Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Hotel California DVD Audio issue with Denon 2900 .

Hello all,
Would APPRECIATE your input asap, so that I can exchange my 2900 if it is faulty (2 week return period).

I bought a copy of Hotel California (DVD Audio) and played it on my Denon 2900. The surround tracks (96kHZ) play fine. However, there is no sound through my Denon 3805 receiver when I play the 192Khz (stereo) version of the songs on the disk.

What happens when I play the 192Khz version: there is no sound. The disc is not played at all (the time elapsed for the song stays at 0). My 2900 appears extra slow in moving between the 192Khz tracks. It eventually stops playing the disk, and stops responding until I power off and power back on.

Now I checked the following:
a. The receiver is set to use EXT IN. I use 6 Blue Jeans cables connecting the FL, FR, C, SL, SR, and SW outputs on the 2900 to the corresponding inputs on the receiver. The surround mix tracks play fine as I mentioned earlier.
b. I changed the setup menu on the 2900 to use 2-channel (from Multi channel), it didn't make any difference.
c. I added an extra pair of cables connecting the FL1 outputs on the 2900 to the analog inputs on the 3805 (DVD inputs). Set the source for the DVD player to analog on the 3805. NO difference.
d. I reinitialized the player (press SKIP and PLAY buttons, and press OPEN). No difference.

Do you think there may be an issue with the Disc itself? Or would there be an issue with the player?

BTW, I bought a copy of Fleetwood Mac Rumors -- no issues. However, the stereo tracks on this disc are all recorded in 96Khz, not 192Khz.

Thanks very much.
Ananth

My guess (not being familiar AT ALL with the Denon players) is that the sound is coming out the digital output (optical/coax/whatever) of the player and your receiver isn't looking there.

Did you set the 3805 to stereo as well? Didn't see it mentioned in your post. If it is set to play surround and you send it a stereo signal............

Bridgman: Appreciate the tip ... however, from my understanding, the 192Khz tracks are (unfortunately ) not output through the digital outputs on the 2900 ... Ray, I connected the 2900 to the 3805 with a pair of analog cables (FL1 output of the 2900 to the DVD LR inputs on the receiver), set the receiver to use the DVD source, analog mode, set the amp to stereo ... it didn't work

What concerns me is that the elapsed time on the 2900 does NOT change when playing the 192Khz tracks on this disc. I checked and found that it DOES increment when playing the 96Khz tracks. It sort of "freezes", displaying 0h00m00s at the first 192Khz track (Hotel California) (group 2, track 1). If I'm missing something, please do not hesitate to let me know.

I may have to exchange both the player and the disc since I’m unsure which one is defective

The silver lining in all this was that the sonic purity of music in DVD Audio was simply breathtaking on the Epic 80 system (even without a sub!). Especially: "Chain" and "Never going back again" in "Rumors". "Hotel California" of course was just great. It's like listening to a LP, without any scratchiness or hiss. Ananth

Update: it appears from the following avsforum post that the issue is most probably a result of a bad press on the Hotel California DVD audio disc.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5001648

Just to help out anyone who may come across the same issue!

Ananth

Now I need to ask if you have tried to make this all work with any other CDs and if, so, how did it turn out?

Ray,
Sorry, I didn't follow -- were you enquiring if I encountered the same (unplayable) issue on regular CDs ...?

Ananth

Sorry - I just re-read my post and got confused myself.

The question I REALLY wanted to ask - Is this disc the only one you are having the problem with, or has it also happened on other discs?

Ray,
Got it! 'Hotel California' is the only one with which I've encountered the issue. BTW, I haven't played a lot (10-20) of titles on the 2900. Most of the titles I played are from Netflix (DVD movies, DVD concerts), and the couple of DVD audio titles I bought recently.

I will check a few other CDs today just to be comprehensive when I report back.

Ananth

I asked the question because of your "bad press" info above. If the other discs have gone through OK, looks like you have found the reason and the 2900 should be OK. Just keep in mind that the 2900 can be a bit finicky with scratched/damaged discs.