In reply to:
Does a typical DVD Audio player contain all the decoding technology necessary to play a DVD audio disc or does the receiver have to play a special role beyond the standard connections.
All current DVD-A players have a decoder for one simple reason. SPDIF does not have the bandwidth to carry six channels of audio in 24/96 which all the channels are in DVD-A. As such, the player has to decode the signal and output each channel independently via PCM connections. This will be replaced or added to by IEEE 1394 eventually, but not at the moment and I do believe it will include DRM bullshit to prevent you from doing as you please with this signal.
In reply to:
For instance, does the receiver need a DVD-Audio decoder?
No. It just needs to be able to take the individual inputs, amplify them and output them to speakers.
In reply to:
Does the 6 channel input connections on my Yamaha RXV630 play into this at all, etc?
Not having the receiver's data in front of me, I would assume you and I are talking about the same thing in which case yes. You would connect your player to those inputs which would then get amplified and outputed to your speakers.
In reply to:
Can I also assume that my Axiom speaker set-up will work fine with DVD-Audio?
I have no idea what your setup is.
Regards,
Semi