PureDirect VS. Modified signals

I recently bought a Yamaha Rx-V1600.
While i'm quite happy about the overall performance, there's one thing i don't get:

When playing music, in most of the enhanced audio programs, there seems to be a lack of low tones.
I mean that when i'm listening to music with most of the audio programs, i seem to be expecting more bass.
There are several (e.g. the "bottom line" preset) programs which don't have this, and seem to give enough bass, but then they are producing some reverb (like in a big hall), which i also don't want.

All in all i think that my music sounds best using the PureDirect function, which basically just passes on the audio signal, without enhancing it..
But i would think that an amp of this class should be able to improve my audio signal, rather than making it sound less good...

Assuming your cd player is hooked up with an analog connection,when the signal is processed it has to go through an analog-digital and then a digital-analog conversion cycle.Anytime you do this the signal will degrade and your sound quality will drop.I am not that familiar with Yamaha products but pure direct mode should bypass the digital signal path,keeping the signal in the analog domain,hence better sound.

bill

Quote:

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Originally Posted by musicman1999

Assuming your cd player is hooked up with an analog connection,when the signal is processed it has to go through an analog-digital and then a digital-analog conversion cycle.Anytime you do this the signal will degrade and your sound quality will drop.I am not that familiar with Yamaha products but pure direct mode should bypass the digital signal path,keeping the signal in the analog domain,hence better sound.

bill

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That seems a good explanation...
But then, why is it implemented?
I mean, when it doesn't really improve anything anyway..

thanks anyhow for the explanation

With most recievers this is the only way they can apply bass management.So direct mode means no sub output.

bill

One quick item to check are your speaker cable connections. It is possible you have a speaker wired out of phase which would adversely affect your bass response. If you have speakers of differing brands they could also be out of phase even if you have plus to plus on your external wiring - one brand may be internally wired differently than the other. A bit of basic experimentation should tell you if you're set up correctly or not.

do you have a sub?
are you using the sub out on the amp?
did you tell the amp that you do not have a sub if you don't?
have you checked the product manual to see if there is a setup procedure for the speaker outputs?

What aevans said is what you should do first. Then look at your cables.

The OP said that it sounds better in direct mode,if he had a cable problem in would sound bad in all modes,not just dsp modes.

bill

I have checked my cables, they are wired fine...

I have no sub (only front and rear L+R, center is on the way), and it is specified like that in the amp's setup.
It actually has a microphone that came with it, you can hook it up to the amp, and put if in your listening position, then the amp will play a series of test sounds, from which it can determine which speakers are connected and not.

Another strange thing i noticed yesterday, when playing DVD movies (5.1 DTS) i seem to have enough bass, it's only the music that has this problem

I think that you are realizing that you should listen to music in direct mode.The so called enhanced modes dont make anything sound better,just different.This sityation is not common to Yamaha however,anytime you digitally manipulate a signal it is bound to affect the sound.

bill