Denon universal: digital-out and base management?

[Bevan]

Hi, got a question I'm hoping someone can help me with. I dont have a receiver to answer the question myself.

Question is, if I set my fronts to 'small', is the signal passed through the digital out full bandwidth or is it comprised of only information above 80hz?

The reaon I ask is that I'm looking into getting an Benchmark Dac-1 to do the redbook decoding, but want to use some form of base management. I'm hoping only high freq stuff is sent out digitally, and that I can then hook my sub up to the Denons sub-out.

I realize I could let the sub do the base management and high pass back to the amp. But I want to avoid the added circuitry this entails as it may potentially corrupt the signal. Am I wrong, will the sub not possibly degrade the signal quality it sends to the speakers?

Any other way to have my cake and at it, other than buying external base management such as from Outlaw?

many thanks

Bevan

 

[j_garcia]

When using the digital connection, all speaker settings in the player are ignored. The signal is not yet decoded when passed via digital, so no settings are applied to it either.

The problem with allowing the sub to handle the x-over is 99% of all subs have a fixed high pass and that may not work for your speakers. The low pass is variable, but the high pass is typically not adjusted by that same x-over adjustment.

I was discussing something similar with a person on another forum, and I don't think you can do what you are saying anyway, unless your sub has preamp outputs for the high pass, which I don't think I've ever seen. I don't know of any receivers that have speaker level inputs either, so you'd have to use a high level to line level converter.

ICBM would probably be the way to go, but not if it is for 2ch only, since it is designed for multichannel bass management.

What you want to do is use the DAC just for music or all the time? Which Denon by the way? With their nicer players, the DACs are already pretty good.

 

[Bevan]

thanks j.

not sure what you mean by "preamp outputs for the high pass" and the line level back to the amp. not what i had in mind, sorry if i was unclear. i agree that is unfeasable.

so the denon sends out the full, unprocessed signal. what i had feared. seems my only option for base management is to get a sub with a high pass filter.

but it seems there are not that many arround anymore. rel does not have this feature, and hsu has stoped offering it on their subs but has an add-on box for $100 that does the job. maybe svs or velodyne? i'll check.

but i'm not sure the outlaw icbm wouldnt work for 2 channels. at least i cant see any reason why it wouldnt?


re the denons dacs, i have the 2200. it does a fair job so i'm let to believe, but i think the benchmark dac-1 (which i have not been able to hear) would be in a different league? maybe i should check out the denon 3910 instead?? my listening/vieving is 90% cd, 5% sacd/dvd-a, and 5% dvd

thanks for the help

b

 

[j_garcia]

I have the 2200 also. It's a fine player, especially the video section, which is more or less all I use it for and some DVD-A. Audio is very respectable on the 2200, but DEFINITELY will not be as good as an outboard DAC. The 2910, IMO, is quite similar to the 2200, so I'd say a used 2900 or a 3910 would be better choice for both A/V in one unit.

A secondary recommendation would be to look into a separate, decent CD player for audio. That's what I did, and it worked great.

You say you don't watch so many movies, you might look into the Cambridge Audio 540D, which I've heard is an excellent player for redbook CDs and you will still be able to watch movies on it (though you will lose SACD capability).

ICBM will work fine for 2ch, it's just that the other 4 channels will just be sitting there, so it seems like a little overkill. In terms of what it sounds like you want to do, it's probably your best choice.