Pioneer VSX-521-k sound not outputting in Surround - need advice please

[toad1971]

Hi - new to the forums.

I just hooked up a Pioneer VSX 521 k receiver for my parents - which was an Xmas present for them about 2 years ago - they never hooked it up. I own a Pioneer VSX 822 so I'm fairly familiar with the general layout.

The problem I have is that DVDs in 5.1 and a Satellite 5.1 signal are not outputting in 5.1 sound - only stereo.

Connected I have two front speakers, two back speakers, a center and a sub woofer - all Sony. I trouble shooted all speakers and cable last night - all are working. I went into the OSD (on screen display) using the Remote - Receiver/Setup/Manual SP Setup/Speaker Setting and made these settings/confirmed these settings:

Front: Small
Center: Small
Surr: Small
Surr Back: No
Subwoofer: Yes

Using the OSD I then choose -Receiver/Setup/Manual SP Setup/Channel Level/Test Tone - Manual - and cycled through each speaker - each speaker was set to 0dB (except Surr. Back R and L which are not connected) and each speaker output white noise indicating that the 521 will output to each speaker correctly or that the 521 sees all the speakers.

I am running HDMI cables from both the DVD Player and Satellite box into the 521 receiver - the DVD player says its outputting 5.1 but everthing is in stereo - the center speaker is not outputting any sound. The Satellite receiver is also outputtin in Stereo only. I then tried using an Optical cable from the Satellite receiver to the 521 and got the exact same results (DVD player has no Optical cable output).

I also did a test running an Optical Cable from the TV output to the 521 to test some sound from Netflix being picked up on the tv wirelessly and also found that all sound is running in stereo with not even sound coming out of the center speaker.

The subwoofer is outputting however just fine.

I am out of ideas and really need some advice - can anyone help me? The HDMI cables are probably 2 or 3 years old so I am wondering if more current HDMI cables might do anything but that seems like a desperate move.

I'm going nuts trying to figure this out - please help - thanks in advance!

 

[Adam]

Hi, Jeff.

First off, it's not the HDMI cables (just like you figured), so don't worry about buying new ones.

Quick question - what sound mode is the receiver set to? That's not meant to be patronizing at all, and I know that you own a similar Pioneer. If the receiver is set to stereo, though, it will only play in that mode regardless of the input source. Try setting it to "Direct" and see what happens, if you haven't tried that already.

 

[toad1971]

Hi, Jeff.

First off, it's not the HDMI cables (just like you figured), so don't worry about buying new ones.

Quick question - what sound mode is the receiver set to? That's not meant to be patronizing at all, and I know that you own a similar Pioneer. If the receiver is set to stereo, though, it will only play in that mode regardless of the input source. Try setting it to "Direct" and see what happens, if you haven't tried that already.

LOL...no thanks for being patronizing....because you were right. Well to be more clear, I really, really thought I had pushed the right button on the remote. But to explain in more detail, perhaps for others, there is a button on the remote - Auto/Direct - and on my 822 receiver if I push this I would hear the source in surround automatically - on the 521 in my current situation this was not working. I also pushed the other nearby buttons but with one in particular marked ALC/Standard I did not realize would keep cycling through different Surround Encoders if you kept pushing it. I guess I had only been pushing it once, seeing it say "Stereo" and hearing the sound in stereo and thinking "ok that's not the right button."

So again, pushing the ALC/Standard button repeatedly cycles through different surround formats.

Your suggestion at first seemed to me like "sigh, of course I've already done that!" But since you suggested it I decided "ok I'll try it again" and this time I got it to work....LOL.....user error!

Thanks for your reply, cause honestly I probably would have given up if you hadn't replied and made me think I should just try it again!

I knew it couldn't be the cables....that made no sense!

-Jeff

 

[Adam]

Cool - glad that you got it working!

So, do your parents like it after waiting two years to hear it?