Stick with 7.1 Analog, or upgrade the receiver?

[Breezer88888]

I'm sure many of you out there still cling to your older receivers. I have an LG BluRay player with 7.1 analog outputs that I am about to connect to my older Denon receiver for a taste of Hi Resolution sound. Not that I'm NOT in any rush to upgrade, and ante up, for a newer generation receiver. But do you think there is an appreciable difference in what I'm missing without a newer HDMI capable receiver (typically priced at 1,200 to $1,500)?

[kelsci]

Breezer.I am not in your situation but since you have the player with the analog outputs,all you would need is some audio cables to take advantage of the analog outs of that LG player into your current receiver. It is really a question of what kind and how much you will spend on those audio cables. IMHO I would not go bonkers on spending a fortune on those cables if you go that way. As long as that player has approriate bass management aind some kind of delay settings for your speakers, you would be ready to go.

I just noted that the newer recievers are coming out with the 1.4 HDMI standard. For example even the lowly 308 receiver from Onkyo has just come out with the 1.4 standard and even decodes the high def. audio codecs. So it is just a matter of time to wait it out on a new receiver especially since your current receiver has the analog inputs. If I were dealing with my brother's older Marantz receiver, I would have bought a higher priced player such as your LG to do the same thing since the receiver is quite good. You should note that future made receivers may not carry analog inputs at all which in this case you would use the newer reciever to do all the hooplah with those higher def audio codecs and as such the analog outputs on your player would be useless.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I'm sure many of you out there still cling to your older receivers. I have an LG BluRay player with 7.1 analog outputs that I am about to connect to my older Denon receiver for a taste of Hi Resolution sound. Not that I'm NOT in any rush to upgrade, and ante up, for a newer generation receiver. But do you think there is an appreciable difference in what I'm missing without a newer HDMI capable receiver (typically priced at 1,200 to $1,500)?

A new $1,500 receiver will sound better than your older Denon IMO. At that price level, the D/A conversion will probably be of higher quality than you older receiver, and you will certain get more bells and whistles than you current have. Not to mention the convenience of a single connection for both audio and video that happens to look and sound better than the old analog connections. However, I would not trade up until you really have to, or desire to. If you really enjoy your Denon, then keep it until you can no longer control the upgrade bug(that is a hard row in itself).

[Mr Peabody]

If the LG has the DTS-MA & Dolby Tru-HD decoding and as stated allows proper speaker set up, just use the analog connections. If doing this I would run HDMI to the TV though. To my knowledge no BD player allows an upconverted DVD signal to pass via component or any analog video connection. Seems a bit odd though since a Blu-ray disc will output 1080i via component.

You can get separates in your budget www.wmotiva.com better performance than a receiver and offers more flexibility.

[02audionoob]

Stick with your analog outputs, if you like your receiver. No doubt about it. If you want a better-sounding receiver, get one...but the LG's analog outputs aren't likely holding you back.

[jvc]

The main reasons for getting a new receiver, with HDMI audio, is for less cables to deal with, and to have bass management with the HDMI connection. You have no bass management over the 7.1 multi-channel analog connections, with most receivers. I think your older Denon falls into this catagory.
Good luck!

[Breezer88888]

Good points about "appropriate bass management' and HDMI 1.4. I think this 7.1 analog set-up should keep me in the game. I've always been a do-more-with-less kind of guy (the world kind or forces that on you these days). I'll be experimenting with this soon. Thanks a lot!

[pixelthis]

I'm sure many of you out there still cling to your older receivers. I have an LG BluRay player with 7.1 analog outputs that I am about to connect to my older Denon receiver for a taste of Hi Resolution sound. Not that I'm NOT in any rush to upgrade, and ante up, for a newer generation receiver. But do you think there is an appreciable difference in what I'm missing without a newer HDMI capable receiver (typically priced at 1,200 to $1,500)?

I had the same situation.
I had 7.1 analog from my Sony Blu running into my Integra receiver (four years old).
It sounded great, but I had no way to tell what the player was piping to it, and I wanted
the analog input for my older SACD player.
Having this setup will work, but there are drawbacks.
I am much happier with HDMI switching on my receiver, no drama changing input on the monitor, it stays on input 1 , and I also have onscreen display.
Its just a cleaner, more elegant way to set up a HT.
RUNNING A bLU THROUGH 7.1 will work, but I would just use it for a stopgap,
until you can afford an updated receiver-prepro.:1:

[Breezer88888]

Thanks everyone for the posts - I think it's great that you all chimed in for my question. No big upgrades for now since what I'd be missing isn't what I'd call mission critical. So I'll enjoy the merits of my humble set up for now and relax. Isn't that what it's all about anyway? Take care and thanks again to all!

[Breezer88888]

I just plugged everything in --- and my surround rears don't play. I could use some help here, please. The output device (LG BD390) provided a "test" and the surround backs played the desired test noise. The setting on the Blu-Ray player is set to 7.1. My receiver is a Denon AVR-1082 (not to be confused with the 1802) and the analog cables are connected to "Ext In". Basically all I'm getting is 5.1 multi-channel. I noticed it when I walked around the room, but there is a real difference. I hope that I've given enough details and would appreciate your help. In the meantime, I will be re-re-reading the owners manual on both the player and receiver. Thanks in advance!

[kelsci]

Breezer, you claim you are getting 5.1 surround. Perhaps it is the disc you have chosen to play back. It is most likely a disc with 5.1 surround. Perhaps the back surrounds do not make any type of playback with a strickly 5.1 BD. Try a dvd that has ES or EX on the soundtrack like STAR WARS 4,5, or 6 or JURASSIC PARK 3. Although not encoded with EX, THE MATRIX had what is called "center back surround imaging" See if you hear your back surrounds play with these disc or any others that you have in your possession with those types of soundtracks.

[Breezer88888]

Thanks for the suggestion Kelsci. I used Iron Man and Watchmen blu ray discs. They don't say anything about ES or EX, so they are likely to be limited to 5.1. I'll fish through my collection of regular DVDs. I have a feeling you are right and that is really disappointing since there's no way to force 7.1 through an analog set-up (no DSP or anything allowed thru my receiver).

So here's what I think will happen. Unless the blu-ray has ES/EX, I'll send the audio thru the receiver's Optical input for lossy DD/DTS, but giving me the added surround back effects. I know that I should not obsess over the additional 2 back speakers, but it's because my room is long and it sounds more full when they kick-in once in a while. Thanks for the feedback!

[kelsci]

Hi Breezer; I have the Ironman DVD. Although I do not have surround back speakers if there is center back imaging or true EX/ES on the disc, I will hear those sounds on my system because the rear speakers face each other and thus reproduce those sounds. Ironman IMHO did not have any real center back surround imaging and was not a EX disc In other words it was a true 5.1 disc.. Again I would look in your dvd library for any movies that have EX/ES sound listed on the disc and/or THE MATRIX which was not a EX disc but was noted for its center back surround imaging. If your back speakers open up with the appropriate dvds then you know why they are quiet on some of the discs you have played. There was a discussion on many internet boards over EX sound a few years back including a wild one here on Audioreview. In fact my friend who has a 5.1 Sony dvd camcorder actually reproduced some darn good center back sound. If you know somebody who has been shooting with 5.1 sound on a camcorder and they have a disc copy, you can try your disc copy for you might hear some very interesting results.

[Breezer88888]

Hi Kelsci,
The situation is as expected. I just put Gladiator (DTS ES version) and Toy Story (anniversary edition, DD 6.1) and the back speakers came to life. So I guess I'll be on the look out for Blu Rays with ES/EX, but I think these may be rare as they were never really that popular with standard DVDs.

Btw, Ironman is 5.1, so for such a great movie I will watch it in DD 5.1 "pushed" thru my 7.1 set-up. I can't honestly say that the high resolution audio from 5.1 analog is any better (or worse) than lossy 7.1 based on what I experience in my HT room's configuration. And the volume levels are different from the 2 different input paths. It's a sunny day outside, so I might just bail on this until I come across a 7.1 Blu-ray title. But based on what I've seen so far, I don't know that the back of the box really tells you the number of multi-channels being provided. Thanks again - you've been helpful.

[kelsci]

Hi Breezer; YOu performed the proper test and it told you what you wanted to know. Gladiators dts-es track is terrific but the dolby digital track is low on volume. I have the orginal dvd of TOY STORY 1 and 2. #1 was just 5.1 surround but #2 had a nice EX track and better dolby digital sound than #1. Before you buy a 7.1 channel blue ray disc, check and see if it was reviewed on HI-Def digest and see what they had to say about the audio quality and the surround sound rendered on a reviewed disc. I have not seen too many 6 and 7.1 surround discs in BD though I would be curious if taking the example of Gladiator whose BD disc has high-def audio whether the EX track is on the BD disc of that title. There is no mention of the EX track at all on the BD disc but it would interesting to know if it is there. If you have a place to rent BD disc see if you can rent a specific title in mind before you buy it.

[jvc]

Yes, the back of the box tells you what soundtrack it has (5.1, 6.1, or 7.1).
Most are dtsHD Master 5.1, but a few are Dolby TrueHD 5.1.
LOTR blu ray is dtsHD Master 6.1, and Hellboy 2 and Golden Compass are a couple of dtsHD Master 7.1 surround. In fact, see a list of movies, and if they are 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 here: http://price-adjustment.com/BLURAY-audio
I think this is a very good list of what soundtracks, on what movies. :)

[kelsci]

Hi JVC, I hope others read this thread and grab that link. At least somebody has something organized as to what type of surround is on the surround track. They covered music discs as well. Great site and find.

[Breezer88888]

That was good info - thanks to you both Kelsci and JVC! I'll keep them handy for the future. I mostly rent so this will help me scope out the titles before I buy.

[BadAssJazz]

In fact, see a list of movies, and if they are 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 here: http://price-adjustment.com/BLURAY-audio


Thanks for the link...!