Anybody set up Yamaha Receiver for SACD?

[EdKBecker]

I'm a newbie to SACD/DVD-A and swapped out my first compatible receiver with a new Yamaha RX-V750.

When I play the multi-channel Aerosmith's "Toys in the Attic", there is virtually no bass coming out of the main speakers or the sub (all speakers have music coming through). It played fine on my Pioneer 912 and I have it hooked up (DVD is the Pioneer 963).

Not sure what could be wrong as movies sound okay with all channels functioning as corroborated by the test set up.

Any ideas what might be wrong?

TIA

 

[Chuck Mullen]

What kind of player do you have? It sounds like it could be related to the bass management (or lack thereof) in your dvda/sacd player.

 

[EdKBecker]

It's the Pioneer 963. It does have bass management which I had set up for use with the Pioneer 912 receiver--and it worked just fine.

Basically the settings are large speakers for the front 3, sub woofer, plus small surrounds.

BTW is bass management only for the analog outputs? That is to say is the digital out affected at all?

 

[Steve::Weaver]

The digital output won't be affected by the player's bass management, instead relying on your receiver or pre/pro to do that work.

More importantly, I don't think your player will be able to pass a SACD signal to the receiver for decoding. If you want the "real deal" SACD version of your favorite disc, you should use the player's analog outputs.

 

[EdKBecker]

Let me clarify my question as I've done some more testing over the weekend.

With the DVD bass management set correctly, there is a definite lack of bass on the left, right, and center channels compared to a standard cd. I've manually matched the 6 analog outputs so that's not an issue. It's just that when the subwoofer is turned off, the sound has very little bass on the remaining channels.

I'm wondering now is the SACD mix for the CDs leaving out bass information and routing it to the LFE channel. I can't imagine that the DVD player is the culprit since it decodes regular CDs just fine and there's little difference with or without the sub.

 

[EdKBecker]

Let me clarify my question as I've done some more testing over the weekend.

With the DVD bass management set correctly, there is a definite lack of bass on the left, right, and center channels compared to a standard cd. I've manually matched the 6 analog outputs so that's not an issue. It's just that when the subwoofer is turned off, the sound has very little bass on the remaining channels.

I'm wondering now is the SACD mix for the CDs leaving out bass information and routing it to the LFE channel. I can't imagine that the DVD player is the culprit since it decodes regular CDs just fine and there's little difference with or without the sub.

 

[Mike Likens]

Are you sure the Aerosmith SACD has a .1 channel? Some SACDs do not use the bass channel. If it does not, then the only bass you receive will be in your front three channel since they are set to large. Change all speaker setting to small and see if things improve.

 

[John Garcia]

First question: Do you have SIX analog cables connected from the player to the receiver? (you cannot do hires via digital with these components) If you only have a stereo connection, that is all you will get. If you play a multichannel SACD or DVD-A, and do not select the stereo track with this setup, you will be missing channels, it will not downmix. Check your player's settings to see what it defaults to, as you can select M/C or 2ch as the default with hi-res discs.

Yes, this Aerosmith disc is 5.1 and should work fine. I believe the problem is in the settings on the player, relative to bass management - check it again. Your speakers will lack bass with the speakers set to small, so you may want to try setting the mains to large to see if it helps. Understand also that "large" speakers means they are capable of handling sound into the bottom octave of 20-40Hz.

Calibration settings do not apply to the analog inputs, since these are generally a direct analog path, bypassing tone controls, bass management and speaker level settings.


Huh? If the main speakers are set to large, then bass should not be lacking in them.

 

[Nathan Bjork]

I kind of have the same problem with my DVD/SACD player. I have everything set to small in the player and when I play a normal CD and use the 6 CH DIRECT there is a large loss of bass. I normally have the sub set on -5db (when using optical) but with it using the 6 Analog/Direct... I need the player on +5db and my AVR on +10 to make up for the lack of bass

I have both a 6CH DIRECT and optical connected to my AVR from DVD/SACD, and when I switch from 6CH DIRECT to DVD(optical) the bass is all back.

 

[John Garcia]

There is a +10dB bass (LFE?) offset built into DD/DTS, which is why there is a difference between hi-res and these formats.

Some players, such as the Denon 2200, have a setting to compensate for this. If you can adjust the levels for your m/c inputs (not all receivers can do this), adjust the sub up by the necessary amount and you should be fine (this should not affect your normal speaker settings.