Krell Showcase 7 Pre Pro Configure Problems

First thing to check is to make sure you are using one of the "OSD" video outputs.  If you are using composite video (single RCA) or S-Video, make sure they are plugged into the top outputs with "OSD" printed next to them.   If you are using the 3-RCA Component video outputs, the On Screen menu will only work if the unit is displaying video from an interlaced source.  If you are currently playing progressive video, the OSD will not appear.

That being said, I used to have a Krell HTS 7.1 for many years, which was made at the same time your Showcase processor was.  It was great, but at a certain point the On Screen menu would just fail to appear anymore.  I just assumed this was due to stuff breaking in an aging unit.  I did reset to factory defaults and ended up having to manually set individual speaker volumes using the remote.  The remote has buttons for "Cntr" / "Rear" / "Sub".  You can click one of these buttons and adjust the volume for that speaker manually.  The downside is that you have to do this everytime you turn the unit on.  I lived with this for a couple years before I got a new processor, as it did not seem worth it to me to send into Krell for a potentially expensive repair job.

If my steps in the first paragraph above did not solve your problems, I suspect the seller may not have been fully honest when selling this unit.  If you just bought it, I would write back to him and explain to him that the on screen menu is not working on this unit and this is preventing you from using the unit at all.  Be nice, as he may offer a return/refund.  The repair bill from Krell (if they are able to repair at all) would probably be at least as much as you spent on this used unit anyways.

Yup, that is the nature with home theater processors and home theater receivers. I have used many different HT processors and the Krell On Screen menu configuration is actually not that bad. I have found the Krell menu system pretty usable once you understand the basics of what is required for HT processor configuration. That being said, every processor has slightly different behavior and configurability. I have recently worked with both an older low end Yamaha receiver as well as a new top-end Yamaha receiver.   Both were configured in significantly different ways and, for some items, were much more complicated and confusing than the Krell Showcase configuration.

Krell has a single main configuration for the speakers which are shared across all inputs. The configuration of the speakers uses the first 3 items of the main menu:

CONFIGURE SPEAKERS - this allows you to select what kind of speakers you have (maybe you don't have surrounds or lack a center channel speaker). It also allows you to configure whether or not you want to crossover the speaker to have bass sent to the subwoofer.

LISTENING ROOM SETUP - this allows you to set the distance of each speaker to the listening position.

CALIBRATE VOLUME - this allows you to set the individual level of each speaker so that they are configured to be equal output. I always use "MANUAL NOISE SEQUENCE" so that the Krell outputs a pink noise sound test for each speaker. The idea is to adjust each speaker so that it outputs the same volume from the test signal.

Once you have configured the speakers, the next step is to configure any input devices you have using the "CONFIGURE DEVICES" from the main menu.  Essentially, this allows you to define what happens when you click on an input button on the remote (such as DVD / LD / SAT / etc.).  For example, you can configure the Krell to select the Component 1 video input and the COAX 3 digital audio input when you hit "DVD" on the remote.  When configuring the audio inputs that use digital audio, you can also define the default mode when receiving a particular type of signal.  For example, when Krell receives a PCM signal, you can configure to use either STEREO or Dolby Pro Logic.  This can always be changed.  It is common just to leave the configuration as is on this setting, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

The last main menu item "CONFIGURE LEVELS" gets into some advanced configuration that sometimes isn't common.  I wouldn't worry too much about these setting.  The Krell will operate just fine using factory defaults, but you can read about these configurations in the Krell documentation.

Hope this helps.

ah, after I posted that huge description, I'm thinking that you are using this for an audio only HT processor and it will be hard for you to find a monitor with analog video inputs that you can use for configuration (as everything is pretty much HDMI only these days).  There are only a couple of processors that I know of which use the front panel for configuration - Bryston and Theta Digital.  Actually, both are designed to just "pass through" any video signal and there is no onscreen menu, so you MUST use the front panel for configuration.

You can look for an older Bryston SP1.7 or SP2 processor, but there are none up for sale right now.

TMR Audio has a couple of older Theta processors that you can look at:

Theta Casablanca (version I) for $647.  This is a basic "Generation 1 Theta" and has 5.1 outputs that are RCA only.

Theta Casablance II for $959.  This is the generation 2 model and has much better DACs and audio stages (uses Theta Superior DAC cards), which also have balanced XLR outputs.  On a side note, this model has a very rare AC-3 RF digital coax input.  These RF digital connections were commonly used by Laserdisc players in the old days - not that you would really need this.  lol  If you had a laserdisc, you needed a separate RF demodulator unit that converted the digital RF signal to a normal digital coax signal.

Keep in mind that both the Bryston SP1.7/2 and these two Thetas are in the 15-20 year old range, which is about the same as your current Krell Showcase processor.