SACD CONNECTION CLARIFICATION

Need some advice or more importantly clarification. Just had my Denon 2900 SACD hooked up to my Anthem AVM 20. To my surprise when I looked at the connection between the two, I saw only a optical cable.

I was always under the impression that SACD was an analog signal and as such needed to be connected to the AVM 20 using RCA cables in a 5.1 format.??

I was told that this optical connection is acceptable, actually preferred, over individual RCA cords to all 5 channels.

this is accurate? true? a preferred method of connection?

any clarification?

thanks!



i ACTUALLY POSTED THIS UNDER A DIFFERENT FORUM...SORRY!

As I understand it, the information from an SACD can be digitally transfered via HCMI for processing ouboard of the player, but not by optical or SPDIF.

(Posted in other thread...)

For DVD, optical or coaxial is preferred over analog output because the AVM20 has much more robust audio processing capabilities than any disc player. To tell someone that optical is acceptable (much less preferred) for SACD and DVD-Audio is undeniably wrong, however, because optical and coax are either restricted or outright disabled when playing those formats. You cannot transmit SACD audio via optical or coaxial digital connections. The format is not analog - it is digital and uses DSD as its data format - but the copy protection imposed by Sony forces use of analog outputs or an approved (secured) digital connection that also has enough bandwidth for multichannel lossless audio, which is limited to FireWire (IEEE-1394), HDMI, and a couple proprietary connections.

I had to search for a while to find a rear panel picture of the DVD-2900, but I did confirm that it has a multichannel analog output. You will need to use that for SACD and DVD-Audio (although DVD-A will provide a downmixed stereo signal via optical and coaxial). For DVD and CD, you're probably best off sticking with that optical or a coaxial digital connection.

thanks gonk! now I have a tough one for ya....

after connecting the Denon 2900 using RCA, we are only getting sound out of; are you ready for this one?? Sound is only coming out of front right speaker and left surround speaker....nothing from left front, center, sub, or right surround...

all RCA connections appear to be connected correctly.....operative word being "appear." ha

I am sure this is a very elementary question / problem for you.......so where did we go wrong in this hook up??

Swap some cables around and see if the sound moves to different speakers. If it does, get some new cables. If it doesn't change check your speaker setup settings in the Denon.

First, try to find a disc with some test tones (the "THX Optimizer" feature on some DVD's should work for this, as should Digital Video Essentials or AVIA) and use those test tones. Next, start swapping cables and making sure all the cables are plugged in correctly. I've had cases where one end or the other was just loose enough on several cables that I had problems like this. As XenonMan suggests, also try using the right front and left surround cables with other channels. The goal is to determine if any cables are bad or if the player's outputs are at fault.

Many Thanks To XenonMan & Gonk!

I will try both and let you know how I make out...

Happy Holidays to Both!

Folks well we figure out that we had a wire mislabled and solved the problem on the rear surround speaker and the front speaker....however, on SACD, I am only getting 2 channel stereo...no sound from center, or two rear speakers.

used a DVD test disc and all speakers including sub are fucntional, so it appears, speakers and cables are working well.

surround sound when DVD is played is working as serveral action packed DVD's were played.

but on SACD, sound only from two front speakers...

any thoughts on what I should be looking at next?

thanks so much in advance!

Some sacd's are stereo only, check to make sure if that is the case, great player btw, havve one myself.

thanks DNicely1....the SACD disc is actually a sampler of SACD music...not sure were we went wrong????

thanks again!

All SACD's are supposed to have a stereo track, but a surround track and a hybrid CD layer are both optional and may not be present on all discs. This is because it was originally a stereo only format, until pressure from DVD-Audio caused them to start offering surround support. In addition to checking whether the SACD has a surround track or not, I'd also check to see if the Denon has a setting for SACD audio priority. I haven't used Denon's players so don't know how they set them up, but OPPO's players have a setting that determines whether the player loads surround SACD, stereo SACD, or hybrid CD on SACD's that offer all of those. If it's set to stereo SACD, it will play that track even if a surround track is included. Setting it to surround SACD instead will cause it to use the surround track when available and stereo only when there's no surround track.

Hi Gonk, thank you for the timely feedback! always appreciated...Well I finally figured it out; perhaps by accident?? Apparently and for whatever reason, the Denon 2900 kept defaulting the Center, Rear, and Sub, to "disabled." I found in the manual for the Denon there is actually a way to "re-set" the Denon to its original factory settings; which I did and it appears problem solved.

I then proceeded to configure the speaker set up with the on screen menu for Denon and to my amazement the SACD worked!!!! Unreal Sound!!!

I bet you guys knew this little trick all along but wanted me to go through the pain of figuring it out...LOL......I guess the old adage "we learn from our mistakes!" Thanks a bunch! Great learning experience....