Aggregating channels in OSX for Denon Multi-In?

Originally Posted by chefklc

On my AVR I just switch to any one of the 5 or 6 modes meant to create that from a stereo source, like Dolby PL II Music or Logic 7. I do not try to apply this before it leaves my Mac. I'm not an expert in this, but what I've thought all along is this: it's either there, inherently, in the audio...waiting to be extracted or extrapolated by an AVR...or it isn't. It's how you have set your AVR up which determines when or if your sub will be active.

(SIMMO) I've tried each of the Dolby modes etc but none of them get the sub going under playing stereo music. When I play a 5.1 audio file, this works fine so I think the AVR isn't taking the source as stereo its still thinking its a multi channel source and ignoring the SW channel.


Simmo, this has been coming up on a lot of threads lately and maybe this is part of your problem? Why are you configuring Lion to "see" the Denon in a certain way? Why not just let your Mac (and its various software players) pass stereo music from iTunes as stereo music, i.e. two channel PCM, 2ch 16 bit in AudioMIDI, and then have your Denon process it the way you want it processed--if you want it to be simulated 5.1 a la Dolby ProLogic II then let your Denon apply that...that way when you want DTS or DD 5.1 from video passed through untouched it will still be passed through because AudioMIDI should automatically switch to "encoded digital out" and pass it to your Denon untouched. Then your Denon lights up as DTS or AC3 instead of "Multi-CH IN." You're only gonna get iTunes music in the front L and front R and not the sub unless you tell your AVR to put it there, too. And that's a setting on the AVR, not a setting in Lion.

Or am I misunderstanding things?

(SIMMO)Ok, gave that a try, set the mac to auto determine the speaker set up and the result was still the same. I even tried forcing the mac to stereo and still the avr said MULTI IN


You can test this, keep MIDI open, when you play iTunes stereo music, what output format is displayed? It'll probably be something like 41 2ch 16bit or 48 2ch 16 bit. Your AVR should see this as 2 ch PCM. What happens to it at that point is up to you and the AVR.

(SIMMO) Yeh I thought it should do that but it still says MULTI IN

Clarify this for me--you do or do not want to hear iTunes music in the L and R? That is stereo mode and that's what Lion is supposed to do with a stereo source. If you want the sub to also be active, that's up to your AVR to "create."

(SIMMO) I do, for some reason the mac isn't switching the HDMI audio signal to 2 channel stereo, its leaving the HDMI mode in surround (multi channel) and outputting the music through FL and FR

What I'd want to confirm is, if I were you, are other Denon owners, who have not made any changes in AudioMIDI and simply connecting to their Denon over optical, hearing the same thing and seeing the same speaker behavior, i.e. FL and FR, when they play iTunes music? What lights up for them...is there a 2 ch PCM "light" or does it also show up Multi-CH IN? You could also test this yourself, try your iTunes over optical, what happens on the Denon side processing-wise?

(SIMMO) Optical would work but unfortunately the mac mini 2011 doesn't have an optical out anymore - only hdmi and display port.

Perhaps un-do those "configure speakers" settings you applied and try iTunes again? Is there a difference? I suspect not, I think stereo, as 2 channel PCM, will be output the same--then it is up to your Denon to create the mix with your sub and route audio where you want to "hear" it.

Now,



what exactly does this mean? What software player are you using and what content are we talking about, something other than iTunes, right?

(SIMMO) So when I play a 5.1 film in Plex, it bitstreams/passes through the Dolby Digital or DTS track straight to the AVR for processing (if there is an audio track in that format) but iTunes sends audio as straight audio signals

You mentioned Apple's "aggregate" device, well, there's also a new option in Lion, creating a Multi-output device within AudioMIDI, you could combine optical and HDMI out, for instance, and they'll both be active simultaneously. Not sure that'll help you but it is an option to experiment with if for some reason you can't get what you want over HDMI alone.

(SIMMO) I did try the multi output device but for some reason I didn't get any audio out of it, and iTunes wouldnt play when it was selected. Very bizarre. But this wasn't with optical (as it doesn't have one) but with a combination of HDMI and Soundflower.

But the first thing I'd try is restoring all AudioMIDI settings like "configure speakers" to default, close iTunes, within AudioMIDI set output format to 41kHz/2ch 16bit, then open iTunes and play some music. Then see what happens on the Denon side.

Originally Posted by BriHiFi

Late to the party. Your AVR has a sub setting option in the setup.
Menu setup-Speaker setup-Subwoofer mode-LFE+Main(solved)
Mac mini HDMI out default Multi ch. In on AVR. 5.1 audio (DD/DTS) tracks flags the AVR and displays accordingly. Stereo show up as Multi In but tracks are in stereo. Hope this helps.