Sunfire Theater Grand One preamp

[The Robman]

I found some more Sunfire info that I thought I'd add to this thread.

First, here's a different manual that shows a different remote (a Home Theater Master MX-500 remote). The remote in the previous manual was a Rotel RR9900:
https://corebrands-resources.s3.amazona ... _RevA4.pdf

That manual does show buttons for Holography (HOL ON and HOL OFF), Dimmer (DIM+ and DIM-)

Here's another:
https://corebrands-resources.s3.amazona ... manual.pdf

The following thread has some photos of the unit with the remote:
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/ ... eamplifier

For folks that are interested in an old 1999 review of the unit, back when it sold for only $2,995, there is this:
https://www.avrev.com/home-theater-preamplifiers/av-preamps/sunfire-theater-grand-processor-av-preamplifier.html

Archived copy of Sunfire site:
https://sunfire.com/productdetail.asp?id=2

[The Robman]

DeflectedIR, have you got around to re-capping your Sunfire unit yet?

[DeflectedIR]

I'm just about halfway done. It's a multi-day project as there are approximately 300 electrolytic capacitors. I'm still uncertain of the precise count since I have yet to gain full access to the bottom PCB. Unfortunately no service manual was ever publicly released, so it's been quite a ride. There are several proprietary edge connectors which were very tricky to detach. 80% of the capacitors I pulled so far were defective (ranging from a 30% to 50% loss of capacitance. One of the 4200uF capacitors on the primary microcontroller board was bloated and primed to vent. There are likely others that have completely failed. It's a jungle in there and the design is very unique (the PCBs are scaffolded upon one another with multiple interconnects). It's one of the most bizzare equipment designs I've ever witnessed.

[The Robman]

Oh wow, that's quite a task you've taken on, when I did that DVD player I think there were maybe 30 caps that I had to replace, plus a couple of diodes, so nowhere near what you're doing. I hope the Sunfire is worth it.

[Bowhunter]

I have been using the harmony hub smart remotes since my ventures at JP1, however Harmony shut down the servers and basically disabled my remotes. Their s/w downloaded and "disabled" me dead in the water, nothing works and i don't have backups because it was all server based. That's led me to searching the web and finding this old thread. I think I still have a few old remotes with the homemade cable plugin?

Anyway, i still have the Sunfire working, original user manual, and even the original remote (non-working), the screen ended up blank and from what i could see, all programing was gone, which is why i started my journey. If there is anything i can provide, please let me know. I'm old, and was never a programmer anyway, but if I can help, let me know?

I guess it's true, old threads never die!

[The Robman]

Welcome back BH, that sucks that Harmony would do that, Slingbox did something similar to their users, basically sent out an update that bricked on the active Slingbox units.

Where we got to, since you were last here, is we noticed that the Sunfire uses the same codes as Kenwood, so that gave us a much larger list to try. DeflectedIR did a bunch of testing and found many more functions that work, and I've added them to the Sunfire upgrade (link below):
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=25069

Unfortunately, the more desirable codes such as Holographic Image, Panel Dim, & Full Automatic Operation remain unknown.

If you want to do some testing yourself, you could download that upgrade and confirm that all the functions work for you too, which they should. If you want to go beyond that and try searching for additional functions, I could set some things up for you. If you have an RCU810 remote, that would be perfect as that's what DeflectedIR was using, so I have files ready to go. If you're still using your URC-8910, I'll set something up for that. This post describes how to do the testing.

[Bowhunter]

I believe my old URC remote still works, but i was using via a homemade serial or parallel cable, can't remember which and not sure if i still have the card. I will put sone batteries in my old remote and see if I had found any of those missing codes. I had worked with support at Logitech, and we were able to get a few codes more loaded. It was a custom setup so I'm not sure Logitech ever called it anything. They did have a Sunfire Theater Grand setup, but it was for the 2 or 3 and it did not work on the original. I also need to call Logitech on Monday and see if I can at least get them to open a connection to my remotes so I can have what was working but would not be able to sync again.

I still have the original user manual. It does have some code info in it, but its above my pay grade. The Theater Grand 1 had a touch screen remote with codes that were unique from future generations. It was as you said, a Rotel remote. The first 2 used the same case.

[The Robman]

Can you see if you can find a copy of your manual online, or could you scan the pages with the code info, because there's a good chance that I can make sense of it.

[Bowhunter]

I did find this at https://thecarversite.com/manuals/mandi ... 0Sheet.pdf

However, they just show basic controls. Here is a pic of the page from my manual listing anything regarding codes. https://ibb.co/Vmxrhsz

[The Robman]

Unfortunately, those codes are for the RS-232 serial port, they're not IR codes. Just to be sure, I compared the codes to the actual signal codes, just in case they used the same codes, but they're totally different.

[Bowhunter]

I now recall years ago i sent you that and you said the same thing. Sorry.
I did get in contact with Logitech and I was wrong. They said they were not shutting down the server. They claimed i had loged into the server too many times which caused the removal. I had not do so in 3 months, but neither here nor there?they reset the access and i?m all good to go.

When I get the time, I may see if I can get the serial cable working for the software. I remember there being a conversion program needed first, then the actual transfer program. I may not even attempt it?.but thanks again for all your help Rob, you were always very kind and helpful. If there is anything i have that you might need, just let me know.

[The Robman]

If you've got your Harmony working again, does it include buttons for Holographic Image, Panel Dim, & Full Automatic Operation? If so, could you please capture them and let me know what the codes are?

[Bowhunter]

If you've got your Harmony working again, does it include buttons for Holographic Image, Panel Dim, & Full Automatic Operation? If so, could you please capture them and let me know what the codes are?

No, i was never able to obtain those codes and i really don't remember if they were "remote controlled". If i remember correctly, panel and auto were never remote controlled, not sure about holo.