Joelby
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2009
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I thought I'd post this little gem of information to save precious wasted time for anyone setting up a second zone on your typical modern day A/V Receiver:
The zone 2 powered and/or line-out outputs on your receiver most likely only output signal from an analog source. DIGITAL INPUT = NO OUTPUT
With everything going digital this is a real pain in the backside to deal with. Like a lot of members, I've embraced airtunes/airplay as the ideal solution for integrating all of my a/v equipment into one big happy synchronized family. The ability to control any stereo from my iphone is very convenient. I figured adding a pair of bookshelf speakers off the zone 2 output of my receiver, for my work-out room, would be a simple plug and play. WRONG!
I wasted about 2 hours troubleshooting this. Finally I found the above mentioned tid-bit of info on the internet. Sure enough, the zone 2 speakers work with my bloody Wii. See, the manual tells you how to set-up zone 2 step by step. It fails to mention that only analog inputs work... until you wander to the troubleshooting section at the back. Hence why I'm posting this. Finding this stuff out after the fact is incredibly lame!
I'm not going to get into why these receivers are like this. I would however like to discuss solutions. My particular set-up is Apple TV to Onkyo HTRC260 via HDMI. Main zone is 5.1 components. I can select a seperate source for zone 2. Apple TV has both HDMI and Toslink outputs. I'll have to test it, but apparently it outputs audio signal from both outputs simaltaniously. So it looks like I have to get a dac to convert that toslink to rca and feed it to a different source input on the receiver. How cheap do dacs get these days, lol? I'm not looking for an audiophile solution for this particular application. I'm not afraid of DIY solutions. I definitely don't want to buy another amp or receiver.
Anyway, hope this info helps people in the planning phase!
The zone 2 powered and/or line-out outputs on your receiver most likely only output signal from an analog source. DIGITAL INPUT = NO OUTPUT
With everything going digital this is a real pain in the backside to deal with. Like a lot of members, I've embraced airtunes/airplay as the ideal solution for integrating all of my a/v equipment into one big happy synchronized family. The ability to control any stereo from my iphone is very convenient. I figured adding a pair of bookshelf speakers off the zone 2 output of my receiver, for my work-out room, would be a simple plug and play. WRONG!
I wasted about 2 hours troubleshooting this. Finally I found the above mentioned tid-bit of info on the internet. Sure enough, the zone 2 speakers work with my bloody Wii. See, the manual tells you how to set-up zone 2 step by step. It fails to mention that only analog inputs work... until you wander to the troubleshooting section at the back. Hence why I'm posting this. Finding this stuff out after the fact is incredibly lame!
I'm not going to get into why these receivers are like this. I would however like to discuss solutions. My particular set-up is Apple TV to Onkyo HTRC260 via HDMI. Main zone is 5.1 components. I can select a seperate source for zone 2. Apple TV has both HDMI and Toslink outputs. I'll have to test it, but apparently it outputs audio signal from both outputs simaltaniously. So it looks like I have to get a dac to convert that toslink to rca and feed it to a different source input on the receiver. How cheap do dacs get these days, lol? I'm not looking for an audiophile solution for this particular application. I'm not afraid of DIY solutions. I definitely don't want to buy another amp or receiver.
Anyway, hope this info helps people in the planning phase!
