QuestionThank you - I did switch the speaker wires before emailing you.
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The text above is a follow-up to ...
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I have a Audio/video Pioneer VSX-D711 unit that only plays through the left side (both A&B speakers) Is it worth fixing - is it a repair that is difficult? The right side speakers donot play through A or B settings.
Also, I have a Sony RDR-GX300 DVD recorder. It records on channels 99 and below, but cannot record on channels above 99. Do newer units record on the higher channels? Is this an analog vs. digital issue?
Thank you!
Gordon Stoneburner
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Hi Gordon,
Regarding the Pioneer Receiver - are you sure it's a receiver and not the speakers or cabling? A quick swap (move the right speaker cables over the the left channel receiver terminals) should confirm that.
If the left channel is indeed blown on your unit, I might hesitate to recommend servicing it. It's worth checking the price, but this could cost anywhere from $300 to $500 to fix. At that point your on your way to a whole new unit (if not a nice upgrade). Ultimately that decision is up to you.
As for the DVD recorder problem, I strongly suspect that this is NOT a "rights protection" issue and simply has to do with the way you've hooked up the system. Channels 99 and up coming from the cable TV co. are digital, not standard analog NTSC. As such, you need a special tuner to decode them. If you are simply running cable TV straight from the wall into your DVD unit there's really no way to get at the 100 channel stations. Instead, I would use the composite, S-video, or Component feeds from the back of your cable box directly into the analog video (composite, S-Video, or Component) into your DVD recorder. You may need to buy a 1x2 "Distribution Amplifier" to get the signal from your CATV box to both your TV and DVD simultaneously.
There is a dark downside to this: You will NOT be able to record one channel while watching another unless you get a second CATV box solely dedicated to your DVD recorder.
The cable channels are more or less standardized (RF Modulated Mpeg-2, according to FCC) so it's conceivable that today's recorders could be packaged with tuners capable of decoding those channels. Are there any? Not yet...
I hope that helps!
AnswerOk, that tells me you have a blown amp chennel for sure then. This unit sold for about $300 in 2002, so I don't think you could just order a "card slot" and do the repair yourself on this model.
Unfortunately, that leaves you with one likely option: Replacement.
I have an old Onkyo where this happened - it still gets good use a "background music amp" after I bought a new unit.
