Please excuse my ignorance. All I know is I like great sound. I am not happy with my SACD play. I have a pretty good ear but I don't think I am getting 5.1.
AVR is Denon3806. DVD is Denon1920. For 5.1 I have it hooked component with all the seperate cables. The AVR is in Ext in mode. The DVD reads multichannel. I am pretty sure the AVR has been programmed correctly. I have 8 B&W speakers. Is the 5.1 coming out the bass, two fronts and the two side surrounds or the two rears?

The same player into a similar Denon AVR here. I am also connected via 6-ch analog (the only way I think possible to get SACD on our AVR and DVD), and in the EXT IN mode the receiver is just amplifying the channels that the player sends. Make sure yours is set to output 5.1 analog in the setup -
AUDIO MODE: ANALOG
ANALOG AUDIO: MULTI CHANNEL
After this a whole new set of speaker menus become available - much similar to speaker setup on the AVR

If I remember correctly these are NOT default settings.

- Val

Is the 5.1 coming out the bass, two fronts and the two side surrounds or the two rears?

In a 7.1 configuration source signals that are 5.1 should come out the fronts, center, subwoofer and side surrounds - the rear two speakers will be unused.

Thus the inherent incompatibility between music in 5.1 and films in 7.1. Speaker placements need to be different or compromised. IMHO, I should state - some folks may like the "rear" channels of a music 5.1 mix coming from the sides instead...

AFAIK, your AVR might be different for some reason,

shinksma

In a 7.1 configuration source signals that are 5.1 should come out the fronts, center, subwoofer and side surrounds - the rear two speakers will be unused.

Thus the inherent incompatibility between music in 5.1 and films in 7.1. Speaker placements need to be different or compromised. IMHO, I should state - some folks may like the "rear" channels of a music 5.1 mix coming from the sides instead...

Well, most films are 5.1 also! Not incompatible as every audio processor I have heard that can support a 7.1 speaker array has a processing mode to turn 5.1 into 7.1 - it makes no difference whether music or movies.

Thank you for the replies. I am pretty sure my AVR and DVD is programmed correctly in that the AVR reads "EXT-IN multi" and the DVD reads SACD with a M below it. I am getting nothing from the sides or the rears so The component cables must be hooked up incorrectly.

One other suggestion. Many SACDs are only 2 channel, so make sure you are playing one that actually has 5.1 (I have made this mistake more than once).

Do you have the 1920 set to read the multichannel layer instead of the stereo layer?

Do you have the 1920 set to read the multichannel layer instead of the stereo layer?

tHE 1920 READS SACD WITH A M UNDERNEATH SO I ASSUME IT IS BUT I WILL DOUBLE CHECK

Well, most films are 5.1 also! Not incompatible as every audio processor I have heard that can support a 7.1 speaker array has a processing mode to turn 5.1 into 7.1 - it makes no difference whether music or movies.

I agree. But some audio purists would never want those two discrete channels "blended" or matrixed across four speakers. I'm not sure whether I am enough of an audio purist to fall into that camp. and the point is moot with my current configuration as I only have 5.1 speakers due to the WAF.

I need to look into this for my own edification: of the AVRs that convert 5.1 to 7.1, how many do a simple dual-mono on each side: the "rear L" of a 5.1 goes equally to the side and rear left surrounds of a 7.1 speaker system? (With a signal reduction of 3db per ch to allow total apparently volume to remain the same...) How many allow tweaking of the relative proportion? How many actually push some of the L surround over to the right side? (None I hope...!)

shinksma

The other interesting thing is that in most movie theaters there are multiple surround speakers. I looked last time and counted 4 surround speakers on each side wall, from anout the mid point of the room all the way to the back. I cannot image that these speakers aren't all getting the same signal.

Cannot speak for all the AVRs, but in my case the side channels are 'calculated' based on the front channel and rear channel signal.

They ARE all getting the same signal, multiple surrounds are required for both coverage and adequate sound levels.

You are mistaken on the operation of your AVR unless you are using some weird proprietary mode. "Side" surrounds are the primary surround channels for both music and movies. "Rear" surrounds are derived from the side surround channels for 5.1 and 6.1 material (other than the extremely rare DTS ES Discrete track).

You are mistaken on the operation of your AVR unless you are using some weird proprietary mode. "Side" surrounds are the primary surround channels for both music and movies. "Rear" surrounds are derived from the side surround channels for 5.1 and 6.1 material (other than the extremely rare DTS ES Discrete track).

Then we are both 'mistaken' since you have basically restated what I said above.

Although my Meridian processor does not do what you describe - it steers surround to the rear sepakers and then interpolates the sides.

One REALLY important thing to remember with multi-channel music going into the external inputs of your Amp is that for the multi-channel music the speaker distance settings must be done in the disc player.

If the distance settings are not correct then the audio from the rear speakers will arrive at your ears far too soon (if the rear speakers are closer to you than the fronts).

Once the distance settings are correct, the next important thing is to get the volume of the rears correct. Too loud and the rears will dominate too much, too soft and you miss the proper surround effect.

Cheers,
Michael