AVM 20: Bass Mgmt for SACD and DVD-A (1 Viewer)

[Rich X]

I've had an AVM-20 for a couple years now, but just recenlty got a Denon 2900 DVD/SACD/DVD-A player.

I'm wondering how to best set-up this system for playing SACD's and DVD-A discs? The AVM 20 has bass managment and speaker level settings with the Analog-DSP mode on the 6-ch source, but the Denon 2900 also allows individual speaker set up and bass managment for both SACD and DVD-A source material.

Is the best way to do this to set up the Denon level across all 6 channels with no bass management and then rely on the settings in the Anthem?

 

[Brian L]

If the Anthem has proper BM for the 6CH analog ins, you would want to set all speakers to large/sub on in the 2900.

I don't know if the Anthem also does time alginment on the 6CH in, but if so, you would also want to make sure the 2900 has all speakers set to the same distance, or otherwise turn TA off.

BGL

 

[Rich X]

Thanks Brian. As I understand it, with the Analog-DSP input setting on the Anthem you get the same digital signal processing that you would get with a digital feed. Analog-DSP does an A/D conversion, processes the signal digitally and then uses its own DAC to ouput the analog signal. So what you describe should work.

My concern in all of this is which way will I get the best sound quality? The Anthem also has an Analog-Direct mode that bypasses all signal processing. Would it sound better If I set up the Denon to do the processing or the Anthem? Has anyone tried it both ways and compared?

 

[Brian L]

My concern in all of this is which way will I get the best sound quality?

No easy answer for that. If the DACs, BM, and TA are superior in the Anthem, then thats what you want to use.

I don't have either your pre/pro or player, so I can only suggest you try it both ways.

A lot of universal players (I have a Pioneer 45A) have various issues with TA and BM. I actually use an ICBM for BM duties with my player.

Another concern is that to use the DSP in the Anthem neans you have a D/A stage in the player, a A/D stage in the Anthem, then another D/A before the Anthems analog outs. Thats a lot of back and forth. If the TA/BM is done correctly in the 2900, you may well find that using the direct 6CH in mode gives you the best performance.

Hopefully there will be some other owners with your exact gear.

BGL

 

[Lewis Besze]

Rich,
I have the Denon 2900 hooked to the Outlaw 950,which has an anlog BM on the 6ch input.They sound alike regardless where the BM is engaged,however your situation is different as the Anthem will do 2 additional conversions to handle this task.
I'm no purist but this could possible degrade the sound quality in theory.
So you really ought to compare your self and decide what's best for you.

 

[Rich X]

As ususual, it sounds like the best thing will be to try it every which way and listen to what sounds best.

Lewis: From glancing at the manual it looks like you have to set up separte settings for DVD-A and SACD in the Denon?

 

[Chas_T]

Rich,

I've a Sony 555ES connectected to the AVM-20 and did a comparrison of the DACS and use the AVM-20's in the Anlg-DSP mode. That is what works best for my system.

This was discussed in one of the long Anthem threads and the majority of the users AT THAT TIME using the SACD/DVD-A format, gravitated to the AVM-20's DAC's. If I recall, that time period was not in synch with the release date of the 2900, so perhaps the DAC's may sound better in the Denon product.

As the other posters Brian and Lewis suggest, try both and see what fits your personal preferences.

Good Luck,
Charles

 

[Levesque]

I use a Denon DVD-3800 with my Anthem AVM20. I bypass everything in the Denon, and control everything with the Anthem.

So I put the delays in the Denon all at the same value (10 feet, or any value you want to use) and put all the speakers to large, canceling all the BM in the Denon. So the Anthem do all the BM.

Working flawlessly!

 

[Doug_B]

Although I've had the 2900 in my system with my AVM 20 for a few days (I returned the 2900), I never tried the 2900's bass mgmt. I didn't use the AVM 20's either, as I use an ICBM for all my SACD / DVD-A bass mgmt (still have both SACD and DVD-A capability in my system). As such, I keep my AVM 20's multich input set on bypass. However, it is true that all bass mgmt / time alignment / etc capabilities are available to the multich input when that input's mode is set to analog dsp. It's worth a try both ways.

[As an aside, I felt the 2900's DACs are very detailed, but I was not happy with the smoothness of the resulting audio. I suspect that the 2900's analog output stage does not live up to the Burr Brown (I believe) DACs used.]

This was discussed in one of the long Anthem threads and the majority of the users AT THAT TIME using the SACD/DVD-A format, gravitated to the AVM-20's DAC's. If I recall, that time period was not in synch with the release date of the 2900, so perhaps the DAC's may sound better in the Denon product.

Just to make it clear again (and I'm sure you know it, Charles), the choice is just the 2900's DACs (and its analog output stage) versus both the 2900's DACs and the AVM 20's DACs (with an A->D and other "niceties" in between).

Doug

 

[Lewis Besze]

Lewis: From glancing at the manual it looks like you have to set up separte settings for DVD-A and SACD in the Denon?

Not at all,it's a global setting for all formats that the player can play.Set it and forget it.

 

[Brian Fitterman]

I too use the Anlg-DSP mode for the 6 channel in. You get to have all the BM, TA, and EQ settings that way. The little bit you loose in the A->D and then D->A is worth the benefits that you gain from the other processing that becomes available. Even more now with 2.1 and notch filter.

 

[Rich X]

Thanks for all of the great feedback. This is what I have suspected. I think I'm going start with the Analog-DSP mode in the Anthem and set the outputs in the Denon to be flat with no BM.

IMHO the DAC in the Anthem is very good and chances are that even with the extra A/D conversion the TA and BM capabilities of the Anthem are probably better than those of the Denon.

As an aside for 2-ch I have an outbourd DAC that I recently started using so I will only be using the Denon as a transport (for music).

 

[Mark Dubeau]

I have the Pioneer player and the AVM-20. I went into it assuming that Analog-Direct would be the way to go (more pure), but found I actually preferred Analog-DSP (even with the extra conversions). To each his own I guess..

 

[Chas_T]

I went into it assuming that Analog-Direct would be the way to go (more pure), but found I actually preferred Analog-DSP (even with the extra conversions). To each his own I guess..

Mark, I found the same scenario in my case too. Analog-DSP seems to be the choice of most 20 owners with SACD/DVD-A.

 

[Jeff Kleinberg]

I guess , I am going against the grain, but I found the sound is better when using the bass management and time alignment(DVDA only, no sacd TA) in my denon 2900 and not the anthem. To my ears this yields the best sound.

Jeff

 

[Chas_T]

I knew as soon as I wrote that, someone would pop in!!