Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater jumpin' in for the first time

Hello all,

A little background on me and my HT journey since last December when I first stumbled on to projectorcentral trying to figure out what the difference was between HD and ED. At that time I didn't really even know about front projectors, but quickly realized I could spend a lot less on a projector and a screen than on a plasma, get a bigger picture and have some money leftover to go towards a new surround system. Then I discovered Axiom through Audioholics. Well to make a long story short I now own a pair of M60's, a VP150, a pair of QS8s, a Denon 3805, a Denon 5900, a 94" screen...and no projector. But, after hearing my music through the 60's, who has time for movies anyway? I gotta give the old tears in the eyes story about the first time I sat down in front of the 60's and listened to Abbey Road. I've only heard that album/cd a million times, but never like that. And that was before the 3805 and 5900. (hey, I've been hanging around the forum long enough to know that one of you is going to say, "You didn't mention a sub." Well, that's in the not too distant future. Ironically, today I see the new Axiom subs, but I think I'm going with the 20-39PCi, although if I had $1750 I would definitely look into the lying down version of the EP600. It looks cool!!)

So, what's my question? I was reading the discussions on cd players today and was wondering if what I'm doing is common practice or not. The 3805 has a DVD Stereo mode, which is feed through the Denon link from the 5900. I play my cds this way and have compared it to the cd input with decent r/l audio cables and to me the sound is much better through the DVD Stereo mode. Am I missing something that I don't realize I'm missing by doing this?

I know I can talk to Denon or the brick and mortar store I bought the equipment from, but then I wouldn't have an excuse to write my first long winded post.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Hiya Mullhead.

A very nice, entertaining, articulate first post. So I thought I'd reward you by telling you I haven't got the foggiest notion of how to answer you question.

We have a number of Denon owners here, and I'm sure they'll be able to help. Just guessing, I think the signal passed from the 5900 to the 3805 via DenonLink is a pure digital signal. So that means the DACs in the 3805 are converting the digital to analog, rather than the DACs in the 5900. However, I'd be surprised if the DACs in the 3805 were that much better than the DACs in the 5900. So, I've just wasted your time, and mine, and I'll shut up now so someone who knows what they're talking about can chime in.

I'm an idiot, too, but I think Jack is right. Maybe try to A/B the two blindly?

I'm only guessing, but as the 5900 is Denon's flagship player, I'd hope it had better DAC's than their 3805 receiver. That being said, I'd opt to use a good pair of analog interconnects from the 5900 to the 3805, and playback CD's that way, rather than through the digital connection. I'd only use the digital connection for DVD (movie) playback.

And may I add...NICE GEAR!

mullhead,
You can do a pretty simple A/B listening test b/w the analog and digital outputs of the 5900 into the receiver.
Setup both sets of cables and use the cd and dvd selection on the receiver as the switcher with the cd selector set for the analog input from the 5900 and the dvd selector as the digital input from the 5900.
You can play a disc and then switch quite fast b/w cd or dvd input with your remote. This way you can compare the sound as produced from the DAC of the 5900 or from the receiver.
However there is one caveat, volume levels. The units may not have an identical signal to gain level thereby making one unit sound louder than the other. This typically equates to a user preferring the louder component and thus concluding various things like "it has more punch, sounded more clear, more detail...[place adjective here]".
Unfortunately you cannot equalize for SPL in this simple A/B method but in the very least, you can measure it (the SPL of the analog and digital inputs) to see if the volume levels are higher with one connection over the other. If they are not, then a proper blind test can be done between the two components as long as you have a willing assistant.

Hiya Jack,

Thanks for the comments. I'm glad I got a few of you scratching your heads with my first question. I guess I've already decided through an A/B test that the DVD Stereo sounds better. I just was curious as to what was the "proper" way to playback cds.

Regards,

Tom (a.k.a. mullhead)

Thanks for the comments. I got really decent deals on the Denon equipment through a friends and family discount. I figure I won't be changing gear for quite a long time. Now I gotta get the sub and projector. The Panasonic PT-EA700U projector coming out in October looks like a winner. The only thing I need now is money!

In reply to:

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I figure I won't be changing gear for quite a long time

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..........and you just keep telling yourself that buddy! Over and over and over again. :-) Once you get into this there is no such thing as hanging on to stuff for a long time!

Thanks for the reply. I like what I hear doing it the way I have it setup now, but I need to study the manuals (lol) and experiment. Now that winter is coming I should have some time to get serious about learning how to work the gear. It is definitely not like the stereo system I bought 28 years ago.

maybe i should just go back to heroin