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 -