Originally posted by bossobass:
DB: glad to hear about the 2900. some thoughts:
is your avia disc a dvd-a or dvd test disc? if it's dvd, you may have to be in a digital mode in the 950 to hear the sweep. also, i don't think any player has BM for sacd (i could be wrong).
Thanks Bosso. The 2900 has BM and time alignment for DVD-A. The time alignment is great. The BM also works for the SACD but no time TA. The Avia is in Dolby digital which is decoded by the 2900 internally and fed through the analog outputs. I really think it should have worked. The really strange thing is that it didn't work on the 950 either when I sent the signal digitally to the 950 and set the 950 mains to large and sub to no. I emailed Outlaw about it.
if your set-up disc has phase tests, see if your phase is doing a 180 degree shift when in 6 channel bypass mode.
I haven't had a chance to compare yet but, due to placement, my sub is out of phase with the right main and left surround when using the 6 channel direct. I'll get back to you.
calibrate your sub's level to EXACTLY the level of the other speakers...don't run the sub 'hot'.
I have done this. There's something funky with the test tones in the 2900. After calibrating, I have to turn the sub down. Weird.
i know that you know the following, but as dvd-a/sacd 'places' insruments in any particular point in the 'circle', sometimes for the entire cut, placement, angle, phase and levels are more critical than for movie sound.
tweak your speaker placement with a tape measure to place them as close to equal distance from the listening position as possible and apart (FL-to-C the same as FR-C, etc.).
tweak the angle of toe-in of the satellites to be the same in each surround and the same in each front main (i've found that moving one surround to toe-in an inch more brought the rear sound to perfect, for an example).
I totally agree and have as good a balance from placement as I'm going to get. The TA for DVD-A is a great tool.
if your sub is in phase with your satellites, your placement is as correct as possible, your levels are calibrated and there are no cascading filters between your 2900 and the 950...it will sound very, very good.
when you get your 2nd sub, let me know. it's relatively simple to have perfect BM in dvd-a/sacd with 2 subs (you'll noticeably hear the difference and that 'bloat' will be gone)
I'm pretty happy right now and I'm not going to fret over the subwoofer channel because the whole thing will be changing in a couple of weeks. M&K should be shipping in two weeks. At a minimum, I'll be able to solve the phase issue described above. I'll let you know.
your set-up sounds great...i'm jealous. tell me more about the 2900 when you have the bugs worked out.
more must-have sacd multi-channel:
1. james taylor 'hourglass'
2. spyro gyra 'in modern times' (this is the best mixed multi-channel disc i've heard yet, by a studio called Heads Up.)
3. diana krall 'when i look in your eyes' (Will turned me on to her, though he mentioned the cd version. get the hybrid multi-channel sacd, it has both versions encoded (2-ch cd and multi-channel sacd).
also, thanks for the update.
I will and thanks for the suggestions. If a universal player is in your future, hold off on this one until its interaction with the 950 is a little more understood. It shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks.
BTW, get "Standing in the Shadows of Motown". In your case, get the new DVD and the book that came out several years ago. The book has many of Jamerson's lines transcribed. IMHO, it's required material for us bottom dwellers.
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