Just hooked up my new 950/770 last night to my Pioneer Elite DV-45A. I popped in a DVD Audio disc (Fleetwood Mac) and I could not get any audio whatsoever! Please help! I hooked up the two with cables running from the analog multi-channel outputs to the multi-channel inputs on the 950. I selected DVD-Analog on the 950 and nothing. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I know it isn't the DVD player in the sense that before I bought the 950 I just had a receiver (although it was not conneced through the mulit-channel analog outputs because the reciver didn't have that feature) but the music still played.

Please help!

Thanks
Joe

Mighunter

The DVD analog input on the 950 is separate from the 6-channel analog input, which sounds like it may be your problem. You need to select the 6-channel analog input (6 CH, a button just to the right of the number pad). You might want to check out this old post (from the 950 archive here in the saloon) for a way to get you back on track.

I'd also recommend connecting the DV-45A to the 950 using coax or optical digital, for use with regular DVD's -- otherwise the 950's processing modes (Dolby EX, DTS ES, Pro Logic II, Cirrus Extra Surround) and digital bass management won't be available when watching movies.

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

Gonk, thanks I'm sure that is the solution. So are you telling me that if I want to play a SACD that in order to place the 950 on the correct "input" selection if you will, I have to push the 6 channel direct button on the remote, but that making that same selection can't be made on the face plate of the 950 itself?

I guess I'm thinking that the 6 channel direct option should be like cycling through any of the other 950 inputs like Coax1, 2, Optical 1..4 etc.

Is this correct. Sorry for the probably niave questions, but I'm fairly new to this and this is my first real step up to good quality multi function HT equipment.

BTW, I do have the DVD hooked up to the 950 with a Digital Coax as well.

Thanks for your help. I hope I'll be listening to a little Fleetwood Mac tonight.

Joe

On my Toshiba 5700 I also had to change the output type on the DVD player to Analog 6-channel from PCM or bitstream. This makes listening to a DVD-Audio a royal pain but the sound quality is awesome. The menu to do it was pretty buried on mine, so double check your instructions.

Dragonmonger

PS) Fleetwood Mac Rumours is awesome, I love the part about 35 seconds into track one where the drums move around the room to the cymbal on the back left.

The 6-channel analog input does not have a button on the faceplate, but it may be in the list of sources (the source up/down buttons over the volume, no the digital input button that cycles through coax1, coax2, optical1, ...). I haven't ever really used the source buttons on the face plate, so I'm not sure.

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

gonk, thanks for your help. I'll be evaluating DVD Audio to it's finest thanks to you. An no, as far as I can tell, there isn't a 6 Channel input when you cycle through the inputs using the up and down buttons on the faceplate.

Thanks again

joe

Mighunter,

I hope you've made progress. I also chose the Fleetwood Mac Rumors DVD-A as my first disc. What an experience. Yes: Fragile awaits me this weekend.

Another thing you need to consider with the 950 is the analog bass management switch on the back of the unit. There's tons and tons of information (and debate) in the archives but just make sure it's set properly for you. Unless you have full range speakers all the way around, set the switch to "on" and enjoy. Quite a few DVD-As are not mixed to match our home theater setups and most players (I don't know about yours) do not have bass management for DVD-A. The 950 handles it for you.

DollarBill, I'm all set. Hit the 6 channel button on the remote and I was in business. Threw in the Rumors CD and was blown away. I especially like the third song which is mostly instrumental, I think it's called Never Go Back. Wow!

I also picked up a SACD Santana but I was dissapointed as the sound was only from the left and right fronts. There was no surround or center whatsoever. I hope all SACD's aren't the same or maybe they are, I don't know.

Anyway, from the two days I've had the 950/770, I absoultly love listening to music again. You know what else sounds amazing is Norah Jones in 5 channel stereo. Sweet.

Thanks for all the help. BTW, I do have the bass management turned on the 950.

Joe

So Santana's a stereo SACD? There are some of those around -- originally, SACD was a purely two-channel format. I think the packaging typically includes some indication of whether it's a 5.1 mix or a stereo mix ( Sony's SACD site maintains separate lists for stereo and multichannel SACD's (and Santana is on the stereo list).

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

gonk, I wish I had noticed because I would not have bought it. I sure hope that more comes out in either SACD or DVD Audio because it is very very kool especially on the 950/770 combo.

Anyone have any recomendations on some really good SACD's or DVD Audios I should ask Santa for Christmas?

MIG

The Blue Man Group DVD-A is really good. Drums circling all around you, etc. Very nice use of the surround channels.

Any of the Stones SACDs are good too.

There's a website I contribute to once in a while. It has some SACD and DVD-A reviews; not comprehensive, but enough to get you started. Helps to know which discs are worth getting and which aren't, before spending your hard earned money.

High Fidelity Review .

Best,
Sanjay

Just be sure that when listening to multichannel SACDs or DVD-As (or when calibrating the 950) you need to be in multichannel mode first or else you will be stuck in stereo mode. It was very disconcerting when listening to James Taylor's Hourglass after a stereo CD, only to have his voice muted and sounding like he was singing from the bottom of a deep well. You can get into multichannel mode by switching to a dolby digital mode; there may be other ways as well. Just search this forum for other SACD and calibration topics.
BTW, Norah Jones is due immently for an SACD release, and Steve Hoffman indicates that he is working on an SACD of the late, great Eva Cassidy's 'Songbird'. In the meantime, in addition to the Stones SACDs, I highly recommend all of Alison Krauss' SACD offerings (I found the best prices at the http://www.rounder.com web site). Alison's latest release, Live, is supposed to be out as an SACD (the red book is out already) probably around the same time as the concert DVD. As for DVD-A, Appalachian Journey with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor is superb, but it is just 2 channel. If you're into eclectic stuff, Bela Fleck has an interesting, Grammy nominated SACD, Tabula Rasa, that I really like, but may be an acquired taste. I only hope that Uncommon Ritual is released in SACD some day.

i recommend looking for the hybrid multichannel label on the front of the case of sacd. you can play the stereo cd version on any cd player and the multichannel version through the 950.

spyro gyra's 'in modern times' is probably the best mixed surround music i've heard. the songs are great, too.
see a review:
http://timefordvd.com/sacd/review/inmoderntimes.shtml

I'm waiting for that one myself. IMO, Nora's current release "come away with me", is one of the better recorded CD's I've listened to lately. I also like Alison Krauss- will wait for the SACD "Live" release.

Yes, the Blue Man Group DVD-A is awesome!! Not quite as good as the live performace I saw in Vegas, but still cool.

This is a little off topic, but I've been wanting to ask someone who might know...

When using the digital output from a DVD player (I know DVD-A and SACD aren't output through this, yet), why would one of these high end expensive players sound any different that a cheap one?? I mean, it's just 1's and 0's, right??

Now if you're using the analog out, I can see, but if strictly using the digital, I don't know what could possibly make any difference.

I'm sure I'm wrong about this, so please...someone educate me!!

fly guy

Technically, that's true, but he cheaper player is more likely to suffer from jitter problems than the expensive one. Jitter can really nasty-up the sound of digital if it is high enough. Also, the error correction of the cheaper player is very likely to be inferior, which can cause some audible glitches if uncorrectable errors need to be filled in. Of course, it's just so UN-cool to have a cheap player, 'ya know

Unless you want to double up the bass in your subwoofer, you need to set up your universal player's speaker setup to FULL RANGE all the way around.

Then flip the 950's bass-management toggle switch in the back to ON, which will give you an 80 Hz analog cross-over (no way around it). It's really a bummer the OFF position on the toggle switch doesn't mean just that.

Besides, here's a nasty little secret: you don't want to use any internal bass management or DSP modes in those current universal players (with or without a proprietary digital audio link) and receivers (with a proprietary digital audio input and internal PCM/DSD decoding) because it converts the DSD bitstream into PCM before implementing the digital bass mangement or DSP features. That's not what you want to be doing... why buy SACD's for DSD's supposed superiority if you are going to switch it to PCM?

Dan

[This message has been edited by Dan Hitchman (edited November 25, 2002).]

Dan- That's not quite true. The Pioneer DV-45a and 47ai both use Sony chips for the DSD (SACD) portion. Includes bass management. But no time alignment, that's how you know it's not being converted to PCM. If it was, why not do time alignment on it too?

Over on HTF somewhere...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kevin C Brown:
[B]Dan- That's not quite true. The Pioneer DV-45a and 47ai both use Sony chips for the DSD (SACD) portion. Includes bass management. But no time alignment, that's how you know it's not being converted to PCM. If it was, why not do time alignment on it too?
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kevin, how do you like the pioneer player? have you tried sacd? is the picture good, also? does it have BM for dvd-a/sacd?

BoB: I have the 45a now. I got such a great deal on a trade up to the 47ai, that I go get it this very afternoon.

This has more meaning if you know me, but the 45a has been one of the most complaint-free pieces of gear I've had in a long time. Sound and video quality is excellent. It has all the features I would expect (for the very modest price). SACD and DVD-A quality are "good enough". But what I mean by that is, still ain't lp... (But better than CD.)