Tips on setting up receiver

P

Pfar54

Enthusiast
I have a pioneer 1023 and I need some tips on setting it up to sound great with movies and music. I ran the mcacc. Is it as simple as that? What else can I do? Also I have ran a mcacc before and it seemed to take a lot longer while testing.

Also while watching a movie or playing music do I change the audio settings or leave it at one setting?

When watching a blu ray, what is the best format to watch it at?
 
sawzalot

sawzalot

Audioholic Samurai
I have a pioneer 1023 and I need some tips on setting it up to sound great with movies and music. I ran the mcacc. Is it as simple as that? What else can I do? Also I have ran a mcacc before and it seemed to take a lot longer while testing.

Also while watching a movie or playing music do I change the audio settings or leave it at one setting?

When watching a blu ray, what is the best format to watch it at?
One persons preferred settings may not sound the same to your ears, it is best to experiment. No one can tell you the listener which setting is the best.I would read through your manual regarding the settings and exactly what they do then switch through them all, its not like you cant go back to where you started.
 
P

Pfar54

Enthusiast
True. Thanks for the advise. I'm not too sure what most of the terms are so it is difficult when looking at the manual.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
I have a pioneer 1023 and I need some tips on setting it up to sound great with movies and music. I ran the mcacc. Is it as simple as that? What else can I do? Also I have ran a mcacc before and it seemed to take a lot longer while testing.

Also while watching a movie or playing music do I change the audio settings or leave it at one setting?

When watching a blu ray, what is the best format to watch it at?
Hey. Looks like a feature-rich receiver. Congrats. But you're right... with a host of features comes a host of unfamiliar terms. It can be A LOT of fun learning IF you accept it will be a process/journey, not an event.

1) Start w/ one thing, research it, play with it, decide what you like the best and set it that way.
2) Then move to the second thing and repeat.
3) Combine the 2 things and see if/how changing one thing affect the other thing... decide which combination you like best.
4) Repeat.

You'll come up with a bunch of specific questions in your learning. Come back here w/ those specific questions.
To get you started:
I use different settings for tv/movies and music. TV/movies in surround, music in stereo. Subwoofers turned up louder for tv/movies.
For blurays, my receiver detects the format native to the bluray, and defaults to that same format. Check your manual for some "auto" setting that does the same.

Most of all, have fun!!! There is A LOT to learn, and your manual w/ this forum are good resources.
When I set up my first surround system, my parents came over for dinner. I showed dad the 7.1 speakers and explained how it worked. I was playing music. He put his ear up to one of the rear surrounds and said, "I can barely hear it". I explained how some music used that rear channel more than others, and assured him it worked fine. :rolleyes: It was some time later I discovered what Multi Channel Stereo was, and remembered, "I can barely hear it". How easy it would have been to give a better demo if I had known more. :D
 
P

Pfar54

Enthusiast
Thanks a lot!! Great response. I will do all that and post more questions.
 
crossedover

crossedover

Audioholic Chief
This has been posted on numerous forums and works well

Run Full Auto MCACC. Default symm in MCACC M1
Now manually set all speakers to small and the crossover.
Now run Auto EQ but choose 'keep speaker settings' under option.
Next select manual MCACC and choose EQ Pro.
Run reverb measurement with EQ off.
Check reverb plots with the reverb view or better still upload data to laptop and use the free MCACC software to view the results in more detail and 3D. Read MCACC manual on how to choose the time measurement. 30-50ms seems to be preferred by Pioneer instead of default time of 80-160s as used in Full Auto. Basically you are looking for a time as late as possible but without excessive reverb from one or more channels and or one or more frequencies. In my case the bass was rising steeply and quickly and so the EQ boosted the higher frequencies. By choosing a shorter time, before the bass reverb had risen too much, resulted in less bright EQ.
Having decided on a time interval to use, go to EQ Pro, Advanced setup and select the best time for you.
Now run Advanced MCACC cal from the advanced setup.

then copy this to another preset and you can play with the settings based on a need, ie movie, music, party
 
P

Pfar54

Enthusiast
Yea... Idk what half of this means. I do not know much of the verbiage and terms involved with receivers and speakers yet.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
Yea... Idk what half of this means. I do not know much of the verbiage and terms involved with receivers and speakers yet.
:eek: :D Don't worry. Start at the beginning, with the settings/terms you do understand. Play with them and start to get a feel for what differences they really make to your ears, and what you prefer. Then you can begin to research and play w/ new things. Like I said, it's a journey, not an event. The knowledge of many people on this site FAR exceeds my own, and I learned much of what I do know here. You can go as far as you want. Your initial setup may likely sound really good to you. Then as you play w/ more settings, you might pick up a small improvement here, and a small improvement there. By the time you have your system sounding as good as it can to you, you'll understand enough to make informed decisions on future equipment upgrades. And... there... will... be... upgrades. :)
 
crossedover

crossedover

Audioholic Chief
Yea... Idk what half of this means. I do not know much of the verbiage and terms involved with receivers and speakers yet.
Just try and follow the steps while your in the Mcacc setup. It's not hard to follow at all.
 
B

beakergeek

Audioholic Intern
For Blu-rays pick the Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA sound tracks as these give the best sound quality. The other option you don't see too much anymore is uncompressed sound tracks. As for the setup microphone, go into the menu and run a speaker level test to make sure the volume sounds about the same from all the speakers. This will help you verify that the setup program did a good job calibrating the speakers.
 

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top