Almost there....

Finally got the BD player and cables over the weekend. Got to work connecting everything and getting it all set up. I have a couple of questions (surprise, surprise), that I'm hoping some of the more experienced members might help me with:

A bit of background - no center channel installed on my system yet. Looking for an LSiC to go with my LSi15s and LSif/x and Polk sub.

First of all, I connected the Samsung BDplayer to the 990 via HDMI/DVI. I then connected the analog connectors (6 in my case) from the BD player into the 990. Also connected an optical digital audio cable from BD player to the 990. Set up the 7.1 analog input on the 990 to use DVI, and also set the CD input to use DVI and optical input connected to BD player.

First thing I tried was to play a DVD (no blu ray disks in the collection yet) using 7.1. I had a strange hum (an A flat, it I'm not mistaken) coming through the whole system. Thought is was part of the music score at first, but realized it was present all the time. Almost sounded like feedback of sorts.

I switched to the CD input using the optical digital cable. The hum went away, but so did all the dialog. Had music coming from the L/R front and L/R surround, but absolutely no dialog. Remember, I have no center channel set up yet. EDIT: If I use CD input am I automatically in 2-channel mode, thus no center/dialog??

Concerned, I pulled the analog cables and figured I would start with one connection at a time. So, playing the DVD using the CD input (DVI and optical 1), everything seemed to work as it should. No hum, dialog present in L/R speakers. Seemed to be getting 5.1 surround.

Tried playing a music CD to check sound quality. Even though I set surround mode to either stereo or upsample, I had music from fronts and surround. I didn't think I would have the surrounds playing. Also, wasn't blown away by the sound. Movie sound tracks sound great, and I was really hoping the 2-channel sound would be even better.

I notice there are settings on the BD player in addition to the processor. I think I have waded into a mess here. There is a speaker set up, and also a few choices for audio set up, including switching between PCM, bit stream (re-encode), and bit stream audiophile (no endocde?). Then there is an option for down sampling, compression, etc.

I played around a bit. I think with just the optical audio cable connected I have the audio setup to use PCM, I think I have down sampling on (default, compression off). I have all speakers set to small on BD player, no center, sub present. I have the 990 set to small fronts with x-over set at 40, and LFE only to the sub. Sound is better, but I still feel like some thing is missing.

Any guidance for setting the BD player options for the best sound? Any guesses about the hum via the analog channels. Could I simply have had a loose connection? Maybe This afternoon I'll pull the optical cable and go with the analog and see what I get.

Cheers -

There's a lot going on here and my morning's a bit crazy here, so this may be a little disjointed...
No. Each input (except for 7.1 Direct) has access to all of the 990's surround processing modes, and if the source is multichannel the 990 will preserve that. Additionally, the 990 will redirect center channel information from the center speaker to the fronts when there is no center speaker in the system.

I think you have missed a step in the 990's setup. Go back into the 990's setup menu and go to the menu called "SPEAKER SIZE." Fronts and surrounds should be "Small", center and surround back should be "None", and sub should be "Yes". Also, have you done any calibration (either the auto setup or a manual with SPL meter and the internal test tones)?

You may have been using 5 Stereo, or there may be some other issue going on. Stereo and Upsample modes with a standard CD would only be two-channel, no surrounds engaged.

First, I'd bump the crossover up to 60Hz, but that's just fine-tuning. Also check to make sure the fronts are small, as it should not be possible to select "LFE Only" for the sub if the fronts are small.

I'd have to get the manual for the player to answer that, especially since I've not used any Samsung players. Which Samsung do you have?
Sounds like a ground loop or similar interference. I'd start by checking to see how the analog cables are being routed - if they are parallel to a power cord, they are likely picking up some 60Hz noise from the power line.

OK - I've been doing a bit more searching and found a few interesting tidbits on setting up the BE player with analog outputs.

I see that if I set the speaker size to small, the LFE signal is dropped by 5db, this in addition to an already low (-10db) recording for LFE. I think that the 990 has a setup option that is something like 'analog offset for subwoofer'. I suppose that here I would dial up the subwoofer input for when I am listening to analog inputs? Perhaps I'll play with large/small setting on the BD player for my 7.1 input.

Also, I see that I have to move away from PCM to bitstream/encoded.

Hmmm... I can see I have another afternoon of re-connecting wires and playing around with things.

With the 990's 7.1 analog input, you will want to set the player up with the speakers all "Large" (or off, in the case of the center) and the sub "On" - it's not the typical advise, but the 990 provides digital bass management of this input.
Not necessarily. You want the player to decode internally because you can't deliver a raw bitstream of TrueHD or DTS-HD to the 990. The coaxial/optical output need to be set to bitstream for the same of standard DVD's, but for Blu-ray you need that internal decoding.

Wow - thanks so much for your time and your patience. I'm sure I will work my way through this, mostly because of your help. I just want to clarify a couple things:

Are you saying that I should tell the BD player that my speakers are 'large', sub 'on', center and surround rears 'off'. But I tell my 990 that my speakers are small, with sub 'on'? BTW - I have attempted the auto setup a number of times, but usually it ends with the 990 telling me that my fronts are set to small, but rears to large so it can't do it's thing (they are not set this way, of course). But generally while the setup is in progress I make note of the calibration parameters it wants to use for distance and db offset and apply them manually. For HDTV movies, I think I have things dialed in pretty well. Very happy with the sound. Better than I thought it would be.

I've tried all sorts of options for the setup. Seems that speakers set to 'large' sound the best. My latest experiment was to set the fronts to small with the 40hz xover, thinking this would get the most sound out of the LSi's and still route the low frequencies to the sub. I do know that with fronts set to 'large' and sub set to L/R + subwoofer, there is waaaaay more bass going on than I would ever want or need.

So, I played with the optical digital cable from the BD player yesterday. Maybe today I will remove it and go with just the analog interconnects. BTW - any reason not to use the analog setup for listening to CD music? Or do I need to use a digital source for that?

I did have the interconnect harness running close to the power cord for the 990. I'll try to get some separation between these and see if I can get rid of the hum.

Thanks again for all the help....

-c

Exactly. The 990 will provide bass management for all inputs, including the 7.1 Direct input, so you don't want the player doing bass management in series with the 990.
If you don't have an SPL meter handy, try bumping your front crossover up to 80Hz and re-run the auto setup. You can always adjust it later without any ill effect.
That scenario is creating an "intentional" double bass condition (perhaps not your intention, but the intention of the processor when configured that way).
The 990's analog section is going to be better than the Samsung's. As a result, you are probably better off using optical for all sources that allow it (DVD and CD), and only use the multichannel analog for Blu-ray.

Thanks again, gonk - I think all of this info is slowly starting to sink in. In fact, some of it's even making sense. That's scary.

Regarding the auto-setup, I've done it many times with different configurations. I've set all speakers to small, fronts to large and back to small, crossovers at 80hz and above. I either get a message saying I have the fronts set to small and rears to large, please reconfigure.... or I get a message saying I have no front speakers installed, please reconfigure..... NOTE - this occurs when I have the mic at ear height on my couch. I have set it on a box, on a pillow, and held it in my hand. Now, if I simply lay the mic on the couch, the setup works just fine. Don't understand it. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the overall balance I've been able to get from the system by applying the distances and gains that the autosetup is displaying while in progress, dialing in a few things by hand after the fact.

One strange thing - I've heard others mention this, too. My remote will absolutely NOT turn on the 990. I've pressed the 'tnr' button. Just won't respond to the remote. It will turn off fine. All other functions seem to work.

Tonight I have the house to myself so I get to play with all the connections and experiment with the sound (read: crank the system and scare the neighbors!). Can't wait. I'm thinking since I understand how everything connects together now, I'm gonna take it all apart and put it back together nice and neat, tie up loose cables, etc. Wish me luck!

The POWER button is a discrete OFF command. The input commands (DVD, Video1, Video2, CD, Aux, Tape, 7.1D, etc...) are also discrete ON commands. This lets you create macros on a universal remote that automate things nicely. Just pick whatever input you want to start using and the 990 will turn on.

Seriously? That's pretty cool!

Oh, yeah. It's one of those things that's been very handy in programming my universal remotes (especially in efforts to make a very complex system easy for the family to use).