Digital cable box connection problem (1 Viewer)

[Bob-Smith]

I have a Denon 1802 amp and a Hitachi 53" TV. I ran RCA cables from the TV to the amp so I could control amp volume with TV volume via the TV remote. Yesterday I had digital cable installed in my house, and the new cable box had RCA outs on the box that were intended to connect to the amp. So, I disconnected the cables from TV to amp, and installed a pair of cables from the box to the amp. When I did that I lost the ability to control amp volume and TV volume simultaneously with the cable remote. I could hit the "audio" button the the remote to control the amp, but I really don't want to do that. My question: am I losing sound quality taking the audio signal from the TV? Would I experience better sound feeding the audio signal directly from the cable box to the amp?

 

[Michael Reuben]

Would I experience better sound feeding the audio signal directly from the cable box to the amp?

A lot depends on your particular make of cable box and, more importantly, the nature of your overall setup. But generally I'd say that the sound will probably be better with a direct feed from the box to the "amp" (not sure whether you're connecting to an amplifier or a receiver). The speakers in most TVs aren't nearly as good as most of the speakers used in HT setups.

M.

 

[Mike Matheson]

Bob,

Do you mean Denon 1802 receiver? (amp to us generally means a pure amp, no preamp/processor/DtoA capabilities)

If so, does your digital cable box offer an audio digital output you could run straight to your Denon? If so, this might not get you around the remote challenge you're facing (which can be solved, if by nothing else, by purchasing an aftermarket remote for $50 or less), but the digital output to your receiver would probably give you the best sound quality.

As Michael indicated though, we're sort of shooting in the dark here with additional info regarding your setup and exactly what you'd like to do.

 

[Andrew Pierce]

If your TV has a variable volume out, you can run the RCAs from the cable box to an input on the TV, and then from the TV variable audio out to the receiver. Turn the TV speaker off, and the TV's volume control now just adjusts the level of the audio feeding into the receiver.

Or, you may be able to set your cable box to control the volume rather than your TV. However, I believe this will only affect the analog output.

Unless you're out of or completely missing digital inputs on your receiver, you're better off connecting the digital out on the cable box to directly to your receiver. That way you'll get dolby digital 5.1 decoding when available, and you'll use the DACs in your receiver, which are almost certainly better than the DACs in your cable box, and you won't be passing around and processing an analog signal.

You may want to do both and have the convenience of using your TV remote volume control (or cable box remote) most of the time and switch over to 5.1 when it is available.

 

[Robert Cranwell]

Bob,to help your situation we need to know what cable box you presently have.

Rob

 

[Bob-Smith]

The cable box is GI - I think it is General Industries, or something like that. My Denon 1802 is an amp/receiver. The digital TV has Right & Left RCA ports that are labeled "Audio out to Hi-Fi". The audio outs from the cable box are also RCA's. There are no other audio outs on the box. I tried both connections - box to receiver, and box to TV, and could not discern any difference in sound quality.