the Audyessy issue and although the gentleman that I spoke with was a really nice guy he didn't strike me as all that knowledgeable. Pretty much a troubleshooting flowchart reader. He swears that it has to be a defective microphone but that makes no sense to me. If the mic was bad it would return an error on all of the speakers. He also said that since it's less than 30 days old that Onkyo policy was not to get involved and that I should take it up with Accessories4less and see if they will ship me a new setup mic.

I'll give A4L a call tomorrow but I just wanted a second opinion before placing that call. If all else fails I can live without auto setup and I sure don't want to spend $25-30 on return shipping, but it's just disappointing.

Let's do a reality check - here is my setup. This is for a master bedroom LCD TV that is mounted high on the wall opposite my bed. The center is Boston CRC mounted directly above the TV at about 7'8" high with the mains (Boston CR65s) left and right at about 7' high and about 7' apart. The speakers are 12' from my pillow, which is where I placed the setup mic. Nothing too cosmic except for the height. Am I jumping to conclusions that it can't be the microphone? Is there anything in this flavor of Audyessy that I will be missing out on just setting it up with a tape and an SPL meter and ignoring Audyessy? Is there something that I could be missing that Audyessy is catching? The center appears to be working fine and all three front speakers are angled down at the listening space.

The receiver itself I love. It finally made for a truly happy marriage between the Bostons and my T250 sub and was rocking my bedroom perfectly. The 606 like my TX-NR906 let's you set the crossover point separately for each pair of speakers. That allowed me to crossover my center and mains at 80hz and my smaller surrounds at 100hz. With this setup all I need is a hot blond girl friend with a taste for jazz and I'd never leave my bedroom.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Tips & asking directions for total enjoyment.

The speakers are 12' from my pillow, which is where I placed the setup mic. Nothing too cosmic except for the height. Am I jumping to conclusions that it can't be the microphone?

With this setup all I need is a hot blond girl friend with a taste for jazz and I'd never leave my bedroom.

#1. The mic on the pillow = very bad idea = the source of your problem. And the height discrepancy between the mic and your speakers = adding to the problem.
Solution = use a boom or a camera mini tripod to put the mike (remove the pillow). And put the mic a bit higher than usual to compensate for the height of your speakers (about 6 inches or so higher than your ears).

#2. What is your budget? Would you mind if she runs hot? Or would you prefer an ICE colder one?

Bob

 

[sholling]

#1. The mic on the pillow = very bad idea = the source of your problem. And the height discrepancy between the mic and your speakers = adding to the problem.
Solution = use a boom or a camera mini tripod to put the mike (remove the pillow). And put the mic a bit higher than usual to compensate for the height of your speakers (about 6 inches or so higher than your ears).

Thank for the ideas. I gave the tripod idea a try and no joy. The speakers are angled down and pointed directly at where my head would be.

I'll pull the cabinet out tomorrow and double check polarity. I also have a spare Boston VR10 center that I can substitute in to see if it's a speaker issue.

 

[sholling]

I found the problem and it was not the receiver. I swapped in a VR10 center and that solved the problem. It even sounds pretty good with the CR65 mains which surprised me. Since the CRCs are no longer available it looks like the VR10 will remain the center channel speaker in the bedroom for the foreseeable future.

Update. A call to Boston Acoustics got me some exciting information. They feel that my VR10 center will be a very good timbre match for my CR65 bookshelf speakers. The larger VR10 is a far more capable center.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Magic!

I found the problem and it was not the receiver. I swapped in a VR10 center and that solved the problem. It even sounds pretty good with the CR65 mains which surprised me. Since the CRCs are no longer available it looks like the VR10 will remain the center channel speaker in the bedroom for the foreseeable future.

Update. A call to Boston Acoustics got me some exciting information. They feel that my VR10 center will be a very good timbre match for my CR65 bookshelf speakers. The larger VR10 is a far more capable center.

Well, Mr. Sholling, thank you very much for sharing the good news with the rest of us.

I remember, often I ask a question, and somehow, magically I find the answer by another totally different mean to get to it!
Does it happens to you too?
Are you a druid, or some type of wizard?

Bob