When I use PLII-C or PLIIx-C on my DirecTV recevier I get a strange distortion sound in my front mains and my surrounds? Front mains are set to large and surrounds are set to small and crossed over at 80Hz - however, the distortion is present with fronts set to small and crossed over at any crossover setting and with any setting in the surrounds.

The sat receiver is connected with a brand new Cobalt Cables optical digital cable and with a pair of Cobalt Cable analog interconnects. I typically use the Optical input, but the distortion is present with either.

Strangely, when I change to PLII-M or PLIIx-M, the distortion disappears. I have not tried PLII-X or PLIIx-X yet to see what the distortion does.

I have reset the sat recevier a few times, and I have done a full system reset on the 970 and I have the upgraded software in the 970. I have not tried to play a DVD with PLII-C or PLIIx-C processing.


So... any ideas?


Cheers,

PeteH

I haven't run into this before, so I can't offer much useful. The only two thoughts that occur to me are questions. Does this distortion occur when no Pro Logic II/IIx processing is applied? What are your Pro Logic II settings (which are applied to PLII/IIx-Music but not to -Cinema)?

I'm not sure I uderstand what you are asking in the second question - but I think the answer is: I have Video 3 set up to use PLII-C, but I usually change it to M to avoid the distortion; the inputs are Optical 1 and Video 3 analog; I don't use PLII/IIx for any other source.

For the other - yeah, I also have the distorion with Neo6 processing. It leads me to think it's the source, but why only with PLII-C/IIx-C???

The second question relates to some settings that are in the SURROUND CONFIG menu: Panorama, Dimension, and Center Width are all settings that relate to how Pro Logic IIx-Music behaves. My (admittedly slightly crazy) idea is that perhaps these settings are such that there is less matrix processing taking place for a stereo signal under PLIIx-M than under PLIIx-C or NEO:6. The NEO:6 Center setting (also in the SURROUND CONFIG menu) could also factor into that.

The fact that it also happens with NEO:6 is certainly curious. What happens when you just use plain stereo?

plain stereo and 5 Stereo work fine... none of the distortion...

the "Surround Config" settings you mention are all at the factory settings... I've never changed them...

Does this happen with other two-channel digital sources (DVD's or CD's), or is it just the DirecTV?

yeah, gonk... I'm thinking it's the source - maybe my sat recevier is having some internal issue...

I can play music from my Phatnoise home player (connected via an Outlaw coaxial digital cable) in any PLII/IIx format, and DTS Neo format and I don't have the distortion

Today (Saturday, so I have time to tinker) I'm planning to makes some connection changes.... maybe I have a loose connection somewhere...