I have very few SACD or DVD-A discs and I don't play them very often. Tonight I was listening to Pink Floyd DSOTM SACD and Eagles Hotel California DVD-A and noticed something odd. Let me back up first: I manually calibrate my 990 using the internal test tones and a RS SPL meter. I have a variety of settings: L & R are at -7, C at -3, Surrounds at 0. However when listening to the discs noted above I had to adjust the calibration to have all five channels virtually the same. Otherwise, the C and surrounds were really loud and the L & R were almost gone (seems appropriate with my settings). Am I missing something on the 990 setup for 7.1 (5.1 in my case)? Do you need to adjust the calibration for 7.1 playback? FYI, my speakers are all 4 ohm, all set to small, 80Hz crossover and the subwoofer is "on". Seems odd I'd have to make such a radical adjustment. Any thoughts?

Having a variety of trim settings like that is perfectly normal. You should not need to change the trim settings when using the 7.1 direct input, assuming that no trim adjustments are being performed upstream of the 990. Is the trim on the 980H set to 0 for each channel?

This is a very good question. While I don't play SACDs (and therefore have that issue) I have noticed that for different movies and dts cds I will occasionally need to boost the surrounds and center...and this is regardless of the spkr settings.

I'll be interested to note others' comments.

Nfaguys, it's very possible that what you have encountered is a result of how certain discs are mastered.

AvFan, here's a test you can try: play a DVD on the 980H, using both the coaxial input (or optical, depending on which you have connected) and the 7.1 Direct input. The two should produce the same levels. If they don't, check your player's settings.

Thanks for the help solving this issue and verifying my manual calibration settings make some sense. I thought of the OPPO as the possible problem, but the trim levels in the OPPO are set to 0, delay is set to 12 feet for all channels and downmix is set to 5.1 channels. The OPPO delay settings are not correct but I can't imagine it would be the cause and I'm not sure I want to induce double delay settings; I'll let the 990 handle that chore. Strange!

gonk wrote:

it's very possible that what you have encountered is a result of how certain discs are mastered

Actually I believe that is correct. I told my wife this, while adjusting during moves. Also some of our old recordings when played back in 4 ch as originally recorded (play LS-LF-RF-RS)will sometimes require a boost or cut in a given channel.

So.....not to worry.

I have three or four other SACDs that I will try and report back whether Hotel California and DSOTM are unique in the way they play.

AvFan: You're calibration settings do seem a little odd just looking at them. However, if that's what the meter is telling you, then I guess they're good. You may want to try the test tones off a THX DVD (such as Star Wars) if just for comparison sake.

As for the Oppo, I'm not an owner but I was wondering about the "downmix" setting. After reading the manual, I would set it to "7.1" Why? Well, it seems to me that that's the only setting where the player isn't doing anything to what's on the disc. Are all of your speakers set to "large" in the Oppo? Same reasoning for that question as above...

AvFan,

Have you looked at the Audio and Sound Effect settings on your 980 and they are turned off? I used to own an Oppo 970 that had those features and don't remember if they can affect your hi-rez playback. My speakers are 4 ohms as well and are within 1-2dBs of each other whether I use my Radio Shack meter or the mic that came with the 990. I have the same hi-rez discs you have and many more. Didn't have an issue with either disc when compared to my other hi-rez discs. There may be some perceived differences in the way the recordings were made and may need some fine tuning. Especially so with DVD movies and the center channel for me. But I never experienced a 7dB gain needed in order for a channel(s) to keep up. Only from 1-3dBs. Could also one of the other settings in the 990 be turned on/off as well? Such as Panorama or the Tone Defeat? Just thinking out loud other "potential" issues that may have been overlooked?? Hope you are able to solve this.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! Gotta love this forum. I'll check my OPPO 980 as well as some of the 990 settings later today. I've recently added some acoustic absorbtion at the right speaker's first reflection point so I should probably do another calibration anyway. However, I must say treating one FRP did not cause what I heard last night. I checked both with and without the treatment and the disparity in individual speakers was equally pronounced both ways. I'll report back later today. Again, thanks for the suggestions.