Hooking up new receiver; please help!

Zen Dragon

Cindy;
I do not believe you are stupid. You wouldn't have made it this far. You are simply trying to learn something unfamiliar that has somewhat of a learing curve.

I bought a composite video cable for the Monitor out which is what the guy at HiFi Buys said I needed in order to be able to use the Zone 2&3 feature and to also be able to use the onscreen setup.

Actually you should have been able to use the S video cable as well and achieved the same on screen set-up results. It is not a bad thing to have the component cable. Other than very recent technology such as HDMI, it is the best signal you can send to your TV. If you are not using a very high end TV, or high definition you would be hard pressed to see the difference between S video and component video, but there is a definite difference between standard "yellow" RCA cable video and S video and component. If it isn't breaking the bank stay with the component, it will serve you well into the near future.

Should I have not bought the optical cable? The sales guy said it was better than the other and there was only a $3 difference. I can go exchange it if need be; not a problem.

Again you may not have needed the optical for your application, but the sales guy was likely trying to supply you with the greates amount of options. The optical cable allows you to send Dolby Digital and DTS signals to your receiver. For normal audio you only needed two RCA interconnects, but to send decoded Dolby Digital info from your DVD player to your reciever you would have needed (6) RCA interconnects in place of the one optical.
I am going to try to ramble here in hopefully laymans terms so I hope I don't bore you.
Both CD and DVD are produced in digital formats which is basically 1's and 0's. CD info is in two channel, or two speaker stereo, however Dolby Digital, DTS, and SACD DVD-A formats are in 5.1 channels stereo ( 2 front speakers, 2 rear speakers, 1 center channel, 1 subwoofer) Some modern Dolby is done in 7 channels adding 2 side speakers.
Anyway you have this info in digital, which is foreign to speakers which want analog audio information. So both your DVD player and your stereo reciever have what is called DACS (digital to audio converters) They convert the 1's and 0's to audio signals your speakers recognize.
If you use your DVD player to make this conversion than you have to send 6 signals to your receiver of the audio information that was converted from digital. By sending the information to your receiver through a digital cable, you allow the receiver to use it's DACS (digital to audio converters) to decode the info, and you need far less cables to carry the information.
So why would some people spend all the money for 6 cables from the DVD player? Well all DACS are not created equal. Imagine the DAC as a translater for a foreign language. Now any good translater is going to come up with the same information when they translate, but when they speak the information you may prefer one tranlaters voice over anothers. You may find one pleasing, and one annoying. This is sort of like DACS. While they will all translate the same digital info into the same audio info, some will sound sweeter and some will sound harsher. So some people buy CD/DVD players that cost $1000 and have "sweet" sounding dacs, and let them do the translation via the 6 analog audio cables.
Are you still awake?
So in conclusion, my bet would be the DACS in your Yamaha are likely superior to the ones in your Sony DVD palyer. That being said you are better off, and spending less mony sending the digital information through the one cable, which you bought, and letting your Yamaha convert the digital to audio for you.
So hook up your optical cable to your receiver and DVD player. This will cover your audio only. You still need to send a video signal from the DVD player to your receiver using either S video, component or "yellow" RCA cable.
Send your direct TV video signal to your receiver using S video, component or "yellow" RCA cable. Send your direct TV audio signal to your reciever using 2 RCA interconnects into the TV audio in jacks
As previously mentioned connect your component video cables from the monitor out on the Yamaha reciever to the component in on the TV.
Hope you had coffee before you read this.
Brian

cindy100

Hi again! I didn't have time to mess with this on Sunday. I went to the store; they showed me which cable went where for the DVD/CD player. I did not mess with the Directv receiver or VCR and am leaving it as is for now; I so badly want to get to listen to this! I have the DVD/CD player hooked up along with the subwoofer and speaker cables and thought I was done but...

Now I have no sound. I put the only two speakers I have into the A spot on the back of the receiver. I do have a speaker selector box and have hooked the wires back into it; I marked the wires as I took them out the other day and have placed the wires back in the box; the only thing I forgot to do was mark where they went back in at on the receiver. I have the option of choosing A or B for the speakers and neither one is working.

I did buy a composite video cable which I was told to put in the Monitor hole from the receiver to the TV; I did that. With this receiver I am suppose to be able to set things up on screen and it isn't working either.

Again, any help is so, so appreciated. I am ready to pull my hair out! I know it is something I have done (or possibly not done) because I know these speakers work. Thanks so much for your help.

Cindy

Frank Z

You might need to turn on the appropriate input via your receivers On-screen Display.

Zen Dragon

Cindy.
What are you trying to listen to when you get no sound.
For the Direct TV you will need the direct TV audio RCA jacks hooked to the receiver TV/DTV audio input jacks, and the receiver source selector set to TV/DTV.
For the DVD player the optical cable, if that's what you stayed with, will carry your audio signal. You need to set the DVD player digital output to on, and set your receiver selector to DVD. This assumes you used the optical connector.
You may first want to try the FM radio and see if you get sound. If so you know the receiver and speaker connections are good and we can go from there.

cindy100

Zen Dragon,

Hi! I didn't mess with anything on the Directv and VCR. The way I always listened to it before was by turning on the VCR and putting the receiver on VCR 1. Since I can't move the cabinet this is all in, for now I am not going to try messing with it until I can get someone over to help me move it.

I know the DVD/CD player is hooked up correctly so I tried listening to a CD. I did keep the optical cable. I just went in to try what you said and when I turned the receiver on, it went off after about 5 seconds. I tried again and it will not stay on. It stays on long enough to make a clicking sound and then goes off. Any idea what that could be?

I will find it hard to believe that my speakers all of a sudden went out; I sent the old receiver and CD player to my brother today so I don't have anything to hook them up to in order to test them.

Cindy

Zen Dragon

If your receiver is shutting off there are 2 possible reasons I can think of.
1) The power button is not sitting all the way in the on position
2) You have an excessive load, incorrect load, or shorted lead in the speaker connection (most likely)

Check your speaker connections. If you are using bare wire attached to the screw on posts, make sure none of the strands of wire from one connection post are touching another one. Make sure on the speaker and the receiver. If unsure pull them off twist the wire in your fingers to a tight braid and reconnect. Do this before you do anything else!

After you have determined why the receiver is shutting off, and assuming you still have the optical cable hooked up, put in a CD and make sure your DVD player is set to digital output on. Then set your receiver selector to DVD. You should hear sounds.

cindy100

Hi again! When you say "The power button is not sitting all the way in the on position" I'm not sure if I understand but I pushed it all the way in to make sure it was on. No luck and I even tried holding it but it immediately shuts off.

I see in the DVD manual about setting the digital output on. I am going to go try it and see what happens after I check the speaker wires. I do not like the jacks on the back of this receiver. It is kind of hard to get the wires in and what you're saying may very well be the problem. They were not so easy to get in.

I'll be back to see if you're still here after I do what you said.

Cindy

Zen Dragon

Yes, modern receivers have so many connections theytend to cramp the wires up. I do not like connecting bare wire to my receiver either.
You could also try completely disconnecting the speaker wire from the receiver and see if the unit still shuts down.
The click you here is the delay start up relay. It allows all the circuits to stabilize before enabling the audio circuits. The fact that it is shutting off after the relay closes indicates a problem in the audio hookups somewhere. It shuts down for safety.

cindy100

Hi! I removed the speaker cables and it still shutting off immediately. I unplugged it and waited a few minutes & it still shuts off. I also just realized there is nothing connecting this DVD player to the TV which probably explains why I am not getting the on screen menu for the DVD player to show up. When I was at the store yesterday; they showed me where each of the cables went saying I didn't need anything else for this to work. It seems like something is definitely missing and of course, I am going to ask you what it is. There is nothing connected to the TV from this receiver other than the composite video cable which isn't letting me use the on screen display for the receiver itself. From what I understand, that was the whole purpose of it.

Cindy

Zen Dragon

Well, first things first. We need to get the receiver to stop shutting down. Did you remove the speaker cables from the reciever. If there is a short you can not see, that is most likely where it is.

If the cables are off the receiver speaker outputs, then you may need to start removing other connectors from the receiver.
First, Remove the speaker cables from the back of the reciever, and make sure nothing else is powerred up, then turn on the reciever. Do not hold in the power, just let it cycle up and see what happens.

cindy100

Yes, I've already removed the speaker cables from the receiver; still shuts off. The only other things hooked up to it are the two cables for the DVD player, subwoofer cable and that composite video cable.

Cindy

Zen Dragon

cindy100 wrote:

Yes, I've already removed the speaker cables from the receiver; still shuts off. The only other things hooked up to it are the two cables for the DVD player, subwoofer cable and that composite video cable.

Cindy

Ok. I know you have an optical cable hooked up from the DVD. It should be going to the DVD optical input on the left rear of your reciever. What is the other cable from the DVD player?

Did you mean composite, or component video cable. Composite is a single cable, component is 3 separate cables, red, blue, green

Try removing the subwoofer cable.

Try powering after you remove the subwoofer cable. If it still shuts down try removing all cables from the receiver. If it still shuts down it needs to be returned.

cindy100

Hi! The optical is in the correct place. The other cable on the DVD is the component but there is also a composite hooked up.

Took out the subwoofer, won't stay on so I unhooked everything. I guess I'll be making a trip to the store tomorrow. What a pain because this thing is too heavy!

Thank you so much for all you did. When I paid for this receiver, I had to go to a different store to pick it up so hopefully they have gotten more in. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions afterwards. Enjoy the rest of the evening and take care.

Cindy

Zen Dragon

Uggg. Sorry to hear the unit continues to shut off on power up with everything disconnected. Major bummer.
With the unit continueing to shut down with nothing connected there is definitely a problem with the receiver.
Hopefully they can help you out. If not don't be afraid to look at other units you may like. In that price range I might recommend a Denon, perhaps the AVR-2807 if they have it.
Hopefully it all works out for the best in the end for you.

Brian

cindy100

Hi! Hope someone is here to help. I FINALLY got things hooked up or at least I should say the CD player is working. The problem I'm running into now is my subwoofer isn't working.

On the back of the receiver there are 2 different places it can go. According to the manual, I have it in the correct spot. Anyone have any ideas as to why this isn't working?

Thanks so much,

Cindy

cindy100

I completely unplugged everything on the subwoofer, waited a few minutes before I plugged it all back in and now it is working. I have no idea why it wasn't before but... No, it isn't one of the real expensive most people here seem to have but it works for now.

Thanks again,

Cindy

Zen Dragon

Cindy...did you get the old receiver working, or a new one?

Glad to hear you worked the sub problem out. Sometimes it seems like a ghost in the machine.

cindy100

Hi Brian! It is a new receiver. I called the store the next day; he hooked it up and ended up just replacing it for me. He also showed me how to do the banana plugs which are so much easier! I've even got the on screen display working which was totally unexpected. Thanks for all your help before; you were great. Like I said in the other post, I'm sure I will have more questions later. You have no idea how glad I am to finally get this going. Thanks again and take care.

Sincerely,

Cindy

cfrizz

Glad to hear that you are up & running Cindy! Enjoy!

Cathy