Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions STERO sacd question

I bought several new sacds not noticing that some are only stereo and not multi channel. When I play the stereo sacds in the player, in 6 channel they play without the sub. I can understand this "kinda", but I would like to hear them with my sub and its coresponding crossover setting. How can I make this happen?
I've tried playing them through the digital output, (rather than the 6 channel output) but I get no sound at all. I can play regular cds through the digital output with sub and coresponding crossover setting but not the sacds. Why? Am I missing something in the player setup menu?
BTW, the player is a Phillips 795sa.

Bray,

Some SACD's are two channels only. The type varies from multi channel to two channels. Check the SACD's to find out if the are two channel only, if not go into the menu on your Philips player to make sure that 5.1 is turned on multi channel or analog.

To fix your subwoofer issue, I would play around with the bass management settings in your DVD play. If that doesn't pan out, check out Outlaws ICBM. The Outlaw ICBM is a very flexible piece of gear. www.outlawaudio.com

Tom

Yea, I realized that these sacds were only two channel, and I can play them through the 6 channel source in stereo mode on the player and they play and dont sound bad (thanks to the m60s bass) but I would like to hear them with my sub. I thought if I switched to the digital out (which I play dvds through on the same player) and turned off any suround I could hear the 2 channel sacds in stereo with my sub. This works with a regular cd but not the 2channel sacds. I think its probably a setting on the player that I'm missing.
OK now I'm just confusing myself.

I ‘d never own a subWofer so I may not be the best person to answer your question...
You probably need to send the analog signal of the 2 front channels to your sub amp. I believe most subs have extra inputs for 2 channels setups.
Dont send the digital signal to your receiver 'cus it'll not be true SACD or dvd-a audio it'll be either pcm ,dd51 or dts.

Jaime

I had the same problem. My stereo only SACD's would only go to my mains. I fixed this by getting an ICBM, which redirects the low frequencies (user adjustable) to the sub.
The problem with SACD's and the players are that if it's a two channel only SACD none of the lower frequency will go out the subwoofer output.

I hope this make sense.

What's your experience with the ICBM? Pretty positive? I keep saying one of these days I'm going to shell out for one, but I never get around to it. I'm curious to hear what an owner thinks.

Ok, I'm going to try this again .
1.) SACD's use the analog interconnects only. The DA converter will send signal to the appropriate outputs on your SACD player. This depends on what type of SACD that it is. The music industry wanted to make sure that pirating would be more difficult if the audio was converted to analog before it leaves the player.

2.) All analog that leaves the player will come out the appropriate out put. Stereo SACD will only leave the front left and right outputs only (not the subwoofer). This is why you are not getting any low frequency signal to the subwoofer.

tleigh
Thanks. Yea it makes sense, and pisses me off at the same time.
I really like bass for some music. The m60s have good bass, but not the extra low thud I like on some of my cds.
I looked at the ICBM....... seems interesting.
Wanna come down to TX. and help me set it up.
I'm getting tired of upgrading.
I cant believe I just said that.
Let me rephrase. I'm getting tired of moving my stereo cabinet off the wall and plugging in wires.
That sounds better doesnt it.?

It's the best $250 I've spent on audio equipment. The ICBM is very flexible. The build quality is top notch.
Most important, it does what it's supposed to do. I'm very happy with it.

I grabbed an ICBM off Audiogon when I was putting my system together. After looking at all the receivers out there, I knew that if I got an ICBM, I would have more bass management than many receivers have (except for HK and Rotel). I placed my ICBM between the preamp and amplifier sections of my receiver so it became a more universal solution to bass management. I got mine for $150 (including 10 quality RCA interconnects). So be sure to check audiogon for deals.

I cant believe I spelled STEREO wrong.

I know most modern receivers have preouts, but do many have amp-ins? I don't think my 525 does (unless I'm missing something) so how would one hook up an ICBM? Or any post processing equipment for that matter?

there, I fixed Stereo. I can't believe I didn't notice it until just before I posted (hadn't seen your post yet, Bray)

Not sure if I understand the question, Ken. And I'm not familiar with your H/K, but if the H/K has 6 pre-ins, the ICBM just goes in the signal chain from your SACD/DVD-A player to the ICBM to the receiver. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, or thwack me if I'm answering the wrong question.

Thanks Ken.

I hate moving my cabinet and equipment too. I think you would be very happy with the ICBM. I love mine.
What part of TX?

Between the SACD player and the receiver.

Thanks to both of you, you answered the right question. But what about equalizers? Surely you'd want to do that after processing...

Dallas area. Rowlett to be exact.

To be less vague . The ICBM can also go in between a receiver and amplifier. The receiver's bass management has to be disabled or setting all channels to large and the crossover to the lowest setting.
This is how I'm configured. It works well for me.

I have family out there.

Next time your in town, PLEASE PLEASE come by and help me tweak my system and drink some beer.

You got it .

Hey Ken, I'll do my best to explain this. I have an NAD T762 which has 7.1 pre-out and 7.1 main-in. They use jumpers to bridge to the channels together. I'm not too sure why they used this design (maybe for those that just want to use the amp section), but it's perfect for the ICBM. It's more like using the ICBM with seperates and it allows you to use the ICBM with all different sources. In my case that's my cd player (NAD C541), universal (Denon 2200), PC, TV, and, iPod.

Right, I have (had?) a Toshiba reciever (ancient) that had a setup like that. I ust figured that my h/k didn't have that, but perhaps someone figured out how to work miracles or something.

In reply to:

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But what about equalizers? Surely you'd want to do that after processing...

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Hmmm...the way my Marantz receiver works is that it only recognizes the pre-ins in what it calls "direct mode", i.e. I don't have the option of applying any processing at all. What I hear is whatever the Pioneer sends it. But at the risk of sounding like an officious snob, I'm not sure I'd want to apply any ambient presets, anyway. If, however, by "equalization" you mean compensating for things like distance, the Pioneer universal player handles that. Mark (mhorgel) explained the setup pretty well to me in this thread. Maybe that will help.

Oh I agree with you. I'm just academically curious.

Brady,

If you're really interested in the ICBM, and can't find one at audiogon, you can get a B stock ICBM from Outlaw for $199, plus shipping. They are out of stock at the moment, but check back now and then.

bray, there's a much easier way to fix this (assuming your SACD player has separate stereo outs.

I connected my SACD player to my receiver twice. I plugged the 6 cables (for 5.1) from the SACD player into my receiver's multi-channel input. I also plugged the SACD player's stereo-outputs into my receiver's AUX-in.

Now when I want to listen to a stereo SACD, I choose the AUX input. This carries the whole signal and my receiver does the bass management on it. When I want to listen to surround, I select the multi-channel input.

Brady, as was said, there's no digital output available of SACD material, in order to prevent the making of perfect digital copies(which terrifies the industry). So, no, you haven't missed any setting so far as trying to get a digital output.

As far as bass management of two-channel SACD material, the manual for your player appears not to be available online but it may have the answer buried somewhere within it. If the player doesn't have a provision for sending the bass from the two-channel SACD tracks to the sub(some do),then Peter's suggestion may work. If your player has a stereo output(other than the six analog outputs for SACD)which also outputs the front two channels from the SACD then you can connect that to the regular CD inputs or other unused inputs of the receiver. Study the manual somemore and if it makes no sense just try the separate connection to see if it works.

Thanks for those suggestions, they reflect what I came up with before I went to bed. The player dose have seperate stereo outs (2 channel).
My only concern is that it will be hoooked to my H/K 3 different ways
( 6 channel for sacds, digital coax in DVD "mode", stereo out for 2 channel sacds). The player has worked fine with the 2 different connections, but will it be ok with 3 ???

In reply to:

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The player has worked fine with the 2 different connections, but will it be ok with 3 ???

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One way to find out - first it can't overdrive the signal circuits (just in case someone DID try it) or else they'd have to put in something like Toshiba's been doing with their low end DVD players - the video amp isn't strong enough to power the S-vid, composite and component outs, so there's a $0.04 toy surplus switch on the back that switches the signal. Bad Toshiba! *hit on the end of the nose with a rolled-up newspaper*

Plug them all in (the SPDIF won't make a difference, that's different circuitry) and try, for instance, the 5.1 output, listen to it, and pull the stereo connects, see if there's a boost in voltage when you do.

Bren R.