Running MCACC on Elite SC-05

dbaldus

Alright, so I bit the bullet and picked up an SC-05 over the weekend

This is my first experience with a Pioneer receiver and is my first step up into the high-end of receivers (my previous AVR was an HK 247) and, at this point, I'm slightly disappointed due to how MCACC set up my system. I'm wondering if maybe someone here could help?

I ran the Advanced MCACC -> Full Auto MCACC and measured "ALL" parameters, then saved the settings to the Symmetry settings to the "MEMORY 1" slot. However, now my subwoofer's output seems VERY quiet (almost to the point of not being able to hear it when listening to music, but just quieter than I'm used to when watching movies).

If I set the MCACC to "Off", the subwoofer's output comes back but the rest of the music coming from the rest of the speaker's doesn't sound nearly as good as it does when the MCACC is on. I've tried boosting the subwoofer's output by 6dB, which helps, but it really isn't what I'm looking for because I don't think it is calibrated properly that way.

Could someone give me some steps for getting this calibrated correctly for my room? I can tell that this thing sounds good, but the bass is missing for me and that just ruins it!

One thing that I have thought about is that I did NOT select "THX Speakers" before I calibrated, so the measurements were taken with the speakers set to "Large". However, after I made the measurements, I went in and manually changed all of the speakers to "Small" and left everything else alone. Is this the way that I should have done it, or should I have selected "THX Speakers" before running the Full Auto MCACC?

Thanks in advance!
Derek

metal83

Congrats!
Here's a good thread about MCACC, you should check it out.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1112470

dbaldus

metal83 wrote: »

Congrats!
Here's a good thread about MCACC, you should check it out.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1112470

Awesome thread - I'll have to follow those steps and see if I end up with a better sounding system.

In the meantime, I have another question...

How do I know if my subwoofer is THX Select2 certified or not? I have an SVS PB12-Plus/2 if someone can just answer it for me, but I am curious as to how I could even tell or what it actually means.

The reason I'm wondering is because that is one of the options I can select under "THX Options" in the AVR's menu...

Sherardp

Awesome read Metal. I have run MCACC a few times but never played with the Advanced settings until today in setup. Quite a few changes as it does add even more to the performance of my setup. Dbaldus with 2 channel try setting the 05 to Pure Direct. If you feel you still arent happy with bass in 2channel run MCACC again, customize the settings to your liking and save it as "Memory 2" or name it "2 chan". If you have your fronts set to "Large" also make sure you set the sub to "plus", so that LFE is also still going to the sub. If you have any other questions regarding setup let us know. With the THX settings I just selected yes as I know my sub and speakers can handle those specs easy. Since you're running the PLus/2 just enable it as your sub is capable of going pretty low.

mantis

dbaldus wrote: »

Awesome thread - I'll have to follow those steps and see if I end up with a better sounding system.

In the meantime, I have another question...

How do I know if my subwoofer is THX Select2 certified or not? I have an SVS PB12-Plus/2 if someone can just answer it for me, but I am curious as to how I could even tell or what it actually means.

The reason I'm wondering is because that is one of the options I can select under "THX Options" in the AVR's menu...

Your sub will have the THX logo on it if it's THX certified.

Dan

dbaldus

Okay, after following the guide at AVSForum, I'm a happy camper

FYI, the problem was that I ran the Auto MCAAC (which set my speakers to Large), then went in and changed the speakers to "Small" myself, then went in and calibrated the EQ for my room without going back in and re-running Auto MCAAC with "Keep SP Settings" selected. Apparently, I needed to do this step so the EQ wasn't calibrated using the full frequency range for each of the speakers.

No more muddy-sounding music and weak bass for me - this receiver is AWESOME!!!

dbaldus

Okay, I have another general question now...

I want to be sure that I'm using the superior Wolfson DACs in the SC-05, but I am unable to output Dolby TruHD or DTS-MA in bitstream format from the PS3. Instead, the PS3 is doing the decoding and sending the signal in Linear PCM format to my SC-05 over HDMI. It is my understanding that LPCM is a digital representation of an analog signal, so my question is this:

Question 1: If I am receiving a LPCM signal, am I making use of the Wolfson DACs in the receiver? Am I making full use of them or could I also use them to decode Dolby Digital/DTS, etc.?

In general, I guess I am confused about the difference between "decoding" a signal and "converting" it (as in D-to-A). This brings up another question...

Question 2: Are Dolby Digital/DTS decoders standard across units, or do some units have superior decoders compared to others (and I'm not talking about one unit having a Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder and another having a Dolby Digital 7.1 or Dolby TruHD decoder in it either)?

Sherardp

With the PS3 decoding you are still using the Wolfson DACS however you are only seeing it as PCM. To take advantage of maximum potential of your AVR you would need a standalone player. As for decoding HD Codecs most are based on different chipsets/software the manufacturer chooses to use.

Some will tell you PCM sounds the same as the audio track would be with the AVR doing the decoding. I'm here to tell you there is a very noticeable difference when the 05/07 does the decoding. To me the soundstrack is more dynamic, and seems to come alive. I noticed this when switch back and forth on my XA2.

dbaldus

Sherardp wrote: »

With the PS3 decoding you are still using the Wolfson DACS however you are only seeing it as PCM. To take advantage of maximum potential of your AVR you would need a standalone player. As for decoding HD Codecs most are based on different chipsets/software the manufacturer chooses to use.

Some will tell you PCM sounds the same as the audio track would be with the AVR doing the decoding. I'm here to tell you there is a very noticeable difference when the 05/07 does the decoding. To me the soundstrack is more dynamic, and seems to come alive. I noticed this when switch back and forth on my XA2.

Okay, so the bottom line that I got from your message is that not all DD/DTS decoders are created equal. This makes sense and doesn't really surprise me. However, if I am not using the full potential of my 05 since I am receiving a PCM signal and converting it to analog using the Wolfson DACs in it (as opposed to decoding the DD/DTS signal and THEN converting it), it makes me wonder about CD performance.

After all, CDs come into the receiver as PCM over a digital cable, don't they? So isn't the receiver doing the same thing when it receives a PCM movie signal or a PCM cd signal (other than being multi-channel vs. 2 channel, of course)?

Now that I have this great receiver, I just want to make sure I'm using it to its full potential as the DACs in it clearly sound better than the DACs in anything other sources that I own.

Thanks again for all of the help!
Derek

Falcon01

dbaldus, I know you seem to have fixed your calibration issues but I had this same issue yesterday with MCACC (I just purchased an Elite VSX-01). I called Velodyne and the gentleman I spoke to was very helpful and informative (in case anyone here is thinking about calling Velo for any issues).

He told me that basically the auto calibrations for Pioneer, Denon and Onkyo don't set the subs right. What he suggested to me is set the sub level to about 15 (the sub level on my DPS-12 goes from 1-100) and then run the MCACC. He tells me that should make the receiver power the sub a little more which is apparently better? Tried it and the MCACC set my sub level on the receiver to +3.5 but it was still low. I had to turn my sub level up to 20 (on the sub itself) but now it's a little "boomy". I'm going to try what you said with the EQ settings to see if it helps.

Also, for anyone else here with a Velodyne sub, he tells me you that ideally you should not set your sub level higher than 30.

dbaldus

Falcon01 wrote: »

dbaldus, I know you seem to have fixed your calibration issues but I had this same issue yesterday with MCACC (I just purchased an Elite VSX-01). I called Velodyne and the gentleman I spoke to was very helpful and informative (in case anyone here is thinking about calling Velo for any issues).

He told me that basically the auto calibrations for Pioneer, Denon and Onkyo don't set the subs right. What he suggested to me is set the sub level to about 15 (the sub level on my DPS-12 goes from 1-100) and then run the MCACC. He tells me that should make the receiver power the sub a little more which is apparently better? Tried it and the MCACC set my sub level on the receiver to +3.5 but it was still low. I had to turn my sub level up to 20 (on the sub itself) but now it's a little "boomy". I'm going to try what you said with the EQ settings to see if it helps.

Also, for anyone else here with a Velodyne sub, he tells me you that ideally you should not set your sub level higher than 30.

I followed the instructions on the AVSForum thread and it worked great with a slight modification for the sub. I followed all of the steps in the thread, but after everything was completed calibrated (all channels at equal level, which I confirmed with an SPL meter), I cranked the sub up by 6dBs. That made everything sound GREAT to me.

Granted, I like to run my sub a little bit hot to show off the PB12-Plus/2