problems with calibration

Hi Chris,

Mine is  what appears to be an unusual problem.

I own a HT-RC180 which has MultEQ and DEQ

 When I run Audyssey calibration,  more often than not (say 2 times out of three) I end up with heavily EQed sound that is audibly wrong. The telltale sign is overemphasized, bloated bass.  

I tried pretty much all the usual recommendation from good folks at  AVS 
"Official" Audyssey thread - I am using camera tripod, point the mic toward ceiling and take max number of measurements allowed under basic MultEQ.
I tried different microphone, reset the receiver a few times.  None of this helped - i am getting the same bad/good results ratio.  

 

I attached a few REW graphs for your review - one  good and two  bad calibration runs. The bad ones look seriously wrong to me.  Have you seen such symptoms before? Am I wrong to think that my receiver maybe defective?

Respectfully,

gene


gene dymarskiy -
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12 Comments

Date Votes
  • 0
    Avatar
    Audyssey Labs

    Hi Gene,

    Something is definitely wrong here... I've never seen this kind of strange oscillating behavior.  The fact that it doesn't always happen makes it even more puzzling.  I would suspect an intermittent problem with the receiver at this point.

  • 0
    Avatar
    gene dymarskiy

    Chris,

    Thank you for the prompt response, I really appreciate it.

    You confirmed my suspicion.

    Do you have  any advise how to  best describe the issue at the service center to better my chances of not being ignored? Should I ask them to check the microphone input terminal first? I have a nagging suspicion that there is current leakage somewhere  that affects  the measurements.  

  • 0
    Avatar
    Audyssey Labs

    Hi Gene,

    It's pretty hard to guess at the problem.  I would think it's digital rather than analog, but impossible to tell without running diagnostics...

  • 0
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    gene dymarskiy

    thank you very much

  • 0
    Avatar
    gene dymarskiy

    Hi Chris,

    It appears that at least one other AVSer had the same problem.

    You might remember Markus ( markus767). His is TX-NR708.

    http://mehlau.net/audio/Onkyo_TX-NR708_MultEQ_Bug/

    On the Onkyo  chart, the green curve is from a "good" run and the red one from a "bad" one.

    Does it look to you as manifistation of the same problem as mine?

  • 0
    Avatar
    Audyssey Labs

    Yes, I remember that problem from Markus.  It does indeed look the same.  I believe it was a hardware problem with his AVR, but don't recall how he resolved it.  

  • 0
    Avatar
    gene dymarskiy

    He was unable to convince Onkyo support in Switzerland  that the problem is real and  switched to a Denon.

    Hopefully I'll have better luck here.

    Thank you.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Rickard L

    Markus updated the firmware and it improved things with his 708:

    Date 10-22-11

    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=21112585#post21112585

    Progress! Thanks to measurements.

    I've updated my TX-NR708 with the latest firmware although it was just advertised as bringing support for an Android app. After the update I ran MultEQ and measured different positions. Now the point to point variations were improved, especially <100Hz:

    Ran MultEQ several times after that to reproduce the situation where optimization fails. Had no luck so far.

    Lesson #1: Never blindly trust a manufacturer

    Lesson #2: Only measurements can give certainty

  • 0
    Avatar
    Audyssey Labs

    Good to hear. Lesson #3: updating firmware can sometimes break things.

    There was no firmware update related to Audyssey for that product.  But, somehow something that was loaded interfered with the sub calibration filter.

  • 0
    Avatar
    gene dymarskiy

    Markus updated the firmware and it improved things with his 708

    except that it did not last.

     

    two days later, 10-24-11:

     

    Ran MultEQ today numerous times in an attemp to understand what's causing the problems I've been experiencing with my TX-NR708. It's probably just broken. Next step is to contact Onkyo support. Hope this won't be an endless odyssey.

    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=21119529#post21119529

  • 0
    Avatar
    Rickard L

    Hmm, missed that part, ok, but he ended up with an Onkyo TX-NR3008 with XT32 after all so he probably sold his interim Denon.

  • 0
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    gene dymarskiy

    @Rickard

    You are correct.

     in a PM exchange I asked Markus about how he resolved the problem. Here's his response:

    Onkyo simply ignored the problem. My "solution" was to upgrade to a Denon 2312 and then to a TX-NR3008

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