Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions DVD-Audio connections

One of the interesting things in that Sensible Sound article was that Howard had to take the DD subwoofer level down 10dB to get the same bass levels as DVD-A. That means DVD-A must not have the artificial 10dB boost that Dolby Digital has... (explained in the following article) :

>>For consumers, we want things to be simple. Up until recently, only serious enthusiasts would use an SPL meter to set the levels of their home theater equipment, let alone ask everyone to remember to set the LFE channel differently. For this reason, home Dolby Digital equipment is pre-set to play LFE data 10 dB higher than a main channel (or 10dB higher than the bass from a main channel). It is only necessary to set the subwoofer relative to a main channel and the LFE level will be correct. Very few processors allow direct manipulation of the LFE level. That is why the menus on most receivers say "Subwoofer Level" rather than "LFE Level".

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_2/feature-article-misunderstood-lfe-channel-april-2000.html

Anyways, I found it interesting. That's what happens when you stay up until 4AM moving your HT system around to the other end of the basement so that more than one person can listen to it...

Hi AudioBob

If your DVD Audio player has multichannel analog outputs for each channel (Front L/R, Surround L/R, Center and Subwoofer) you have to connect these cables to either your receiver, your processor or your ICBM Bass Management Module. You should also connect the toslink or coax to the receiver/processor for your non-direct formats. If you only connected a coax/toslink and select "direct" that means the pure, unprocessed analog signal, you won't get any output. You have to coordinate your receiver/processor with your DVD Audio player - direct mode on each, then you will get your DVD Audio output.

What kind of DVD Audio player are you using? I use a Toshiba SD9200, blows me away.

There's apparently a lack of standardization problem with bass management for SACD material, and maybe DVD-A (less sure about that one).

It's a very serious problem and I can't believe there's been so little discussion of it.

For DD 5.1 material, everything works great. The bass channel is recorded -10db and at playback time Dolby specifies the playback chain boost it +10db. The player and receiver mfgs implemented the standard, and everything works fine.

For SACD, I typically see subwoofer level at least 10db too low. IOW you calibrate subwoofer levels based on pink tones from either receiver OR SACD player with the RS meter. Then when you play the real SACD material, bass is weak. It looks like they recorded bass -10db like Dolby, but didn't coordinate with the playback chain to boost +10db.

You can't turn up the subwoofer knob, because the sub will then be too loud for CD, DVDs, DD 5.1 TV, etc.

The only solution is manually turn up the sub volume at least +10db on the player itself - if a discrete sub adjustment for SACD is available. Some players have the adjustment, and some receivers have separate level controls for each input (CD, DVD, multichannel analog). Those so fortunate can jerry-rig their systems to work, although it usually maxes out the bass adjustment. You shouldn't have to do that.

Regular DD 5.1 calibration is hard enough for average users. The SACD lack of bass standardization between mastering and playback is a total disaster. I'll bet less than 5% of users have their system adjusted properly. I just can't believe there's such little discussion of it.