Model 976 Processor - Brand New Owner Questions

Hi There,

I hooked my Model 5000 amp to my Yamaha receiver a few months ago. I have now received the Model 976 processor, on Friday, and have hooked it up, thereby replacing the Yamaha receiver in the processor role.

I am thrilled with anticipation, but have a few questions....

- When configuring the speakers: Although I have selected None for Surround Back Speakers (I have a 5.1 system), I get an error message stating that I need to connect all of the speakers (it names all 7 speakers) - I triple checked and all speakers are connected. UPDATE: Some hours after this posting, I decided to dust off my old (albeit digital) Radio Shack sound meter, and I configured the speaker levels with it. However, I'd still like to know if the 976 is not capable of AUTO configuring the speaker levels if surround back speakers are not included in a setup.

- My Yamaha receiver had a "Pure Direct" mode which allowed the CD signal to bypass any and all processing (Music II - DTC - whatever. How do I turn off all processing sound fields on the 976?


Really appreciate any and all help.

Tom

If you connect your CD player through the analog inputs the signal is unaffected by the 976 DSP. All the digital inputs are affected by the DSP. Make sure all the various menus for speaker setup EQ and distance are set to ignore the surr back channels.

XenonMan....Thanks for your input! (pun INTENDED!

I believe I did not ask my question about "Pure Direct Mode" and bypassing the DSP on the 976 as well as I could have.
I understand the analog vs digital connection difference.

The following is from my Yamaha HTR-5860 manual. I'm hoping this will shed some light on what I am asking. Please forgive me if I am just being dense about this.

"Listening to high fidelity stereo sound(PURE DIRECT)PURE DIRECT allows you to bypass this unit's decodersand DSP processors, and turn off the video circuitry and front panel display to enjoy pure high fidelity sound from analog and PCM sources.Press PURE DIRECT (or press AMP to select the AMP mode, then press PURE DIRECT on the remote control) to activate pure direct.The indicator around the front panel button lights up"

Thx,

Tom

TomCO I understood what you were asking and I looked in the manual for something similar to what your other processor has. I have that capability with my Onkyo 886 procesor. There are a lot of devices out there with this capability but I could not find anything in the manual which would allow you to turn on something like a "Pure Direct" Mode. As far as the manual goes, it does say that all digital inputs go through the DSP, so the only unadulterated signal is analog. I think Outlaw wanted to allow the Equalizer to be allowed to affect all of the digital signals and the cost to incorporate a bypass may have been a challenge.

All inputs, including the 4 RCA stereo analog in are digitized, save for the aformentioned 7.1 input wich is true bypass. If you have the system set for stereo + sub, it will do the crossover function in DSP but will apply no other processing (the Dolby and DTS stuff are off).

So if you want the cleanest signal path, your best bet is to use Coaxial or Optical between your player and the 976 and run in Direct mode.

Coax and Optical pass through the internal DAC. They have to, these are digital signals. The only pure analog path through the 976 is with a connection to the 7.1 analog inputs.

So, Deromax, when you say,

"So if you want the cleanest signal path, your best bet is to use Coaxial or Optical between your player and the 976 and run in Direct mode."

By "Direct", do you mean select "Direct" as one of the surround modes?

Thanks & thanks to ALL for their help!

Tom

Correct. You can also use the Stereo button on the remote.

OK - Cool....got it! thx again!

Another question, please, also regarding the 976 Pricessor....As you know, I have the Model 976 processor. My Sony SACD always played fine thru my Yamaha receiver (Multi-channel). In fact, it played properly just the night before I swapped out the Yamaha for the 976.
I connected the SACD player to the 976 the same way I had it connected to the Yamaha: LF-C-RF-LB-RB-SUB....a 5.1 analog connection to the 976's 7.1 analog input jacks. However, it will only play in Stereo.
Outlaw Audio does not know why it won't play in full 5.1 SACD sound. I've selected 7.1 within the Inputs menu. Any thoughts? Can you tell me what parameters you believe I should choose in the Inputs configuration? Thank You!

What does the front panel display say as far as channels the 976 is seeing? What is the listening mode set to for analog output in the SACD player. Make sure the player is not just outputting stereo.

Sorry about the delay! TomCo, I don't use SACD so can't really be sure about the reasons why they play in stereo instead of multichannel on the 976, apart from saying to check the settings in the player itself to see if some downconversion may be happening. Also, if you are using the same player to play other content (like movies in DD or DTS) and you also have an HDMI connection, ensure that the 976 is set to use the 7.1 inputs for SACD content and that no post-processing is engaged.