Getting 5.1 from a pro logic amp (1 Viewer)

[Dave>h]

HI,

A friend has an old Pro logic amp - Yamaha RX-V690. It has an "external decoder in" feature. Can this be used with his DVD player to somehow get 5.1 sound, assuming the decoding for 5.1 is done by the DVD player.

If so, has anyone done it and how does he go about doing it?

Thanks very much for any help

Dave

 

[FeisalK]

you'd need a DVD player with onboard DD/DTS decoders and a 5.1ch analog output. then 3 pairs of interconnects to connect the respective channels to the 5.1ch external decoder input

 

[Michael Reuben]

That could mean several different things. You'll have to describe exactly what's involved -- specifically, what inputs are available for the "external decoder".

M.

 

[FeisalK]

Yamaha RX-V496 has "6-Channel External Decoder Input" according to the web page

 

[Wes]

It would be cheeper just to go buy a new 5.1 receiver.

To make his work you will need a DVD player that has a onboard DD/dts decoder with 6 RCA connectors out (L,C,R,SR,SL) to plug into the Yamahas 5.1 multichannel input, or find an old 5.1 decoder that will take in a digital source and put out 6 RCA's for all the 5.1 channels. He will have better results going with a new 5.1 or 7.1 receiver because lack of bass management in outboard systems.

Wes

 

[Philip Hamm]

I disagree with Wes. A DVD player with 5.1 channel analog out should be easy to find for cheap in this day and age. Look for DVD-Audio and SACD compatible players. Maybe he already has one? Would you mind used on ebay? If the receiver has a 5.1 channel input it will work great, no need to replace it with anything else.

 

[John S]

I agree Philip, I have salvaged quite a few DPL AVR's using the multi-channel inputs. Some of those higher end DPL Pioneers were really impressive and you would have to buy a seriously priced modern AVR to get what you get on the older higher end DPL using the multi-channel inputs.

Lots of DVD players offered on board decoders and 5.1 analog output. Even if it only had DD 5.1 your golden on this one.

 

[Wes]

Ya you are right you possibly could do it cheeper although I have seen DD 5.1 receivers used for $50.-$100. But what happens when he wants to take advantage of HD 5.1 or Sat/cable 5.1. The DVD player with a decoder he went out and spent money on is now no help where as a used or cheep 5.1 receiver has at least two digital inputs.

The Prologic receiver can be used to create DDEX and dtsES used along with a 5.1 receiver so buying a cheep 5.1 receiver along with the old DPL you can bring him pretty much up to date technology wise. Or there are a couple DDEX/dtsES receivers out right now in the $150 range that would do the trick.

 

[FeisalK]

Dave>h

I would agree with purchasing a newer receiver if your friend was inclined towards it. if not, then the 496 can accommodate an external player with 5.1 outs.

of course the upside to buying a new receiver as wes says is you can take advantage of better surround processing, digital inputs (no need 3 pairs of analogs)

 

[LanceJ]

Best Buy used to sell these:

Technics SH-AC500D Dolby/DTS standalone decoder

And AFAIK, all dvd-audio players, sacd/dvd and universal players include Dolby/DTS decoders....but they don't always include speaker parameter systems like distance compensation (my Pioneer DV-656A is one of these) or level adjustment (I've read a couple times here that a Samsung universal is one of these, but maybe that just applies to the hi-res signals?).

And there are definitely lots of awesome receivers out there that can be revived with one of these methods. The last receiver I worked with as part of our demo system before leaving my HT sales job was the Pioneer VSX-D2S*. Back then we sold this huge & very stylish receiver for $1,400 though I don't know why it wasn't sold as an Elite. Anyway, luckily it had bridged(?)5.1 preouts/inputs so other gear could be added to it. That's why it's good that the Technics decoder above includes its own 5.1 input: it can be added to a receiver like this but if desired it can be bypassed so the receiver's own functions won't be sacrificed.

* no one knew why we were selling it in the first place, but we weren't complaining! 120watts/channel RMS stereo power; 90x3/50x2 RMS for surround modes; the best DSP modes I've ever heard (all modeled on real venues & used stereo rear signals; a separate booklet w/wave diagrams was even included); and still has the most elaborate multipage onscreen menu system-with animation-I've seen. It always blew people away when we activated it & it "slid" down the TV screen. We sold this model in 1994.

 

[ebosell]

Saw your old posting about how to get 5.1 through the Pioneer VSX-D2S -- can you explain how to do it? The manual doesn’t speak to this issue that I can tell, though it does talk a lot about various surround modes the receiver offers. Perhaps the surround feature here is only “faked” surround, which works by processing the source stereo signal, adding delays, etc.? Thanks for your help! Eric