I am fairly new to this and was wondering what is the best connection on the 950 for a LD with AC-3. I only a a few dolby digital discs but I am not sure if the 950 has an AC-3 connection or not. If not, will using a coaxial connection play 5.1 or not. I appreciate any help I can get. thanks.

You should connect your LD to the 950 with your digital coaxial. It WILL NOT play 5.1 from LD. You can only get that with an AC-3 outboard box between the LD and the Outlaw. The Outlaw does not take direct AC-3 output from the LD.

However, if you have one of the DTS-encoded LD's, those WILL work.

DO NOT connect the AC-3 output of the LD to ANYTHING on your Outlaw. IT WILL NOT WORK and it may blow your ears out if you don't have the volume low.

thanks,bobblinds, for the quick and more importantly, valuable safety information. My next question is since the Denon AVD-2000 I was using as my processor has a 6CH IN connector, can I run my AC-3RF connection from my LD to that and then connect to the 950's 5.1 channel analog input? I was running the connection from my LD into the Denon and then into a Citation Model4 and listened to my discs that way. Or is this not the same thing? (I know this must seem strange but I loved the sound on the Model 4. It was the first processor I ever owned.) thanks again

The Denon would work for what you are talking about if you connected the LD to it and then connected it to the 950's 6-channel in. The six-channel analog pass-through would let you add a DVD-Audio or SACD player to the 950, so you wouldn't even be loosing the use of the 6-channel input there. You would loose the 950's more flexible digital bass management and newer processing modes (Cirrus Extra Surround for 6.1/7.1 decoding), which may or may not matter to you.

Another option is to pick up an RF demodulator as bob suggested -- they are becoming rare, but there are usually some rattling around eBay ( search results ) and Audiogon. That would allow you to deliver a digital signal to the 950, thereby using the digital bass management and the 6.1/7.1 processing modes. Of course, it would also require actually buying an additional piece of equipment, when you already have the Denon (and apparently the snake's-nest of interconnects to hook it up) in hand.

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

EWS...here is what you should do..I also have the Denon, which I presently use for Dolby Digital demodulating & decoding of LDs & as a 6.1 input for DVD-A & SACD.
Take the AC-3 RF out of the LD into the Denon's AC-3 RF input. Next, take either the optical or coaxial digital output from the LD into one of the Denon's optical or coaxial inputs. Finally, connect the digital out from the Denon (either optical or coax) to the 950.
Then, grab the Denon manual soas to setup what ever optical/coaxial input you used as the designated AC-3auto input. When you play LDs, select the AC-3Auto button.
What this will do is :
1) DD/AC-3 Discs will be demodulated in the denon, and the DD signal will be passed to the 950 for DD decoding.
2)PCM(regulal stereo Digital sound) & DTS LDs
will pass the signal through the Denon to the 950. The 950 will either decode the DTS or deocde the PCM into whatever you have the input set for (DPL2, DTS NEO, stereo, etc.)

This will provide the 950's latest decoding for your LDs.

One more thing though, if you have any older LDs with no DD nor PCM (digital sound), that are analogue, you will nee one more connection....connect the analogu outs of the LD to a set of analogu ins on the 950. For these analogue discs you will then need to select that input. By the way, you will also need to a second set of video inputs for this input if you use the 950 for video switching.
Hope this helps!

Wow, that's some cool info, indeed! Slick.



I'll toss out a somewhat "sneaky" trick here if you do find yourself needing to make an analog connection from LD to 950: if you use an audio-only input (such as one of the "AUX" inputs), you can switch to the LD's video input and then switch to the audio-only input and the 950 will continue to pass the video from the LD (the 950 will continue to pass the video from the last selected video source).

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

I knew there was a reason I joined this forum what with all that knowledge floating around out there. a nifty trick, surround. it certainly helps eliminate a mess of connects. After going through my collection of LD's I only have about a dozen that are AC-3 and most of those I own on dvd anyway so I am pondering the hook-up now. But I appreciate the info and know what to do if I decide to go ahead. Another question has arisen though. If you have a 7.1 setup and you are playing source material that is only 6.1, does the signal to the two back speakers get split evenly between them? I know it is a pretty basic question but I am still learning. And by the way, the 950 is one awesome processor. This was my first exposure to DTS and words fail me in describing it. Watching the opening scene of Gladiator was a totally new aural esperience. I am only using the 950 for theater sound and no matter what I played the sound was very rich and dynamic. And I haven't even calibrated by speakers yet (can't find a damn SPL meter anywhere in the Akron area) The Outlaws should be proud of this unit. And thanks again for all the help.

Wow. I guess that's one way of showing gratitude.

Sanjay

sorry, I am not THAT full of myself. Obviously I was having a problem with my post. It wouldn't appear in the thread and didn't realize what was happening. But I am very appreciative. Hopefully this reply will only need to be sent once.

well whadda ya know it worked this time. setting up the 950 was easier than posting it seems.