I ahve a Kenwood VR509 reciever taht is situated behind a wood door. This was not a problem since the remote that comes with the Kenwood supports IR and RF. Now that I have a MX500 I can only use IR. Kenwood reccomends IR extenders from Xantech. The model I have - 286M - has a red light that lights up when it detects an IR source. I plugged it into my Kenwood butthe Xantech is only responding to the original Kenwood remote. If I try the MX500 it does nothing. I also tried all my other remotes and nothing as well. Even though they can not control the Kenwood, it should show that an IR command was sent. Any ideas? I need to get my Kenwood working on IR from behind the wood door. No I can not move it. What am I doing wrong?

The 286M is only an IR emitter and IR pass-through. Do you have it plugged into the Xantech connecting block (789-44) with an IR receiver (291-00) outside the wood door?
That setup should work with your MX-500 or any other remote.

No what is that? I thought I could plug in the 286M into my Kenwood and use it that way? Couud you suggest a cheap and inexpensive way to do what I want? I just want to be able to use my MX500 to control my Kenwood VR509 while it is behind a wood door.

Also why does the 286M emitter light up when I use my Kenwood remote but not any other remote? The 286M is plugged directly into the back of my Kenwood receiver. Isn't this how it is supposed to work? Is the 286M remote specific? If so what will work with the MX500?

I believe the VR509 has a two way remote (I know the VR510 does). The receiver is probably sending a signal back to the remote, hence the red light on the 286M.

No the 286M is supposed to light up when it gets a signal coming in, not feedback coming out. In any case what can I use to get the MX500 to control my VR509 reciever behind a wood door? Someone out there must be doing this.

I'm not sure how you have it hooked up, but the 286M is an emitter, not a receiver. It's placed over the IR window on a component (in this case your VR509) and receives it's IR signal from an IR receiver, like the 291-00, that's placed outside the door.

Assuming you have an IR input on your receiver, you may be able to use a 291-00 IR receiver plugged directly into your Kenwood, which is what it sound like you're trying to do with the 286M.

Look at the diagram on the following PDF file link:
[Link: xantech.com]
That should explain it better.