Audio Systems: Kenwood 5090 Reciever & Bose Surround Speakers - no surround!, bose surround speakers, digital cable box

Question
QUESTION: I am not sure when or how this exactly happened but my reciever no longer outputs audio to all of the speakers. Further, it seems none of the digital audio inputs (coax or optical) work. I have tried 3 different sources, two DVD players and a digital cable box. The only audio I can get to work is the stereo connections. Any suggestions as to how to troubleshoot this? I have tried 4 different optical cables, and one was brand new from Future Shop last night. I have everything unplugged but the speakers and the DVD player now. DVD video (component) and audio (stereo) is running into the receiver with component running out to the TV. That works fine, but no surround sound. When I swap in an optical cable, I loose ALL sound. HELP!!

ANSWER: Does the receiver have an automatic input selection or do you set this manually? What I mean is, I had a Sony that could automatically "sense" what type of signal was fed into it, and play it accordingly. If I wanted to set this to manual, I could, but I'd have to switch these settings every time I changed the input type (analog or digital).

It actually sounds like you've got a receiver that needs repair of replacement. It would be astronomically rare for all of the items you tried running into it being faulty. You seem to have the troubleshooting down to that, as I really can't think of much else that you can look for.

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QUESTION: Yes, it is set to "Full Auto"; when I try to force digital from the receiver & use an optical cable I get nothing. If I swap the optical out and go to a stereo cable, then choose 6-Channel DVD, that setting works but no surround...

Answer
By only using a stereo pair to the receiver in 6 channel mode, you're not going to get surround because you're only feeding it a stereo (L & R) signal. Some (not all) DVD players will have 6 analog outputs for surround - if your player(s) have this, you'll need to hook up all of those to the receiver. You could possibly get Pro Logic surround, if your receiver has that option, but this is not the same decoding scheme as Dolby Digital or DTS, and will sound different as the two rear channels will be monophonic (instead of stereo surrounds that the other decoding methods will give you).

It sounds very much as if there is something wrong with the digital inputs on the receiver. If you're getting nothing at all from either the coax or optical, I'd have it looked at. It seems as you've exhausted all of the troubleshooting options for that type of input.