Hey all,

I have the 990/7700 combo, on my 3rd BD player already. Just got the Pioneer BDP51FD and it is my first one with 5:1/7:1 audio. I have 5 speakers and 2 subs. Not quite sure how to hook it up and is it worth it to do so? Right now I am using digital coax. Will this make a big enough difference?
PS I have never used this type of audio, so don't be afraid to be simple, lol.
Thanks!!!

I also heard something about speaker adjustmens, LFE, speaker size, etc. Not really sure if I have to make adustments. I am running Klipsch full size fronts, a very large Klipsch center and 2 surrounds, then 2 sunfire JR subs.
Thanks.

I would say that it is certainly worth it to get access to the new lossless audio tracks. Since the 990 is your processor, my standard advise for multichannel analog from a disc player is to go into the player's setup, set all speakers to large, and set all channel trims and distances to zero. The 990 will provide the same bass management, channel trim, and speaker delays for the 7.1 Direct input that it does for digital inputs unless you have all of the 990's channels set to "large". I would guess that your surrounds and likely your center set to "small" (I've yet to see a center channel, no matter how big physically, that reached down low enough to justify running it as "large").

Thanks gonk, I understand the settings in the Pioneer, but what do I set the 990's settings to?
Thanks.

Leave the 990's speaker settings where they are and set the video input for "7.1 Direct" to whatever connection you are using for your BD player (which based on your other thread is one of the DVI ports).

How come 7.1 instead of 5.1 as I am running 5 speakers and 2 subs? Thanks again gonk.

The 990 only display's "7.1" even may have a 5.1 setup but with your setup it will be fine, I have the same thing but with only one sub.

You should definitely see a beg difference when you do the analog hookups well worth it.

Thanks!!!!!! I will give it a try. How many cables do I need with my set up of 5 speakers and 2 subs?

You need six: left, right, center, left surround, right surround, and sub.

I just picked up the BDP-51D as well. I have it connected to my 990 via the 8 analog connections and with the optical. For SD DVD. I use the optical and for the BR-DVD I use the analog. For the analog, I set the player to multichannel audio, all speakers large and all output levels to -3db except the sub which I set to +6db.

I have a 7.1 system, but I am only get 5.1 out with the analog because there is no PIIx or ES processing on the player to simulate the rear channels, so the rear speakers are not active. In my HT, the 5.1 side surrounds (dipole) are placed about 3 feet ahead of the seating area. Not ideal, but necessary do to room construction. My rears (bipole) are 4 feet behind the seating area. I feel my rears are in a much better surround position, so I ended up swapping the pre-amp to amp surround connections to watch the BR-DVD. Of course this screws up my DTS-ES SD DVD's so I have to swap them back when I watch them. Otherwise this is a great player despite not having the DTS-MA firmware ready.

Where is the 997 ??????? (sigh)

I have 2 subs, so...One for each sub???
Thanks again.

Also do you need to use a digital connection for SD DVD watching as Camtah has posted?

No. You have one LFE signal coming from the player and going to the 990. The two subs connect to the 990, but the player is providing a single LFE channel that the 990 then combines with other signals derived during bass management.
You don't need to, as the player can decode Dolby Digital and DTS, but I generally have used a coaxial or optical connection for standard DVD's.

I use the digital connection only if I want to use the 990's Dolby PLIIx or DTS-ES processing for the rear two speakers. I did the analog for mainly the players ability to decode the newer TrueHD and (hopefully) DTS-MA formats for Blu-Ray. Most Blu-Ray disks (at least the few that I have) are only encoded for 5.1,not 7.1. The player does not have PLIIx or ES logic to create the rear speaker sound field. I wish this wasn't the case, ehich is why I .like so many others are waiting for a pre-pro that will have this ability. So the bottom line is you don't need the digital (coax/opt) if you have the analog connections.

Thnanks again, appreciate the help!!!!!