SACD/DVD AUDIO connexions

[martin day]

Hi Philly. Was interested in your comment re playing SACD via Digital connexion and that there is not much difference to using 5.1 analogue connexions. I have pioneer 656 and Pioneer Amp and connected them up with 5.1 leads . I bought a hybrid SACD disk from Play.com that was produced with all sorts of music on as a tester. However when I play it I am only getting sound thru front speakers? I have set DVD menu to 5.1 and on amp I have changed signal to 7.1 channel but still only get sound from front two. Spoke to Pioneer help line but they were useless. Even if I do get the sound from all 5 speakers it looks like I have to change DVD player each time because if I leave it in 5.1 then when I put a film on it knocks out the sound?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Martin.

[PaulBoy]

Martin - You say you have connected your amp to your 565 using 6x phono leads? - when you play a SACD or DVD-A are you selecting the right option on your amp? My Denon calls this EXT IN (ie using an External Signal In)
Sorry if this makes no sense or insults your intelligence but you don't mention it in your post ... Paul
BTW - You can't get SACD or DVD-A through Digital connection only through Analog (6x phonos) Using Digital will give you access to a DD5.1 or DTS track which is on all DVD-A discs but on SACD all you will get will be a 2 channel signal like listening to a CD - HTH

[martin day]

Thx Paul, Yes according to my AMPS manual I have to select the signal '7.1chl' even though I have only 5.1 connected. And on the DVD player (which is a 656) I have to select 5.1 there as well. If this worked it would be great but it is annoying as I have to change these back again afterwards to 2 channel or I seem to lose the sound?

With regards to your other point are you saying that if I buy DVD A discs rather than SACD then I can play them through the digital connexion?

Thanks
Martin.

[PaulBoy]

Martin - No I am not saying that exactly - DVD-A discs always (?) have a DD5.1 and/or DTS track AS WELL as the DVD-A track(s) which can be accessed on a digital link but the real DVD-A track(s) can only be accessed via analogue (6x phono leads)
From your reply I still think the issue may be setting your amp to receive a signal from the DVD player - as you describe it from the manual "7.1" does not make sense to me (maybe I'm being a bit thick!)
My only other thought for your SACD problem is what SACD is it? Does it have a Multi-Channel mix on it as not all SACD discs do ... Paul

[martin day]

According to the CD most tracks are either 4.0,5.0 or 5.1 none are stated as 2.0 but still they only come out of front two channels?

[deckard]

Martin, on my 757Ai there is a menu to tell it what to to play when an SACD is loaded; the multichannel SACD mix, the stereo SACD mix or the CD mix.

Look in your 656's menus to see if you've selected multichannel SACD, I suspect this is where things are going wrong.

[martin day]

Deckard, I am at work at the mo but I have just been onto Pioneer and downloaded the instructions for your 757 and I think you are right when you say I have the same menu. However its a bit misleading because it says if you have a hybrid SACD you should choose CD area but then goes on to say SACD must be set to multi-channel. The 'test' CD I bought states that it is a hybrid which is why I set it to CD area.

I will try and set it to multi channel but does this mean that if I then want to listen to a normal CD that I then have to reset the settings back to 2 channel again?

Thx Martin

[martin day]

Deckard, On page 67 of your DVD instructions this is the other area where it says you need to change to 5.1 (in CD playback settings)



But do you have to change back to 2 channel when listening to an ordinary CD or does it just override it?

[mjn]

sounds as if you're listening to the normal stereo CD track , and not the SACD layer. Can you select the player to give a higher priority to SACD to CD?

[deckard]

Originally Posted by martin day

I will try and set it to multi channel but does this mean that if I then want to listen to a normal CD that I then have to reset the settings back to 2 channel again?

Thx Martin

Hi Martin, apologies for not getting back to you before.

No, if you load a normal CD you don't have to do anything, the settings are only relevant for any form of SACD, not regular CD.

[alfablue]

Hi Martin

I have the 656 - this is what to do:

For SACD's you need to click Setup,

then
* Initial Settings,
* Options (not digital audio out!),
* SACD Playback,
and select
* Multi-ch Area (rather than 2ch - unless you want that).

You must use the 6 analogue outputs from the player because you are using the decoder in the player to get 5.1 from SACD's.

There is no need to change any settings when you swap from SACD / DVD-A to DVD, just make sure your amp / receiver is using the analogue inputs. On mine (a pio 812 receiver) this requires that I press a button on the front panel (under the flap on the 812 - "signal select" till it toggles to analogue) to select the analogue signal source - a slight irritation, but not a big deal.

As far as I understand it (others correct me if I am wrong) if you use the digital out for DVD-A's you wont get the higher DVD Audio quality available, it will be as if you were playing a DVD-A in a regular DVD player. Similarly, with SACD's (IF they are hybrids) you will only be outputting standard CD quality via the digital output, because you will not be using the players decoder - which makes it universal.

It's a shame Pioneer don't understand their own products!

I hope this helps