For multichannel SACD is probably a better example. With DVD-A as a fallback you usually have a DD or DTS 5.1 soundtrack (in addition to the multichannel DVD-A soundtrack). This preserves all the capability of your amplifier.
If you play SACD (or DVD-A in DVD-A mode) without a sub, the bass goes wherever the player is configured. IOW the player itself is like a little amp -- the newer ones have bass management, speaker distence, speaker size, etc. You redundantly set all those in the player as well as the amp. You redundantly calibrate, level set, etc the player in addition to the amp. Unfortunately those features are usually not implemented as well as the amp -- sort of like an pure analog amp 10 yrs ago.
So in this case you'd go into the player's menus and tell it you have a 5.0 config, set your speakers to large, etc. The problem is it's rudimentally implemented in players I've seen -- no variable crossover but fixed at absurdly high frequencies, no speaker distence adjustment (aka time arrival).
Re your RV-1105, if it does bass management for 2-ch analog inputs, it's probably not doing it digitally. So maybe it would work for the 6-ch SACD/DVD-A analog in. OTOH, most current players have *some* kind of bass management, just not what we're used to.
Multichannel SACD sounds very good on my system. But the complexity and the inability to use my amp's features is frustrating.
