Pioneer 56TXi quirk

[DaveOCP]

I finally bought a 56TXi to replace my old Onkyo ($685, just couldnt pass it up). I've only had it for a day, but so far I'm very impressed. One strange thing though, is that the Pioneer does not switch out of a DSP mode when it picks up a Dolby Digital or DTS signal. For example, if I'm listening to a CD in 5ch stereo, and start playing a DVD, it will stay in 5 ch stereo mode. No other receiver I've used does this. The Onkyo would switch to DD mode automatically, and then switch back to 5ch stereo (or whatever the last DSP mode was) when playing a CD.

How is 5ch stereo even possible with a multichannel signal?

 

[j_garcia]

I'm sure it has "auto" format detect which will pick a mode based on the incoming signal. That doesn't solve your quirk, but may be along the lines of a solution. My receiver does not remember the last DSP used for anything, but then I almost never use DSPs.

 

[Thunder18]

If you want it to automatically switch modes when receiving a DD or DTS signal, press the "stream direct" button and it will automatically switch to the default decoding that is being sent to it.

5 channel stereo just repeats what comes out of the front left and right channels and sends it to the left and right surrounds and the Center channel. Very simple really. If you had a big room that was very long then virtually everyone would be able to experience the sensation of stereo because they'd all be in between a pair of left and right speakers.

Oh, I hope you enjoy yours! I love mine.

 

[DaveOCP]

The Onkyo seems to be unique in that it could remember to use a DSP mode (usually 5ch stereo) for PCM digital from a CD, and auto switch to Dolby or DTS from the same DVD player when playing a DVD. I suppose I'll miss that little bit of convenience, but the Pioneer is so far ahead of the Onkyo in every other respect that I'm willing to switch modes manually. I know 5ch stereo is not a popular mode for CDs, but I prefer it to DPL II Music.

One other question.. did I miss something, or does the Pioneer not have a sleep mode?

 

[dponeill]

The Onkyo seems to be unique in that it could remember to use a DSP mode (usually 5ch stereo) for PCM digital from a CD, and auto switch to Dolby or DTS from the same DVD player when playing a DVD. I suppose I'll miss that little bit of convenience, but the Pioneer is so far ahead of the Onkyo in every other respect that I'm willing to switch modes manually. I know 5ch stereo is not a popular mode for CDs, but I prefer it to DPL II Music.

One other question.. did I miss something, or does the Pioneer not have a sleep mode?

Am I correct in assuming that you are playing the CD on the DVD player? The Pioneer remembers the mode last used by input. A possible workaround would be to hook up the analog outs to the CD input and switch to it when listening to Cds. On the other hand that probably is not any more convenient that just switching surround modes.

I was also surprised that there is no sleep mode.

 

[DaveOCP]

I looked through all of the manuals, and it appears that the 52Tx has a sleep timer, but the 54, 56, and 59 do not. Pioneer must've gotten complaints about that, because the 72 and 74 have timers. I suppose this gives me an opportunity to actually use the timer function on my universal remote. I knew I set that clock for something!