Help setting up DVD-Audio

[tortfsr24]

Dear Forum:

I finally made the plunge and bought a Denon DVD-1600 dvd player so that I could see what the fuss was about concerning DVD-Audio. It was a tough choice, but I din't want to shell out $1000 for the Pioneer Elite model that plays both DVD-Audio and SACD. I already have a Denon AVR-3802 and have been mighty happy with all of my Denon products.

I believe I have everything hooked up properly but wanted to double check with you guys. I bought Monster cable interconnects and hooked the Front L/R, Center, Sub, Surround R/L on the DVD player to my "Ext. In" inputs on the back of my receiver. When I play a DVD audio disk, I select "dvd" on the reciever and then hit the external input button. This seems to override everything else and nothing appears on the receiver such as "Dolby Digital 6.1" or anything else. I know that dvd-audio operates in the analog realm so that Dolby Digital is not used. As it seems the receiver is not "processing" the channels, I assume that the DVD player is processing the DVD-audio material and the reciever is just amplifying the separate channel signals.

My main question concerns the whole issue of bass management and DVD-audio. I bought the Denon because it has on-board bass management, which made sense to me when I was making the purchase, but not now that I own it and have had time to experiment, I'm confused. When I pulled up the menu on my Denon DVD player, it has a typical speaker adjustment layout (just like that on an AV receiver) where you can set the speaker setting as large or small and increase and decrease the level. However, when running the speaker test phase, it skips over the subwoofer completely. (Remeber, this is on the DVD menu, not the reveiver) Is this right? I read in my receiver's manual that the "ext in" input for the subwoofer is relayed to the subwoofer pre-out. This is where I have my subwoofer hooked up at. If this is the case, why the big deal with bass management, or the lack therof on most dvd players. In my present setup, via my receiver, just as if watching a movie in Dolby Digital, I can increase and decrease all channel levels as well as the subwoofer while listening to DVD-Audio. This being the case, I left the channel levels on the DVD player setup menu flat and do my adjustments via the receiver.

I am impressed with the sound but want to make sure I'm not missing something.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Brent

[mantis]

your doing it right.
the denon does have adjustable level controls for 8 channel in or ext in.Thats how i use mine.I own the Pioneer Elite dv47a.Its a great SACD/DVD AUDIO/DVD PLAYER.Also is Progressive and 14 bit video.
The internal adjustments on the player doen't effect the dvd audio side, just the internal decoder for dd 5.1 and dts 5.1 thats it.
You are correct in using it flat and adjusting the receiver.You have to do it by ear, not the best way, but for now the only way.

I think the new formats are dissapointing, just not enough software.I won like 4 of them or so, and thats it.It sucks.Sound quality is awesome but software support is where I bitch.
I also own the Denon avr3801.Same as your except the 5 watts and Prologic 2.

[jeberhart]

Man, I'm jealous. OK, question: I can't sink a lot of money into DVD-A right now, but is there a player out there for a reasonable price that sounds good?

[mantis]

Man,
let me tell you about DVD audio.Its a cool format, it sounds real good, but guess what????There is a limited amount of software you can buy.-I have owned DVD audio since the first day the Pioneer Elite dv47a hit the market.And I only own a feww disks,that includes SACD.Don't get all juiced over the format,If you need a new DVD player ,then my all means get into one with one or both formats.
Apex makes a cheap dvd audio and sacd player,its not the best but you could get into the formats cheap and see if it's for you, then upgrade to a better player down the road.
Sometimes I wish I didn't upgrade for the formats,It just pisses me off everytime I go look for software,new cd's come out but most not released on dvd audio or sacd.The last sacd i picked up was Train Drops of jupitor and its only single layer.Meaning 2 channel.

[scottvamp]

con--very limited software
pro--most DVDA software on the market is compatable with most current dvd players and if you have a high end player with upgraded "sound" the 5.1 mix of the dvda are IMO pretty close to DVDA. In my experience the diffence to a cd is like night and day. Way way way more clarity. DVDA disc in my home theater are amazing.;)