I finally routed wires in my attic to support adding two more speakers for 7.1 surround. I previously had my 990 set up to do 5.1 and all has worked just as expected using auto set up - no problems. So, I was a bit surprized when I ran the auto setup and it did not drive the new surrounds with pink noise as it should.

To summarize what I did:

1) Hooked up the four surround speakers correctly to the 7125 amplifier.
2) Connected an audio source to each surround input on the 7125 amp in turn to verify that I indeed had the connections correct.
3) Connected the 990 preamp surround outputs up to the 7125 amp surround inputs.
4) Then, In the 990 setup menu, I changed my back surrounds from "none" to "Small" speakers.
5) In the 990 setup menu, I set the crossover for these speakers to match my other two surrounds, 80Hz.
6) Then ran the 990 auto setup (with the MIC connected). It sends pink noise to all speakers correctly EXEPT the two back surrounds - NOTHING.
7) Then I tried manual mode for calibration to see if I could get the pink noise to go. But, I could not get pink noise on any speakers let alone the surrounds in question!
8) So, based on the 5.1 calibration, I just guessed at what the offset and delay should be for these other two new surround channels and the 7.1 surround modes and all work fine. Audio is pressent on ALL four surround speakers.

So, my questions are:

A) Did I do something wrong in setup for 7.1?
B) Do I need to do a HARD RESET to get the processor into the state where it will drive the two new surround speakers with pink noise properly during auto setup? (My thought here is maybe the processor is stuck in the 5.1 mode of my previous setup or something).

BTW, I am running the latest firmware upgrade version 3.11.

It sounds like your speaker settings are all correct, but there are some ways to troubleshoot and be sure. First, make sure that when using manual mode you've changed the TEST TONE option at the top of the CHANNEL CALIBRATE menu to MANUAL (so that as you scroll through the list, it will send a signal to each channel). If it's left on OFF you won't get test tones. Once you've done that, you can use the manual test tones to test each connection (including the connection between 990 and 7125). I've found that it's easy to transpose left and right connections sometimes, and it's even easier for a cable to be a little bit loose.

Argh! I new I was going to forget to mention something as I am drawing from an already fading memory from yesterday morning. . .
Yes, I did try the AUTO test tone mode where it cycles thru each - no pink noise on any channel. Then, I changed the test tone mode to MANUAL and clicked thru each - still no pink noise on any channel!
But, when you go back and use the system in a 7.1 mode such as 7.1 STEREO mode on a FM radio source, crank it up, I get strong, clean signals coming out of every speaker plus sub. So, I am certain that I have everything connected correctly as I am getting appropriate audio signals out of all speakers. The RCA plugs all fit snugly. I fact, I watched a Dolby Digital DVD movie yesterday in 7.1 and all speakers were being driven appropriately.

So, you would think that at this point, if I tried to do AUTO SETUP again, that I would get pink noise on all speakers in turn. Well, I did that, and surprise, this time thru it DID give me all the correct pink noise bursts on ALL speakers including all four surrounds in the right order. And, just when I thought it was going to make it thru the auto setup - it ended and I got an error message (that I unfortunately cant recall). Now, if I go back to the CHANNEL CALIBRATE menu and try a MANUAL cal again, I still get no pink noise on any speaker (yes, the test tone was enabled).

So, this is why I thought that maybe I need to do a HARD RESET as it seems to me that the processor is stuck in my old 5.1 setup mode or something.

Before trying the test tones, make sure that you're volume is up around 0dB. You can do it at -10dB or so if you're just trying to make sure things are hooked up right, but you want to be at 0dB to actually calibrate things.

Jerry sorry to ask a question in your thread but I am setting up my outlaw for the first time in 5.1 because I dont have the room right now for 7.1. So here is my question do I setup the surround backs or the surround sides? I currently have them setup as surround backs but when I try to do auto setup the outlaw bails becuase I dont have sides. I assume I have this setup backwards.

gonk,

Hey! That could be the problem for the MANUAL mode cal issue. I will test it out tonight. That still doesn't explain why the auto setup does not work for 7.1.
Thanks for the help!


stubro,

I made that mistake, too! It made perfect sense to me that you would use "back" outputs for both 5.1 and 7.1 but, not so. You actually need to use the "side" ones for the back channels in 5.1 mode. Even though you set it up as 5.1 for the speakers you have connected, the processor still tries to find all 7 speakers. That's OK, the cal works correctly anyway.
Another thing, at lest for my speakers, I set up the fronts and SMALL with SUB only, but the calibration routine automatically decided that I should use fronts set to LARGE and changed my SUB setting to SUB+L/R. But, that was OK as it works very well that way.

Thanks for the help I thought I was crazy I will change my speakers tomorrow kids are already asleep Test tone already has my 4 yr old hiding everytime I use it.