Ok, Ive moaned about this before, but it bugs me enough to moan about it again. My single greatest cause of endless consternation with any of this audio stuff stems from the fact that the remote codes for my preamp and for my HT receiver have some unfortunate overlaps, lets say. Background-wise, Im running a dedicated 2-channel system with a HT add-on, for lack of a better word. The 2-channel stuff is nicer, while the HT stuff feeds into the pre-amp from the HT pre-outs and there you go. So, when watching movies, everybody is on and working. My former pre-amp had a HT bypass loop, which was nice. The new one doesnt. Normally, this would be fine, simply dial in the pre-amp at zero gain (more or less), balance the channel levels at the receiver at that benchmark, and its done. HOWEVER, the remote volume control code on the pre-amp is the same as the one for the HT receiver (like to get my hands on the genius that came up with that one
). As if thats not enough, dimming the display on the HT receiver mutes the pre-amp; standby on the pre-amp turns on the HT receiver; etc. . . .
Imagine if you will lights are dimmed, its movie time! Wonder of wonders, it occurs to me to dim the display on the receiver and, VIOLA, the pre-amp is muted. Mains? You wanted to listen to the main speakers, too? Nope. Wanna turn down the volume? Jokes on you (well, me) try and do it from the remote and it changes the volume on both the receiver and the pre-amp and all that careful channel balancing is out the window. Ok, so youve had enough of the movies and just want to turn on the pre-amp but no, you get the HT receiver, too. Right, so you learn to turn on the pre-amp by hand, thats fine, but dont make the mistake of thinking you can use the remote to turn it off because, thats right, itll only turn the receiver on. Mercy.
Moral of the story is: Plinius and Marantz, two great tastes that dont go great together. Bastards.
Imagine if you will lights are dimmed, its movie time! Wonder of wonders, it occurs to me to dim the display on the receiver and, VIOLA, the pre-amp is muted. Mains? You wanted to listen to the main speakers, too? Nope. Wanna turn down the volume? Jokes on you (well, me) try and do it from the remote and it changes the volume on both the receiver and the pre-amp and all that careful channel balancing is out the window. Ok, so youve had enough of the movies and just want to turn on the pre-amp but no, you get the HT receiver, too. Right, so you learn to turn on the pre-amp by hand, thats fine, but dont make the mistake of thinking you can use the remote to turn it off because, thats right, itll only turn the receiver on. Mercy.
Moral of the story is: Plinius and Marantz, two great tastes that dont go great together. Bastards.