Yamaha RX-V659 preferred audio connections

[Randy A.]

Wasn't sure about the best section to post this in but I will give it a try. As the title says I have a Yamaha RX-V659 AVR that I purchased probably 5 or 6 years ago. This receiver was actually reviewed by audioholics in 2006 and received a very good rating. I have never really used this receiver for a decent home theater setup because I never had a true home theater speaker system until recently. Always had just some unmatched speakers that never gave good sound. Plus my TV was in one room and my AVR was in another so that created another set of issues. Anyway I now have my AVR, my Samsung HDTV, my BluRay, my DirecTV DVR, and 5.1 speaker system all in the same room. First of all, this receiver does not have HDMI, which is not a big deal to me at this point and not a reason for me to go out and buy a new AVR. My main question has to do with the best connection for audio. All my AV components except my AVR have HDMI and they are all connected to the TV this way. I then have a single digital audio optical cable connected from the TV to one of the several digital audio inputs on the AVR. I have an outdoor antenna that I have connected to my TV in addition to satellite and this morning I noticed that with just the TV on with the antenna signal the display on my Yamaha was showing full 5.1 sound coming from the current station I had tuned. With some stations the display ony showed the L&R front speakers. I switched to my DirecTV DVR as the TV input and was still only getting L&R speakers on the display. I tried connecting the digital cable directly to the DirecTV box to see if it would make a difference but it did not. Could this be a setting in the DVR? I guess what I am trying to find out is what is the best method for connecting audio to my AVR. Would it be better to use a optical cable from each device to the AVR or is it sufficient to have all my devices connected to the TV via HDMI and use the one optical from my TV to the AVR? Thanks for any advice.

 

[j_garcia]

There may be a number of reasons why you get that. #1 being not everything is broadcast in 5.1. The fact that you do get some things in 5.1 means your TV will pass through the appropriate signal to get audio higher than stereo only, which some TVs don't do. The one advantage of the way you have it connected now is that you can have audio on the TV without having the receiver on, however you can also have a digital audio (optical, coaxial) from the devices directly to the receiver for audio, though from an audio standpoint, I don't see an advantage in that method over what you have for most of your devices.

The drawback with that setup would be that for Blu-ray, you are missing out on the higher audio formats offered by BD. If your receiver has multichannel analog inputs and your player also has those outputs, you should connect the blu-ray that way to get DTS HD and Dolby Digital HD. If not, then your next receiver should (practically all of them do) have HDMI. Other than that, you should be OK.

 

[Randy A.]

Thanks for replying. So, other than the Blu-ray issue you mentioned, I should be able to get 5.1 audio passed through my TV, if it's available, from any device connected to the TV via HDMI? It would certainly simplify things not to have the additional cables and not having to change the selected input on the AVR.

 

[j_garcia]

Thanks for replying. So, other than the Blu-ray issue you mentioned, I should be able to get 5.1 audio passed through my TV, if it's available, from any device connected to the TV via HDMI? It would certainly simplify things not to have the additional cables and not having to change the selected input on the AVR.

It does sound like that's what you are getting right now, so yes, I'd say how you have it setup should be OK until you are ready to upgrade to a HDMI receiver. FWIW, my receiver does not have HDMI either

 

[PENG]

Thanks for replying. So, other than the Blu-ray issue you mentioned, I should be able to get 5.1 audio passed through my TV, if it's available, from any device connected to the TV via HDMI? It would certainly simplify things not to have the additional cables and not having to change the selected input on the AVR.

Even the BR issue John mentioned can be solved as he said you could use the multichannel analog inputs if the 659 has them, well the 659 does have them. So as long as your BDP has multichannel analog outs you are all set for the newer HD surround sound formats such as DTS-HD-MA.

The way you are connecting your TV's digital audio output to your 659's digital input is fine for 5.1 but you need to check two things:

1) That your cable TV box digital output is set to bitstream, or Dolby Digital (sometimes that's how to call it), not PCM.

2) Your TV's digital output is also set to bitstream, or Dolby Digital, not PCM.