I recently purchased my first SACD. I thought it would play in 5.1 but I only get an analogue output from my Denon DVD-1920? Am I doing something wrong?

OK, there's a number of possibilities. Let's go down the line...

1. SACDs and DVD-As only play in full resolution/multichannel (when available) over the 6 analog outputs on the player. You must have those hooked up to the inputs on your receiver to hear SACDs and DVD-As in their full glory.

2. Some SACDs are 2 or 3 channel only.

3. SACDs will not output the multichannel audio over the digital connection. See #1.

4. Therefore, you must switch to the multichannel input on your receiver and not use the DVD or CD inputs.

5. Sometimes, you may have to tell the player itself to output to the multichannel outputs instead of using the standard CD layer of the SACD. Players should be smart enough to do this themselves, but some aren't.


And people wonder why DVD-As and SACDs didn't catch on...

Did I miss anything guys?

Ken covered it all pretty well, check both your manuals on your receiver and DVD player, If I remember correctly on my old Denon reciever I had to set it on direct to get the SACD to play, different receivers probably vary.

The only thing I can think to add is reminding Gregory that, when using the multichannel outputs of the 1920 to the multichannel inputs of his receiver, all bass management in the receiver (speaker configuration, size settings, distance settings) is bypassed. This means you must set those parameters in the 1920, and do a separate calibration using the 1920's test tones (see "Speaker Setting for ANALOG AUDIO" - page 26 & 27 in the 1920's manual). When doing this, your receiver must be set to the analog multichannel inputs, not a digital or analog stereo input.

... unless you have an HK receiver in which case bass management *can* work, but obviously that means the analog inputs need to be digitized again.

I'm not sure if you can turn bass management off and keep all analog paths for SACD/DVDA with an HK receiver -- I remember there is that option for stereo but don't know about 5.1.

Yes, it's on the 6-channel or 8-channel setting, as opposed to the 6-channel DVD-A or 8-channel DVD-A

1920 will only output sacd thru the analog outs, by the way I have one.

Greg, assuming that the SACD you bought does have 5.1 channels(many don't, as Ken mentioned; it should be described on the case)it will play 5.1 through the analog outputs on your player. The way you phrased your question seems to indicate that you're under the impression that analog can't be 5.1.

You may want to check out http://store.acousticsounds.com/store.cfm for a very good explanation of the different types of SACD and DVD-A disks out there - as well as a very comprehensive list of which are which (so you don't accidentally buy a stereo SACD when you really wanted a multi-channel). If you really want to salivate some, check out their 'equipment' section... much of it is too expensive for me but a lot of it sure looks sweet.

Thanks, I guess I should research more. I'm happy with the SACD now that it is connected and set up properly. I don't know why the digital out can't be used, but that is the format! Sounds good but not better than my NAD CD player and not as good as my turntable.

The SACD audio is not available on the digital outputs because the music industry thinks we are all criminals at heart and will immediately make illegal, high quality copies using the digital information.

It's like the HDCP initiative in the video world, where high res video may not be available other than over DVI or HDMI channels where the info can be copy protected.

Note that if you have a copy-protected digital connection from player to receiver (eg. DenonLink) then you ARE able to output SACD over digital...