SACD Stereo question.

Currently I have my SACD stereo outputs going to the 950's "CD" input in analog mode. Would it be better to go through the L/R ins on the 5.1 channel input? I think I read that there's a problem with bass management on the regular stereo ins. Not sure?

I have my DVD-A machine, SACD player, and LD DD decoder going through two Radio Shack 4 way A/V switch boxes. It would be very easy to connect the SACD to input 4.

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Philip Hamm

Philip- The way that you have it now, you will only have the double bass problem if you have your mains set as small with a sub. No double bass if the mains are set as Large. I don't know if you need to turn your sub off in the 950's config though.

Kevin, thanks but that's not my question. I guess it's not clear, let me restate.

I'm not worried about any double bass problems, I have small mains and they're set to small on the front and the back of the 950. I believe the problem with the bass on analog stereo direct inputs is the phase? Not sure. It's not double bass though.

My question is: What is a better way to plug in a high rez stereo analog source, through a regular analog input (CD) or through the 5.1 input on the back of the receiver?

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Philip Hamm

[This message has been edited by Philip Hamm (edited February 04, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by Philip Hamm (edited February 04, 2003).]

There is apparently an issue with the sub being out of phase on the 5.1 analog inputs. I don't think it applies to the stereo bypass mode, though. I would tend to lean toward recommending using the stereo bypass on an input like "CD" for a high-res two-channel analog source, but I would probably have to experiment a bit before I said anything for certain.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited February 04, 2003).]

Ahh, ideally, in "stereo" bypass mode, the sub is not being used at all (there is no analog crossover there), so no phase issue.

With small mains, and using a 2 channel input in bypass mode, you will get double bass though. I'd be willing to bet, that in this case, the bass in bypass mode into the mains is out of phase with the summed bass crossed over to the sub *as compared to using a 2 channel input digitally*. I don't think anyone's tested this, but I'd reckon it's the same mechanism that creates the double bass in the 1st place with the 5.1 analog inputs (but is bypassable with the 80 Hz analog crossover).

I personally would like to believe, that there's absolutely no difference between the 5.1 analog inputs, and the stereo/2 channel inputs in bypass mode in terms of sound quality. Just the fact that the 2 channel inputs (with the speakers set as small) *also* has the double bass problem leads me to believe that at least *some* of the analog signal path is shared between those two options.

[This message has been edited by Kevin C Brown (edited February 04, 2003).]

I would personally also expect there to be no difference in sound quality between stereo bypass and the 5.1 input. However, I was under the impression that the double bass in the 5.1 mode was unrelated to the double bass in stereo bypass -- on the 5.1 it was because the low-pass crossover to the sub is always active (even when the bass management switch is off, which bypasses the high-pass filter to the other speakers), while on the stereo bypass it was because the stereo analog signal was sent to two places (the original signal went through the volume control and out the pre-amp outs, while it was also sent to the digital processing to have the bass management applied, causing the sub to get info if the speakers were set to "small").

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Oops! Redundant comment removed.

[This message has been edited by DollarBill (edited February 05, 2003).]