5.1 Setup

B1ng

B1ng

B1ng

Associate
Joined
4 Jan 2010
Posts
208
Location
Blackburn, Lancashire
Hi Guys,

I've just finished setting up my 5.1 system, a Denon 1911 7.1 Amp with the Mordaunt Short Alumni 5.1 package. Currently connected to PC via GFX card HDMI output.

Currently I am less that impressed with the music playback, the sound is crisp and clear but lacks presence. Myself and a friend feel that the sound is lacking mid-range.

Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
 
Have you reviewed the settings on your amp?

After a bit of googling there is a review which says;

while bass effects
are handled well with only a minor
lack of support for lower mid
frequencies at crossover.
 
Have you set the amp to direct / stereo mode?
Do you have a sound card with an optical SPDIF out?

You may get better quality output from a decent sound card that a GPU.

AV amps are generally considered to have equal performance in stereo / music terms as stereo amplifiers 1/3 of their price. The reasons are obvious...8 channels to drive means that production costs per channel are far lower than their stereo counterparts.

It could be a settings issue, but most mid-range AV amps I've heard have thoroughly underwhelmed me in musicality stakes.
 
To my knowledge the settings within the amplifier are all good. I have ran the Audyssey setup to configure distances and all that, all seems good.

I've had it playing in 2.1 and then a Multi Channel Stereo simulation over all 5 speakers and sub, and it still leaves much to be desired. :(

I've already tried the Optical solution, but it seems that the 1 optical in is for a TV in only, and only seems to work in 2 channel.
 
From my personal experiences I would say that the problem is likely caused by the DAC in the amp.

Back when I set up my now aging system, I had connected my CD player to my amp via a digital interconnect and while everything was very crisp with greta clarity, it was lacking in sounding nicely musical.

It dawned on me that my CD player would probably have a better DAC for music than the amp, seeing as the CD play cost almost as much as the amp, so I hooked it up with a decent pair of analogue interconnects (of which I tested several different sets beofre settling on a pair; and when tested blind, even my mother could tell them apart). The difference was massive, all of a sudden my music was sounding musical, it was still nicely detailed and clear but now it had a wonderful warmth and depth to everything that. It was such a huge improvement I really was astounded!

If you can test out your amp with a different analogue source (ie a decent cd player etc) and a decent set of leads you may very well find it's a huge difference.

Valve
 
I wasn't too chuffed with the DACs in my Denon av amp, so I got a Xonar D2 and use analogue cables for when I'm listening to music. Still have the optical connected to the AV amp for films/games. It means a few button clicks to switch between the two though
 
probedb said:
As Robbie said have you tried the Direct Mode?
Click to expand...

Have tried direct mode with the current setup via HDMI, still leaves much to be desired.

Hooked up an Analog out from my soundcard (the separate semi-creative card) and the difference is remarkable. As Valve has said already, it brings back the depth/warmth to the sound.

Disappointed it must be said, but i'll live with it. Thanks much guys. :)
 
Outputting via optical will still mean using the DAC in the amp and hence will give you the same sort or performance as via the HDMI, your best bet is to stick with the analogue output really.
 
That's what I thought as well.

Not an ideal setup, but with a small amount of messing around, it sounds great in all aspects. :)
 
Always worth trying everything, but some receivers analog inputs are really built down to a price, and really dont sound that great either. Sometimes the DACS sound better than the analog inputs.
 
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